About Furwise

When I first had a cat, every time he skipped a few bites or his stool came out a little soft, I'd spend ages searching online. Search "cat vomiting" and everything sounds reasonable, but a lot of it is content farms copying each other. What I needed was someone to explain cat health in words I could follow, and tell me what I could keep an eye on and what meant getting him to the vet.

Furwise is what I built for that earlier version of myself. Every article starts from veterinary research and clinical guidelines, plus what I see firsthand at the animal hospital.

I've spent ten years writing software, at Microsoft, Pinkoi and Trend Micro, and worked with a Y Combinator-backed startup in San Francisco on its product. I built the Furwise app from scratch, and now work on it with design and marketing partners.

I also work as an assistant at an animal hospital in Taipei, looking after hospitalized cats alongside the vets. I've seen diabetes, kidney disease, liver disease and urinary problems. I help with medication and tube feeding, and each cat's food is weighed before and after meals so we know exactly how much it ate.

In 2025, Hennessy (阿軒) was diagnosed with feline lower urinary tract disease. At first I completely panicked. After a proper talk with the vet and a lot of reading at home, I understood feline urinary problems and what was going on with him, and slowly worked out how to help him through it. I felt far steadier than when it started. That's when the idea for Furwise took shape.

So every time I sit down to write an article or work on the app, I picture the person on the other side of the screen, probably feeling exactly the way I did back then.

The sources I lean on most are Cornell Feline Health Center, ISFM / iCatCare, WSAVA, AAFP and ACVS. When sources disagree, I write up each view and mark where they part ways. I don't cite pet food companies or content farms. A lot of feline medicine isn't settled yet, and when that's the case I say "no clear answer yet."

Diagnosis and prescriptions stay with the vet. Furwise covers the before and after of a visit. Before a visit, the symptoms, weight and medication you've logged are in one place, and the related articles help you work out what to ask, so your vet gets the picture faster. Back home, you log what the vet prescribed.

Furwise's Chinese name, 毛孩指南, means "a guide for your cat," and I want the app to feel like advice from someone who's kept cats for years. When vaccines, deworming or the annual checkup are coming due, it reminds you, and it tells you when your cat's weight changes noticeably.

Log symptoms, medication and weight as you go, and pull them up whenever you need them. If you have a question about your cat's health, ask the app directly. Its answers draw on the articles on this site. It handles more than one cat, and family members can share the same records.