Have you seen these amazing pet gadgets?
There is a pet in almost one in two homes in Britain and these days they are amply catered for with technology, from deluxe grooming tools to dog webcams.
‘Smart home’ technology means owners can stay in touch with their animals from anywhere in the world, receiving alerts when they leave a ‘safe area’, and checking in via webcam.
Here’s some of the best pet gadgets on the market today, from hi-tech ‘connected’ pet gizmos down to toys which will keep your furry friends busy for hours.
PetCube Bites Wi-Fi Camera
This £150 two-way camera lets you keep an eye on your dog when you’re away from home and can be controlled via an app from anywhere in the world.
A built-in camera and speakers lets owners interact with their animals via the app as well. It’s also compatible with Amazon Alexa voice commands, so owners can say, for instance, ‘Alexa, ask Petcube to treat my pet,’ or ‘Alexa, ask Petcube to play with my pet.’
A built-in treat dispenser can throw out food for pets in response to either app or Alexa commands.
Frolicat Bolt Automatic Laser Light
This £16 automatic laser toy takes all the effort out of getting your cat to chase a laser pointer.
You simply start it up and it aims the laser across the room for you, as your pet chases the point of light across the floor.
Powered by four AA batteries, it has a 15-minute timer to ensure your cat doesn’t completely wear itself out.
Vodafone Kippy
Vodafone’s £40 Kippy tracker monitors where your pet is. It uses a GPS collar that transmits the data direct to you via a built-in SIM card.
It offers alerts if a pet wanders off and also monitors your pet’s daily activity, FitBit-style. You can see your pet’s location in real time, and you’ll also receive alerts if your pet is less active than normal or hasn’t met its daily activity goal.
The Safe Zones feature means Kippy can learn your ‘safe’ limits and will alert you immediately if your pet strays beyond it.
Netatmo Welcome with Pet Detection
Netatmo’s home security cameras automatically recognise pets. You can set them to alert you when your dog or cat walks in front of them so you can keep an eye on what your four-legged friend is up to.
Users receive alerts to their smartphone via the Netatmo app.Alternatively, you can set the £200 Welcome device to automatically ignore animals and only alert you when a human walks in front of the lens (such as when there’s a possible intruder).
Pawbo Munch
This treat dispenser (£109) comes with a fruit machine-style game which cats and dogs can play in order to win treats.
Pets have to match symbols on screen before the machine will cough up food. It has an LED display, speakers and a treat dispenser built in, and can play music to keep pets interested.
The Munch can be controlled via a Pawbo app, via a compatible Pawbo webcam.
Dyson Groom
This £40 attachment for Dyson vacuum cleaners allows you to vacuum hairs directly off your dog.
The makers claim that it also removes dry skin cells and ensures your house isn’t covered in doggy hair and skin. The attachment works with large and medium-sized dogs, and Dyson promises that the suction remains at a ‘comfortable’ level.
The attachment fits most Dyson upright and cylinder vacuums.
SureFlap Microchip Cat Flap
This £52 ‘smart’ cat flap recognises the microchip in your pet’s collar and swings open, ensuring your cat can get in and out, but other animals can’t.
The microchip reader will recognise up to 32 ‘registered’ animals from its memory, so it works even in households with lots of pets.
The microchip reader offers 12 months of battery life and has a low battery indicator warning owners when to replace the AA batteries.
Healthy Pet Simply Feed Programmable Digital Pet Feeder
This automatic digital pet feeder (£136.99) is fully programmable, so you can set it do dispense up to 12 meals per day at exact times.
The feeder has a large 5.6 litre capacity hopper and can be customised to dish out dry pet food in portions up to a whopping 946ml.
PetSafe Automatic Ball Launcher
This tennis-ball launcher (£129.99) can shoot balls up to 30 feet, and comes armed with motion sensors so you won’t accidentally shoot other people (or your dog).
There are nine distance settings and six angle settings and it’s also armed with an automatic ‘rest’ mode so your dog doesn’t get overworked.