How my smart home can help me take care of my pets

I love animals. Luckily I have a large backyard with enough space to house seven chickens called “Ladies,” a rabbit named Inlay, a large dog named Gus, and an adventurous cat named Smokey. there is. (I think we have space for horses, but my husband is against it.) Taking care of the herd is one of my favorite things to do. But with a full-time job and her two teenage children, life gets busy. That's where my smart home and pet technology comes in to help keep everyone safe, healthy, happy, and fed.

Pet care is my primary use case for smart home. In fact, about half of all the gadgets I own are used for things like observing animals, feeding them, keeping them comfortable, and letting me know where they are and what they need. It helps in some way to take care of the.

Some specialized pet technologies offer benefits not found elsewhere. The health tracking features of devices like his Fitbit for pets are useful. Pet cameras are also usually easier (and more fun!) to use than standard security cameras. However, many pet technologies are too expensive and require monthly subscriptions.

Using standard smart home equipment to assist with pet care is cheaper and more effective. An outdoor contact sensor on my garden gate or an “animal detected” alert from my video doorbell lets me know when Gus has taken a break faster than a GPS tracker. Smart home automation and human functioning routines are also helpful for four people. -Foot friends too.

The products featured here are some of my favorite solutions that meet my specific needs. Of course, not everyone has a lot of animals to take care of. If you live in a city, you probably keep your pets indoors (in which case we recommend a good robot vacuum). Still, in this article about how I use my smart home to care for my pets, I'll provide tips and solutions to help you leverage smart technology for your pets.

Mrs. Inle and Inle live in a sturdy chicken coop in the backyard and a palatial two-story, four-room rabbit hutch built by her resourceful husband. The cabins and cabins are built like Fort Knox, but predators are still a concern. (There was an unfortunate raccoon incident a while ago.)

To keep an eye on me while I'm out and about or sleeping, I use two solar-powered S330 EufyCam security cameras with AI-powered detection. This feature uses machine learning to analyze footage from your camera for specific things. people, animals, vehicles, luggage, etc. When you spot a critter outside your pet's enclosure, you'll receive rich notifications with snapshots, so you'll know right away if you need to pop out there with your broom.

Other security cameras like Arlo, Google Nest, Tapo, and Reolink have animal detection capabilities. However, Eufy cameras work with Eufy HomeBase 3. Eufy HomeBase 3 is a storage device connected to your router that processes video locally and helps extend the signal. Eufy's camera is the only camera I've tested that reliably connects to your phone and allows you to stream from the edge of your garden with one Wi-Fi bar. No monthly subscription required due to local storage and processing. The camera also has a built-in solar panel, so I've been using it for over 6 months and haven't had to charge it yet.

I live in South Carolina and the summer heat here can be tough on outdoor pets. There are Barred Rock chickens that are known for being tolerant of both heat and cold. Still, I like to keep the ladies comfortable.

I have Apple Home Automation set up to turn on a box fan connected to a Lutron Caséta outdoor smart plug when the Eve Weather sensor detects a temperature above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. We have a similar setup at Inle's rabbit cages, using different plugs, sensors, and platforms (which we rotate as we test the device), but the Caséta plug, although more expensive, is the most reliable. Tall and sturdy. Additionally, after 3 p.m. when temperatures are above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, IFTTT automation is used to turn on the Rachio smart sprinkler system for 30 minutes to give chickens a cooling shower. (If it's that hot, the inlay comes in!)

Smokey is an indoor/outdoor cat, so he doesn't have a cat flap. Instead, I rely on a variety of security cameras and video doorbells that I'm testing around the house to watch when he walks through the yard to the back door, or when he sits on the front porch waiting to be let in. Send motion and animal alerts to your phone when you're in the area. It's not a solution for everyone, but it worked for me.

In case you missed the alert on your phone, I also set up an Alexa routine that plays a Christmas bell jingle and announces “Smoky's House” from your Echo Show 8 on your desk and speakers in your living room when your Google Nest Cam starts up. doing. (Outdoor/Indoor) Detects animals when trained at the porch door. This routine also runs if your backyard Ring camera detects movement. This is useful because it lets anyone at home (such as parents caring for the pet) know that the cat wants in.

