Blog: How to Watch Your Pets When You’re not at Home

For us pet owners, it’s easy to daydream about what our pets do all day when we’re out of the house. Are they bored? How do they entertain themselves? With new tech entering the pet world, we are that much closer to seeing the day-to-day lives of our pets.

Tracking Your Pet’s Location

Every pet owner’s biggest fear is their pet being lost. If our pets are wandering by themselves, being able to keep track of your their location in an instant is important. Contrary to popular belief, microchips do not act as GPS devices in our pets. However, there are collars and collar attachments that do that work for us. The Kippy CAT GPS and Activity Monitor can do that for you and more.

GPS collars for pets come in 2 forms:

1. As a collar attachment (the best method for dogs).
2. As the entire collar, like the Kippy CAT (the best method for cats).

To use a pet GPS, you will have to download a corresponding app that tracks all your pet’s location and activity data. This makes it easy for you to see your pet’s location wherever you are. With a subscription package, you can track your pet through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity as well as GPS, assuring you that you can track your pet as efficiently as possible.

Important note: always check the weight of the GPS system you’re thinking of buying against the weight of your pet. A GPS monitor that is too heavy for your pet could cause injury.

The Pros and Cons of a Subscription Service Packages

Subscription-free GPS Collars have 2 main pros:

• They keep monthly expenses low.
• The collar’s battery will last for a very long time.

And for the cons:

• The accuracy of its sensor is not guaranteed, so the collar likely won’t send an alert when it needs to be connected to its charger.
• The location tracking will likely be inaccurate.

Without a subscription service package, the collar will only connect to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, but not GPS or satellite. This means that if your pet is in an area without Wi-Fi, the tracking data could be lost and tracking your pet will become immensely difficult.

More commonly, there are GPS Collars that require a Subscription service package, such as the Kippy CAT. Here are the pros of using this type of collar:

• They use satellites as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity for the most accurate location tracking.
• You will receive notifications to your smartphone, letting you know when the collar’s battery is low and needs charging.
• You will be able to see your pet’s location history, as well as their daily activities.

And the cons:

• Because of the location update frequency, battery life will be consumed faster.

Luckily, there is a way to help create less of a con: with the Kippy CAT, you can create Power Save Zones where you consider your pet “safe” (ex: inside your house) where their location doesn’t have to be constantly monitored or updated. Creating these Power Save Zones will help conserve the collar’s battery life, keeping them off the charger and on your pet for much longer. If your pet leaves the designated Power Save Zone, location tracking will automatically turn on and you will be alerted immediately.

Monitoring Your Pets Health & Activity

The Kippy CAT GPS and Activity monitor not only track your pet’s location, but it can also monitor your pet’s daily activity. The Kippy CAT can monitor the amount of time your pet spends walking, sleeping, sitting, running, grooming, eating, etc.

This type of detailed activity monitoring helps you get to know your pet’s daily habits and will send you an alert if those habits change. Small changes can go unnoticed for a while, but then we’re hit with a terrible shock when we finally get around to taking our pets to the vet. Activity monitoring helps us determine what is normal and what isn’t and can ultimately help us catch illness and disease quickly in our best friends.

Pet-Watching Cameras

When I’m at work, there is nothing more that I would like than to check in on my cat. Does he save all of his energy for when I’m home? Or does he jump on the counters when he knows I’m not around to scold him? That’s where pet-cameras like Furbo, Petcube, and others come in.

All pet camera brands are different, but most have the same basic range of functionality available:

• A microphone you can use to speak directly to your pet
• A night-vision camera
• A treat dispenser
• Barking / noise alerts

With so many cameras available with a wide range of pricing, how can you choose just one? Here is a short list of our technical criteria that make your pet camera worth the money:

• High-Definition Video Image Quality – Choosing something with HD quality is recommended to get the full picture (wink!)
• Lens Control/Rotation or a Wide Camera View – A great way to scan the room and see your pet’s favorite spots
• Video Memory/Storage – In case you want to revisit your pet’s activity from a certain day

Investing in these types of pet-tech help you get to know your pet, monitor their health, and keep you in the know of their whereabouts and mischief-making 24/7.