Have you heard about what the latest technology has to offer in the form of a collar for dogs and cats that monitors certain parameters of health?

Wow!

According to the company, PetPace’s website, it:

“was founded in 2012 with the goal of improving the quality of life of our pets. PetPace specializes in remote monitoring of pets vital signs utilizing advanced analytical methods and alerting models. We have developed a low power, wireless collar fitted with an array of sensors that reports abnormal vital signs, physiological and behavioral parameters.  Once an abnormal sign or behavior is detected, a sophisticated cloud- based analytical engine evaluates the signs and if needed, an immediate alert regarding suspected condition allowing the owner or the vet to take pre-emptive action to protect their pet’s health.”

Fortunately, PetPace recognizes the importance of a veterinarian’s interpretation of the clinical information monitored, and requires “[a]ll PetPace clients [to] register their veterinarian in order to activate the collar.”

The specific information that will be tracked includes the pet’s temperature, pulse, respiration, activity, positions, and calories.

It appears as if the veterinarian can set the normal parameters for each pet, which would make the most sense, to prevent unnecessary alarms for normal variations of these physiological data points.

A question, and possible concern, is how quickly the veterinarian would be required to respond to changes in these parameters.  This clearly would depend on the general health status of the pet, but an owner, receiving information about any abnormalities may not agree and might panic if not contacted quickly by their veterinarian.  In today’s world of 24/7 access, that could become problematic.

Also, many veterinarians no longer handle their own emergencies or after-hour calls (depending on the location of the practice) so the ability to forward notifications to an emergency clinic or on-call veterinarian may be helpful.

Overall, this type of technology can clearly be beneficial, particularly for pets being treated for, or recovering from, injury, illness, or surgery—to track the success of those treatments while the pet is monitored.  It may also allow pets to return home from veterinary clinics more quickly instead of remaining hospitalized overnight or for longer periods of time.