The latest tech gadget for pets is a collar that tracks your canine or feline companion’s vital signs and other health measures during veterinary visits, or at home. It creates sort of an electronic health record for your pet.
Credit: PetPace
The wireless “smart collar,” developed and manufactured by PetPace, can also send alerts about potential problems and help with early disease detection and behavioral problems, according to the developer.
Dr. Teresa Lightfoot, director of BluePearl Science, who conducted clinical trials of the collar says:
“This is a product that is going to revolutionize veterinary medicine, as well as enhancing a pet owner’s ability to recognize that their pet is becoming ill before they start showing physical signs.”
Lightfoot believes the ability to have real-time, non-stop access to a pet’s vital health information will save lives.
Credit: PetPace
Contact Sensors Continuously Monitor a Pet’s Vital Signs
The PetPace collar contains contact sensors that continuously monitor an animal’s temperature; pulse, respiration, and heart rate; activity patterns; positions; calories; pain; and other physiologic and behavior measures that give information about a pet’s health and comfort. The collar transmits all this information to a small antenna pet owners connect to a wireless router in their home.
In addition to detecting health issues, the collar can also monitor pets with existing health problems, or those at risk of developing diseases.
The collar comes in a professional model for vets, and a pet owner model. The professional model allows monitoring of multiple pets simultaneously and generates immediate alerts that are sent to a centralized control center or to mobile devices.
PetPace uses proprietary software to analyze the data, which is uploaded to a cloud service in real-time.
Credit: Gizmo Tech
Smart Collar Sells for $150 + $15 Per Month for Subscription Plan
The PetPace collar sells for $150, plus a $15/month service charge. The cost for veterinarians starts at $100/month plus an $80/month service charge.
The pet owner model transmits information to a web page, where owners can log in and track their dog’s or cat’s health. The professional system allows vets to register pet owners to connect to an online database.