Care for Your Pet While You’re Away with These Devices

Traveling is fun, but being separated from loved ones can take some of the enjoyment out of the trip—especially if those loved ones are four-legged and covered in fur. Fortunately, a variety of tech products have made it easier than ever to feed, watch, track, and even play with your pet from afar. Here’s a look at some of the top gear that can digitally pet sit on your behalf, ensuring you and your fur babies stay connected, no matter how far you (or they) roam.

Feeding

Every pet’s most basic instinct revolves around when it will receive its next meal, and while you can find any number of cheap mechanical feeders on the market that work on a timer basis, savvy pet owners can take more control over the feeding process with a smart feeder that connects to the internet and a mobile app.

The options available are extensive. Numerous feeders can dispense food to one or two bowls from a central hopper either on a schedule or by demand via app. Petlibro’s One RFID Smart Feeder ($150) goes even further, keeping the food covered until it detects a personalized electronic tag on your pet’s collar—handy if you have multiple pets with special diets.

While feeders have long worked well with kibble, newer devices can also dispense wet food and running water. Petlibro’s Polar Feeder ($130) can keep three meals refrigerated for up to three days and even lets them warm up for a half hour before serving.

Don’t forget the litter box if you have indoor cats: The Litter-Robot 4 ($699 and up) scoops after every visit, and even keeps tabs on your pet’s weight via its app.

Pet Cameras

While any modern smart camera can help you keep tabs on a pet while you’re away, you’ll get the best results if you look for a model designed with pets in mind. These cameras can distinguish between animals, people, and anything else (such as passing shadows and ceiling fans). Any sightings of a pet are tagged accordingly, making it easy to skim through your recordings to find clips of your pet in action.

Two of the more popular pet-centric cameras suitable for indoor use include the Wyze Cam v4 ($36) and Eufy Indoor Cam C120 ($43). Both feature solid pet detection modes and are small enough to position anywhere you need them. If you want something more advanced, consider a camera that can mechanically move around to face where you need it. So-called PTZ cameras are helpful if your pets don’t frequent the same spots each day. Just plant the camera in a central location and you can rotate the lens 360 degrees with an app on your phone—or even instruct the camera to follow your pet whenever they’re spotted. The Wyze Cam Pan v3 ($40) and Eufy Indoor Cam E220 ($55) are two solid options.

You’ll note that most of today’s cameras, including the above models, include two-way audio features, so you can not only watch your pet, you can hear them and talk to them via the camera’s speaker. The jury’s out on whether remote conversations are a good idea, though. Some pet owners report that their pets are confused when the disembodied voice of their caregiver erupts from nowhere, though others say it can reduce separation anxiety. It’s perhaps best to experiment gently with your own pet to see how they respond before leaving town.

Smart Tip: Have a pet sitter coming by? A smart lock can enable you to give them a custom code to get inside, and the lock can send you notifications when the door is unlocked and locked again.

Time for Recess

Worried your pets are getting bored or too lazy without you around? Give them something to do with a virtual buddy. For example, Petcube’s Bites 2 ($105) can fling a treat on demand to your dog or cat, and it has a built-in camera and two-way audio, letting it do double duty. For playtime without snacks involved, the Petcube’s Play 2 ($80) system includes a laser pointer that you can fire up on demand and interactively move with your fingertip via the device’s app.

Really want to up the game? The Dogness T01 ($250) has both modes—treat delivery plus laser pointer, as well as a camera—all housed inside a robot that can roll around your house, letting you make playtime a moveable feast.

Out and About

Not all animals are housebound, but new tech means you can keep tabs on their whereabouts even when they’re on walkabout. Tractive ($35, plus $6/month and up) and Cube ($16.50/month) are two of the top GPS pet trackers available. They clip to a collar so you can see your pet’s location live and mapped over time. Note that subscription fees apply. It might be tempting to use a cheap Apple AirTag ($29) or similar product to track your pet, but users report mixed results with this technique since it relies on your pet having to be within someone else’s phone’s bluetooth range, which isn’t great if your pet decides to head into the woods.

Lastly, remember that no technology is foolproof. Ensure your pet is microchipped so if they do get lost, the odds of a happy reunion are far more likely.