Gus prefers to be an indoor dog, so when I have to leave him alone at home, I set up a camera near his crate to keep an eye on him and alert me if anything is wrong. Although he has tried many different cameras in this role, he has two favorites.

• Furbo 360° Dog Camera ($99). As a pet-specific camera, it has many features not found in other security cameras, such as continuous crying, barking, and even vomiting and poop warnings. However, these features are behind a paywall ($7/month, $69/year), as are recorded videos and the option to automatically turn your camera on and off when you're out and about.

I work from home, so I don't use this enough to justify a monthly subscription. That's why we rely on free periodic bark alerts to let us know when something is happening so we can stop by the livestream or use the camera's treat-dispensing feature. To calm him down. He also connects his Furbo to his Eve Energy smart plug connected to Apple Home to turn it on when he goes out and turn it off when he gets home.

• Aqara Camera Hub G3 ($110). A more basic pet camera, but a better security camera (with 2K video over Furbo's 1080p), Aqara has features like pan and tilt, tracking specifically for dogs and cats, and noise alerts similar to Furbo. You can also send (all without subscription). Additionally, you can record videos locally to your microSD card for free, or connect to your Apple Home to use Apple HomeKit Secure Video. Integration with Apple Home lets you program your camera to turn on when you leave the house and turn off when you return. The camera is also really cute.

Lately I've been playing with the Samsung SmartThings Pet Care feature. With this feature, you can set up a routine in the SmartThings app that turns on the lights and plays a soothing YouTube pet channel (pictures of puppies and cats with classical music playing). Samsung TV during the day. It will also send you a notification if you hear gas barking. This was surprisingly effective at calming him down, but the robot vacuum also caused sound detection, so sound detection needs some fine-tuning.

Automatic pet feeders are perfect if you work long hours or are away during your pet's regular mealtimes. It's also very useful for portion control. I use an Aqara smart pet feeder for Smokey's kibble. It's quite expensive at $99 and requires his Aqara hub for app control, but it can connect to other smart devices, allowing you to set up useful automation.

My current favorite is using the Aqara Camera Hub G3 (which also acts as a feeder hub) to dispense food when I spot animals. If you're away overnight, place the G3 next to your feeder and turn on the automation in the Aqara app so Smokey gets a fresh treat when he approaches the bowl (limited to twice a day). can) ! ).

Pet trackers have Fitbit-like features that allow you to track steps and set daily activity goals, and can help you find lost pets, monitor their health, and more. I'm currently testing the Petcube GPS Tracker with Gus. It's a new device that costs $53 upfront, and starts at $5 a month for GPS tracking and health features like total daily activity, total mileage, and daily activity goals. This is quite a bargain compared to competitors that start at around $8 per month plus the cost of the hardware (which typically costs over $100).

Other pet trackers I've tested with Gus include the Whistle Go Explore and the Fi dog collar. Both were great, but the monthly fees were expensive. Most pet trackers are too large for felines, so the best option I've found for Smokey is his Jiobit smart tag. It was also the most accurate tracker I've tested, pinpointing Smokey's location and all the routes he traveled that day.

That's probably because it uses both GPS and 5G, but it's also why I had to pay a $15 monthly service fee for just tracking and no health features. The device itself costs $130, but after Smokey left it in the tree one too many times, I realized it wasn't suitable for an independent cat.

If someone releases a pet tracker that works with Amazon Sidewalk (a long-range, low-bandwidth network that can provide free low-speed data to any IoT device), I'll be the first to try it. Ring promised Sidewalk back in 2019 when it was first announced, but it hasn't happened yet.

Smart technology is increasingly available to help care for your pets. One of his categories I haven't covered is a robotic cat litter box (a benefit of Smokey being an indoor-outdoor cat). I'm obviously intrigued by the idea of ​​a smart chicken coop (women's houses are getting a bit long), but that might have to wait until prices come down and the sizes get bigger. . (I have 7 big woman. )

Some gadgets are designed to entertain pets, but my crew members all get along well (even cats and chickens!) so I don't need a robot AI companion. (They were also very suspicious of Amazon's Astro Robots when I tested them.)

Sure, some connected technology for pets can seem novel and overpriced, but using smart gadgets to care for your pet can give you peace of mind and give you a super helpful extra pair of hands. I found out that it can be done.