Total digitalization of all the spheres of our life has become an absolutely common thing. We are fully accustomed to using various software solutions for fulfilling a wide range of everyday tasks. But while such processes as making payments with the help of mobile apps do not surprise anyone, there are still some advanced and innovative solutions that seem to be not a very obvious choice. And if you ask us about the examples that belong to the second group, we will definitely name software solutions for the pet industry.
Though even thousands of years ago people already had pets, their role was different from what we can observe now. If earlier animals helped people to survive, today pets have become real family members and best friends. People have changed their attitude toward their pets and started to pay much more attention to their mood, health, and well-being than earlier. Pet owners buy birthday gifts and organize photoshoots for their cats and dogs, not to mention their readiness to invest quite impressive amounts into the treatment of their furry friends if there is such a necessity.
All these changes have become a huge booster for the development of the pet tech market. People want to enhance their interaction with their pets, start to better understand their needs and, of course, increase the quality of their lives. And that’s exactly what pet IoT and other types of tech solutions can offer to them.
According to recently conducted research, in 2022, the pet tech market size was around $5 billion. But with a CAGR of 15% within the period from 2023 to 2032, it is expected that this figure will hit the mark of $35 billion in less than 10 years.
The number of companies that are interested in building new tech solutions for pet owners is continuously growing which results in the expansion of the range of available products and their functionality.
Pet tech devices
Let’s have a look at the most popular smart pet care device types.
- Cameras and monitors. Monitoring technologies help people to remotely track what their pets are doing and whether everything is okay. Thanks to modern solutions, people can have access to real-time videos directly from their mobile devices. But that’s not the most fascinating point. Today there are also interactive cameras that can allow you not only to keep an eye on your pets but also to communicate and play with them even when you are far away.
- Smart feeders. Earlier, the only way to timely feed your animals when you were not at home was to ask your relatives or friends to do it. Today, it is possible to solve this task with the help of special smart feeders. You can schedule the meals for your pets and these smart devices will autonomously give food and water in accordance with the set timetable. Moreover, as a rule, you can get remote access to these feeders, which means that you can track the process and introduce changes.
- Health trackers. Such devices are rather similar to those that are developed for people. The majority of products that belong to this group are wearables that are enriched with different sensors and can measure various vital parameters of pets, like their heart rate or breath. Moreover, they can estimate their physical activity per day, calculate the number of burnt calories, and also analyze the quality of sleep. All the gathered data is accumulated and sent to the mobile devices of pet owners. And based on this information, people can make better-informed decisions about the necessity to change their pets’ lifestyle, pay more attention to their health, etc.
IoT solutions in the pet tech industry
The Internet of Things is one of the core technologies that are used for building smart pet solutions. Among the most widely used IoT pet solutions, we can name the following ones:
- Wearables. This group unites several categories intended for solving different tasks. For example, smart collars are developed to track the location of pets in real-time, have access to the history of routes, etc. Smart tags are used as a replacement for traditional ID tags. Bark collars and similar devices can help to monitor the behavior of pets, identify negative trends and make pets understand what the right patterns are.
- Smart connected products. These are solutions for protection (like smart doors or a wireless fence), entertainment (smart toys), and cleaning (self-cleaning litter boxes). To perform their functions, devices need to be connected to the internet.
- Pet care solutions. Today, there are various mobile apps that gather data from smart devices equipped with sensors. These applications allow pet owners to get quick access to different vet services via chats, voice, and video calls. During the consultations, vets can also view the data gathered by smart devices. Thanks to such solutions, it is possible to increase the accuracy of diagnosis and the efficiency of the chosen treatment.
Conclusion
In this article, we’ve mentioned only a small part of all the solutions and devices that can be available today to pet owners. In reality, there can be many more of them. And what is even more important is that this market is still open to new ideas, new solutions, and new players. The demand for such products is still growing and it means that quite soon we will be able to observe the introduction of even more innovative products and devices.
