Why Furwise exists
I adopted Hennessy (阿軒) in 2024. He was my first cat, and for the first few months I had no idea what I was doing. I searched constantly — what to buy, which vaccines he needed, what counted as normal — and was never quite sure the answers were right. Asking an LLM helped a little, but I couldn't tell when it actually knew something and when it was just guessing.
What stuck with me was the contrast with my day job. When a company onboards a new engineer, there's a whole system for it: checklists, tools, a clear path. When you bring a cat home, there's nothing. You learn it slowly, by trial and error, hoping you didn't miss something that mattered. I kept thinking there should be an app you download the day you get a cat — one that tells you what to prepare at home, when vaccines are due, and what to watch for, and explains the reasoning instead of just handing you a checklist.
About two years in, Hennessy was diagnosed with FLUTD (feline lower urinary tract disease). Overnight there was a lot to keep track of — his symptoms, how often he urinated, how much water he drank. Every time the vet asked a question, I'd find myself scrolling back through my photo album and chat history trying to pin down a date. An app that simply did the recording and the searching well would have saved me a lot of anxious guessing.
Furwise is the app I wished I'd had, built for both of those moments: the new owner who doesn't know where to start, and the worried owner tracking a health problem. The articles on this site are part of it — the health-education layer, written to the standard I'd want for my own cat. Furwise is available on the App Store.
About me
I've spent 10+ years as a software engineer — Microsoft, Pinkoi on the backend, TrendMicro in security and AI, and most recently AI/RAG infrastructure at Aden.
The more direct version: at some point I decided to stop building other people's products. I wanted to spend my best engineering years on things I actually believe in. Furwise, and the other products under OrcaKobo, all started from that.
Some habits stick after enough years of engineering. The one I trust most is the way I work when I ship code: go back to the primary source, cite it clearly, and never bury the reasoning behind a claim. Every medical statement on Furwise links back to a peer-reviewed study or a recognized clinical guideline.
Working on my own products also means no one is telling me to cut a corner — there's no advertiser to please, no growth metric pulling against getting things right. Explaining cat health clearly and accurately matters more to me than any of that.
How an article gets written
- Start from a clinical guideline or peer-reviewed study, not a Google search. Common starting points: Cornell Feline Health Center, ISFM / iCatCare, WSAVA, AAFP, ACVS.
- Cross-check claims against at least two independent veterinary sources. If they disagree, both views go in the article with the disagreement noted.
- Flag what's uncertain or contested. Vet medicine has open questions, and Furwise does not paper over them.
- Articles are dated; major updates are noted with a refreshed publish date and a brief changelog line.
Furwise is part of OrcaKobo
OrcaKobo is an independent studio I run that ships small, carefully-built products. Other studio products:
Editorial commitments
Citation rigor
All medical claims cite peer-reviewed research or trusted clinical guidelines (Cornell Feline Health Center, WSAVA, iCatCare, ACVS, AAFP). No commercial pet food sources, no SEO-driven aggregator sites.
No paid placements from pet food companies
Furwise does not accept payment from pet food companies for editorial coverage of their products. This is a permanent commitment, not a temporary policy.
Translation, not authority substitute
Furwise translates published veterinary research into actionable guidance for cat owners. It is not a substitute for talking to your veterinarian. If your cat is in acute distress, call a vet, not a website.
Living articles
Articles are reviewed and updated as new research emerges. The publication date is shown at the top of each article. Older articles are revisited periodically and noted as updated.
Veterinary review
Furwise is currently written by a layperson with engineering training, not a veterinarian. We believe disclosing this honestly is more useful than implying credentials we do not have. Every clinical claim links to its primary source so you can verify it yourself, and we err on the side of "ask your vet" whenever judgment is called for.
We are actively seeking licensed veterinarians (DVM) to review high-stakes articles (FLUTD, CKD, diabetes, hyperthyroidism, oncology). If you are a veterinarian interested in editorial collaboration, paid or otherwise, please reach out at support@furwise.app. We are open to single-article reviews, ongoing advisory roles, or co-authorship.
Contact
- LinkedIn: Chi-Yu Wu
- GitHub: @Hundao
- Studio: orcakobo.com
- Email: support@furwise.app