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Nowadays, there’s a gadget for just about everything and everyone. One emerging technology is smart home gadgets for our pets—from automated feeders to trackers that show their precise location. However, in certain instances, they might cause more problems than they solve.
Why You Might Need Smart Home Gadgets for Your Pets
There is a growing lineup of animal-focused smart home technology, which is designed to make pet care easier for their owners while making life more comfortable for their furry friends. And, there’s a solid argument for purchasing some of these gadgets, especially for those with full-time jobs who need to leave their pets at home during the day.
These gadgets can not only help automate activities such as feeding schedules and exercise, but they can also help keep your pets healthy by alerting you to potential issues or risks much earlier than you might notice otherwise.
Moreover, if you have animals that live outdoors permanently, like rabbits, chickens, and guinea pigs, then smart tech can help monitor things such as changing weather conditions or the presence of predators. This allows you to monitor what’s going on from the comfort of your home and respond promptly to any dangers.
Types of Gadgets for Your Pets
The types of gadgets available for pets are growing rapidly and fall into three main categories—monitoring and security, automation of activities, and entertainment. While the first two categories have some obvious benefits, pet owners might find the latter a little gimmicky.
Monitoring and Security
Arguably, the most useful side of smart pet technology is the ability to monitor their activities and health. Pet cams, like theFurbo 360are equipped with two-way audio and video capabilities and allow owners to watch and speak to their pets remotely and dispense treats via their smartphone.
If you notice that your pet is getting stressed, and you have a smart hub, like Google Nest, you may even play soothing sounds and images to your pet via your smart TV. However, many of these devices are somewhat expensive and require paid monthly subscriptions.
Additionally, there is now a range of smart devices that monitor your pet’s health, similar to a smartwatch with a fitness tracker. TheWhistle Go Explore, for example, can track your dog’s daily movements, providing data on its eating patterns, weight, daily exercise, sleeping, scratching, and licking habits.
Automation
Another handy use for smart gadgets is to automate daily activities such as feeding your pets and giving them water, allowing them outside for exercise, and emptying the litter tray. TheAcara Smart Pet Feeder, for instance, allows you to schedule when to give your pet food and select the amount.
If your pet usually goes to the toilet in an indoor litter tray, then a smart loo, like theBASTRUMI Self-Cleaning Litter Box, has an enclosed design that prevents unpleasant odors in the home and automatically removes the waste and deposits it into a sealed bag for disposal. However, with a list price of $400 - $700, it can be more expensive than many regular human toilets!
Entertainment
As for keeping your pets entertained while you are away from home, there are a few options on the market. At one end of the scale is thePetDroid Interactive ball, which has a motion sensor that causes it to roll around erratically or bounce up and down when your pet touches it.
At the other end of the scale, is theOro Dog Companion. This robot moves around your home on wheels and will play catch with your pooch, help train it, feed it, and monitor its health. What’s more, the robot will record all the day’s activities, allowing you to re-watch the action when you get home, if you want.
While all of this sounds fun, it seems just as likely that these types of gadgets could cause distress or harm to your pets rather than keep them safe and happy.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
While we would certainly never want to cause any pain or distress to our beloved four-legged friends, there are other problems that come to mind concerning smart home gadgets for pets.
Since most of these devices need either batteries or a power supply, a power cut or dead batteries could result in your pet not being fed or given water for the day. Also, reliance on an internet connection and Wi-Fi increases the risk that you could experience connectivity issues, and your monitoring equipment fails to operate correctly.
In addition, animals tend to chew and scratch at things, so that health checking collar, or the camera conveniently placed by their bed, could quickly end up being the next broken object covered in teeth marks. Moreover, if your animal spends time outdoors, then there is a real risk of some of these gadgets getting water-damaged, lost, or stuck up a tree.
Another issue with technology for pets is over-reliance. While these smart gadgets can save time and help you look after your pets while away from home, it’s important to remember that domesticated animals need companionship, attention, regular exercise, and to feel safe and cared for. Therefore, we cannot expect smart devices to replace the necessary human connection that we need to have with our pets.
Ultimately, we all want our pets to be happy and healthy, so if a certain gadget can help in this regard, then it can be good. Otherwise, alternatives like having a neighbor or friend look after or check in on our pets, or hiring professional services like cat sitters and dog walkers, might be the more humane approach.
