Do you own a fitness tracker? Does your pet?

A decade ago, pet technology consisted of automated feeders, waterers, and litterboxes. Electronic toys, training aids, and GPS tracking implants were also popular. While these devices are still popular, newer pet technology incorporates smartphone apps. Forty-one percent of pet parents who use pet technology report that technology gives them a better sense of their pet’s health. Health and nutrition apps are the most popular form of pet tech, with 24% of tech-savvy pet parents using them.

As more people turn to fitness trackers to monitor their own health, more pet parents are doing the same with their pets. Fitness tracker collars track the animal’s activity level, steps taken, and sleep. More sophisticated trackers link to smart feeders and smart water dishes that monitor how much the pet is eating and drinking. Owners can sync the data to a smartphone app and, if given permission to access the data, their veterinarian will have a more thorough profile of the pet’s health status. As a result, health problems may be able to be diagnosed and treated earlier.

Pet technology can be used for more than health monitoring. A study by Zulily found that 84% of millennial pet parents worried about their pets while they were away from home. To ease the worry, some pet parents have installed pet monitoring devices in their home to check in on their pets throughout the day. In some cases, cameras controlled by smartphone apps not only allow users to see what their pets are up to, but also allow them to talk to their pets. Some smart toys have built-in cameras that can be monitored from afar and controlled by a smartphone, allowing the pet and pet parent to interact. Other toys can be programmed to activate at a preset time to provide enrichment to pets when the owner is away.

Today’s market size shows the total sales of pet technology items in 2018 in the United States. This represented an 11% increase from 2017 but was still a small part of the $4.9 billion dog and cat durable products market. In a survey by Michelson Found Animals, an animal welfare nonprofit organization, 56% of pet parents report owning special technological products specifically for their pet.

Geographic reference: United States
Year: 2018
Market size: $565 million
Sources: Pamela N. Danziger, “Pets Are Going Digital: The Brands Pioneering The $565 Million Market for Smart Pet Products,” Forbes, January 30, 2019 available online here; “3 Pet Industry Trends to Watch in 2019,” Pet Product News, December 12, 2018 available online here; David Lummis, “How Pet Tech Will Impact The Future of The Pet Market,” Pet Product News, August 15, 2018 available online here.
Image source: Wilson Afonso from Sydney, Australia [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Use of image does not constitute endorsement.