Key points
- Smart, animal-focused technology can help automate pet care activities for busy owners.
- Smart gadgets can monitor your pet's health and activities, but they can be expensive due to subscriptions.
- While smart technology may help, remember that pets need companionship and attention.
Nowadays, there is a gadget for almost everything and everyone. Among the emerging technologies are smart home gadgets for pets – from automatic feeders to trackers that show their exact location. However, in some cases, these gadgets can cause more problems than they solve.
Why You Might Need Smart Home Gadgets for Your Pets
There is a growing range of smart home technology for pets, designed to make pet care easier for owners while making life more comfortable for their furry friends. There is a strong case for purchasing some of these gadgets, especially for those who have full-time jobs and need to leave their pets at home during the day.
Not only can these tools help automate activities like feeding and exercise schedules, they can also help keep your pets healthy by alerting you to potential problems or risks much earlier than you might otherwise notice.
Additionally, if you have animals that live outdoors all the time, such as rabbits, chickens, and guinea pigs, smart technology can help you monitor things like changing weather conditions or the presence of predators. This allows you to monitor what’s happening from the comfort of your home and quickly respond to any dangers.
Types of tools that are suitable for your pets
The types of gadgets available for pets are rapidly expanding and fall into three main categories – monitoring and security, activity automation, and entertainment. While the first two categories have some obvious benefits, pet owners may find the second a bit strange.
Monitoring and Security
Certainly the most useful aspect of smart pet technology is the ability to monitor their activities and health. Pet cameras, like the Furbo 360, are equipped with two-way audio and video capabilities and allow owners to monitor their pets, talk to them remotely, and dispense treats via their smartphones.
If you notice that your pet is feeling stressed, and you have a smart device like Google Nest, you can play soothing sounds and images for your pet via your smart TV. However, many of these devices are quite expensive and require paid monthly subscriptions.
Additionally, there are now a range of smart devices that monitor your pet’s health, similar to a smartwatch with a fitness tracker. For example, the Whistle Go Explore can track your dog’s daily movements, providing data on eating patterns, weight, daily exercise, sleep, and scratching and licking habits.
Automation
Another useful use for smart gadgets is to automate daily activities like feeding and watering your pet, letting them out for exercise, and emptying the litter box. For example, Acara’s smart pet feeder lets you schedule when to feed your pet and choose how much.
If your pet typically goes to the bathroom in an indoor litter box, a smart toilet, like the BASTRUMI Self-Cleaning Litter Box, features a closed design that keeps odors out of your home and automatically removes waste and places it in a sealed bag for disposal. However, at $400-$700, it can be more expensive than many regular human toilets!
entertainment
As for keeping your pets entertained while you’re away from home, there are a few options on the market. At one end of the scale is the PetDroid interactive ball, which has a motion sensor that causes it to roll erratically or bounce up and down when your pet touches it.
At the other end of the scale is the Oro Dog Companion. This robot moves around your home on wheels and will play with your dog, help train, feed, and monitor its health. What’s more, the robot will record all of the day’s activities, allowing you to replay the action when you get home, if you like.
While this all sounds fun, it also seems likely that these types of tools could cause distress or harm to your pets rather than keeping them safe and happy.
What could go wrong?
While we certainly never want to cause any pain or distress to our four-legged friends, there are other issues that come to mind when it comes to smart home gadgets for pets.
Since most of these devices require either batteries or a power source, a power outage or dead batteries could mean your pet is not fed or watered throughout the day. Relying on an internet connection and Wi-Fi also increases the risk of connectivity issues and your monitor failing to function properly.
Additionally, animals tend to chew and scratch things, so a health check collar, or a camera conveniently placed next to their bed, could quickly end up being the next broken item covered in teeth marks. Furthermore, if your pet spends time outdoors, there is a real risk of some of these items being damaged by water, lost, or stuck in a tree.
Another problem with pet technology is over-reliance. While these smart gadgets may save you time and help you care for your pets while you’re away from home, it’s important to remember that pets need companionship, attention, regular exercise, and a sense of security and care. Therefore, we can’t expect smart devices to replace the essential human contact we need with our pets.
Ultimately, we all want our pets to be happy and healthy, so if a certain tool can help in that regard, that might be a good thing. Otherwise, alternatives such as having a neighbor or friend watch or check on our pets, or hiring professional services such as cat sitters and dog walkers, may be the more humane approach.