"Even if I can't be saved, there are lives I want to protect" - Announcing the development of an app to eliminate the risk of pets dying alone and pass on the 'baton of life'

nancoco Co., Ltd. (Location: Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture; Representative Director: Ayaka Ogino; Author: Eiko Oki) is committed to developing products and creating systems to ensure pets are not left behind in owner emergencies, under the motto, "Even if I can't be saved, there are lives I want to protect."

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Our goal is to create a system that prevents pets from being caught up in their owner's death.

Life with pets is increasing year by year. Not only dogs and cats, but various animals live with us as important family members.

However, there is a reality that is not widely known.
That is, when something happens to the owner, the lives of the animals left at home suddenly stop.

"What would happen to this child if I collapsed?"
If an owner is suddenly hospitalized or collapses while out, the animals waiting at home can be left without food or water, unnoticed by anyone.
If discovery is delayed, it is not uncommon for it to be a matter of life and death.

As the number of single-person households and elderly pet owners increases, such incidents are no longer special.

Nevertheless, the systems to prepare for such situations are still not fully in place.

Activities that started with "getting noticed"

To overcome this challenge, our company has created several products. From pet health record books to keychains with emergency contact information on the back, which are loved by a wide range of users, to communicate the presence of pets in an emergency.

Among them, the "Neko Help Techo" (Cat Help Handbook) gathered pet owners' voices through social media from the planning stage and became a notable work, raising 5,389,000 yen, which was 2693% of its crowdfunding goal.

▼Reference: Press release and story leading up to the creation of the Neko Help Techo

Our story leading up to the creation of the "Neko Help Techo"

The Help Techo and animal help cards, supported by many pet owners and used by many people, have a limitation.

Previous products only worked if someone found them.

What if you collapse alone at home? What if days pass without contact? In such cases, the handbook you carry when you go out, or the paper posted on your door, would be useless.

When we created the Help Techo, we viewed this problem as an "individual problem." That's why we chose a handbook as a medium that individuals could prepare.
However, we realized this was a larger societal systemic distortion. Lonely deaths, multi-animal abandonment, and animal culling problems. This risk is connected to many issues called social problems.

To solve this problem, we need the cooperation of not only people living with animals but also those around them. When we realized this, we saw the option of a "smartphone app" beyond the handbook.

An active mechanism for "getting noticed" - we decided to create it with the power of technology.

A single button press every day, a system that connects lives

To solve this problem, we are developing the smartphone app "Uchi no Ko Baton" (scheduled for release in December 2026).

The mechanism is very simple. The owner just presses a button on the app every day. This is recorded as a "life check" behind the scenes. If no record is made for more than 48 hours, the app automatically determines it's an emergency and sends an email to pre-registered proxies (family or friends). At that time, information necessary for pet handover, such as vaccination history, primary veterinary hospital, and daily care information, is also sent.

① Record pet daily with one button → "Owner's life check" in the background

② No life check for 48 hours → Emergency!

③ Contact proxy with pet information

This simple mechanism is the "bond that signals an anomaly even if no one finds it."

When an owner becomes incapacitated, an SOS is automatically sent without a fatal lag. The small baton of life is automatically passed to the next trusted person – that is the core of this app.

Being born right now from the voices of pet owners

Our company's "Neko Help Techo," a cat health record book conceived and produced in 2022, was created by illustrator Eiko Oki (current CEO) calling out on X before the company's establishment, gathering the voices of many pet owners.

The "Uchi no Ko Baton" app, currently under development, is also progressing with careful listening and planning, guided by pet owners' voices of "need."

In March 2026, when the concept of this app was posted on X, it received an overwhelming response of over 340,000 impressions in one day. Comments like "I've always wanted this" and "I've been waiting for this" poured in.

Initial concept and proposal via X

Passionate requests from users living with pets flying around

Our Vision for the Future

We have consistently pursued this activity with the slogan, "Even if I can't be saved, there are lives I want to protect."

This is, of course, to reduce the number of pets and owners who suffer in an emergency. But that's not all. Many people live happily but harbor anxiety about "what if." We feel it is our role to eliminate such anxieties with the power of apps and products.

The app is scheduled for crowdfunding this summer. Various concepts are currently being discussed with pet owners for its December release.

We want to create a society where all people living with pets can spend each day peacefully. That is the future we aim for.

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Our company supports April Dream, an initiative to announce dreams on April 1st. This press release is the dream of nancoco Co., Ltd. / Moshimo Shop Helmo.