– by Gillian Crowley –
Tech-savvy pet owners can now choose all kinds of gizmos to make life easier. We sure do love our furry and feathered friends: Time magazine reported in March 2014 that Americans spent almost $56 billion – yes, billion – on their pets. Canada’ population is one-tenth the size, so do the math.
Here’s a taste of the pet-tech now available.
Working pet owners no longer need to worry about their home-bound pets. A number of collar-mounted devices let you track your pet’s activity level and location. One monitor uses information on the pet’s weight, age and breed to crunch data on the pet’s periods of rest and activity. Hmmm, does this mean you can spy on the dog walker?
A new mobile app lets doting owners use a wide-angle camera to stream and record
high definition video from home to their smartphone or computer. One device even has a laser pointer to let you play with bored kitty remotely and another dispenses treats at the touch of a button.
Pets that insist on being outside part of the day will love the “smart” pet door. A sensor on the pet’s collar lets only that pet in and out and locks the door, preventing wildlife from access. It uses a directional sensing system to detect when the pet wants in and isn’t just wandering by. How cool is that?
Owners worried about losing their pet can obtain a QR code embedded in a tag. If someone finds your pet they can scan the code with their smartphone. It immediately displays your pet’s profile and information and notifies you too.
Dog owners who don’t have time to exercise their pooch properly can now let technology do the job. Having owned a golden retriever that never tired, I would have loved the tennis ball cannon that senses when the dog drops a ball into the chamber and then fires it again … ad infinitum! Or, for rainy days there’s the canine-sized treadmill. The drawback is that you may need to demonstrate the technique on your own human-sized version. I wonder how soon canine treadmills will show up in garage sales … ?
Another task technology has taken over is the yucky cleaning of the kitty litter box. An automated litter sphere detects when the cat has left and does a several-minute countdown before automatically rotating the sphere and sifting out clumps from the litter inside. The waste is then deposited in a collection bin. All that’s needed now is a robot that empties the bin!
One collar-mounted tracker can tell you who your pet has been hanging out with, such as family and friends. Presumably the humans have to give permission for this application. I just hope the pet owner can’t hear the baby babble I’m speaking to Fluffy and Rover.
Note: Not all products mentioned are available yet in Canada.
