A world of gadgets for your pets: What ' s truly useful technology, and what ' s just a gimmick?

My "Your Whole Pet" column on SFGate.com this week takes a look at electronic gadgets (and an iPhone app!) for pets -- yes, it's true. I wrote something fun and non-ranty. Enjoy it while it lasts.



But speaking of rants, while I was writing it, I couldn't help thinking of all the pet haters who for reasons I don't understand read the column. You know, the ones who spew venom all over the comments section when a dog or cat lover spends ten cents on some wasteful indulgence for their pets like, oh, I don't know, food or a visit to the vet? Who acidly point out that money could be better spent on feeding starving children in Africa – or maybe a new HDTV, since I never see them commenting on the tech products reviews questioning the frivolity of those four figure expenditures. I guess that's because pets don't watch TV.



They do, however, use pet doors, get lost, want more water in their bowls, need their litter boxes cleaned when you're not home, and go out for walks with professional dog walkers. They also lie around the house waiting for you to come home… except for whichever cat it is who keeps peeing on your bedroom pillow or vomiting in your shoes.



I'm guessing that's why there are suddenly so many electronic gadgets available to help pet owners keep track of their dogs' and cats' needs, activities and whereabouts at all times. GPS tracking collars, pet cams mounted in the family room or the run at a boarding kennel so you can log on from work and watch your pets napping (or dragging the toilet paper roll from the bathroom, down the hall, up the stairs, and all over the master bedroom).



There are, of course, some serious and useful applications of all this technology. While I used to be a GPS pet collar skeptic, I've changed my mind.

I remembered the day when my mom came home early from an appointment with her lawyer. The meeting had been interrupted when a neighbor called to say he'd seen the lawyer's dogs, two Alaskan Malamutes, running down the street together.



"But I left them tethered to the picnic table in the yard," the lawyer said. "Behind a six-foot wooden fence."



The neighbor told her the dogs were still attached to the picnic table, which was dragging along behind them as they headed off for destinations unknown.



Not everyone owns a force of nature like a Malamute, but plenty of people have dogs that thwart their best efforts at safe confinement.



Small dogs like Jack Russell terriers -- world-class diggers all -- and beagles, whose tendency to go haring off after any interesting scent is legendary, are among the Houdinis of the dog world. Anyone who has ever owned an escape artist dog might well consider GPS tracking devices in a dog's collar to be a necessity rather than a high-tech luxury.



Chris Newton, CEO of Positioning Animals Worldwide, Inc. (PAW), said his company had dogs like beagles in mind when it developed the SpotLight locator, the latest entry in the GPS pet tracking market.



"It's one of the reasons we pushed to get the unit down to the size it is, so it can be used on the smaller dogs," he said.

Read the whole thing here... and find out which iPhone pet app is my favorite!

Comments

[Steve]

Well to be honest my cat believes anything I have to pay a lot of money for is a gimmick and a piece of cardboard or newspaper to lay on is truly useful technology.



I learned quick. LOL

[Gina Spadafori]

Ain't that the truth!



Ring off milk jug: Yay.

$10 cat toy: Yawn.

[Christie Keith]

Hey guys, only 97 more comments to go!

[Gina Spadafori]

STFU, Christie.



:)

[Linda Kaim]

One of my cats could not be bothered with anything that even remotely looks like it might be fun.



She is broody and dark in more ways than one. She only comes out at night. We call her our "Goth" cat.



Her two year old male counterpart can play with dust motes in a closet and entertain himself for hours, a feat he has actually accomplished. Hiding in teh little recess in the back of the trash receptacle nested in the island on my kitchen. He favors dog tails, of which there are always an abundance here.



I have stopped buying cutesy toys for any of the animals, my now 11 year old son hoards them for himself.



When he starts to steal the dogs' bones, then I will begin to wonder.

[Original Lori]

I actually love the idea of the GPS for escape artists. I get what he's saying about the necessary battery making it big, but my ipod shuffle holds a charge for days and it's smaller than that. I wouldn't put something that big on my dog's collar on a permanent basis. I'll wait till the technology gets smaller.

[Jorge Guzman]

Great perspective on the HDTVs. So true. I never liked the petcams though, it gives you this feeling that you have to be on it the whole time. I can see people at work spending their whole day between their work and their email and never getting anything done.

[Cait]

I wish, wish, wish Rittie, my missing dog, had a GPS on her- but her regular collar won't even stay on her (those pointy collie heads).

[Original Lori]

Maybe someday microchipping will have the GPS function built in?

[Susan Fox]

Which will confirm the fears of some of the idiots around here that microchips on dogs and cats allow the gov'mint to track the owners. A little paranoia left over from the 60s, I guess.

[Original Lori]

Heh, I should have thought of that. Well, if they put their tin-foil hats on they'll be safe.

[Colorado Transplant]

I like the idea of a tiny GPS on my small cat--I will have to wait for that.



Right now I am desparately looking for a good fence. Has anyone ever had a mega mesh fence put into their yard. Leashing the cat seems to anger the cat and taking the leash off gets bites into the skin of my hands.



The other cat has a microchip and is pretty savvy about the outside life. She hides when dogs are around. However, the first cat scratches dogs noses, climbs trees and then has trouble coming down, dashes into the street, etc. A microchip would not help her avoid any of these potential disasters.



If I can find a way to fence her in, I will, rather than wait for the tiny GPS.

[Cait]

If the government can track my pets via microchips, I DON'T CARE as long as they'll let me have or buy that information. If it would bring home a lost dog? I'm all for it.



(PS: I'm still anti NAIS. Having to fill out papers every time a chicken crosses the street while freeranging is still ridiculous.)

[Eucritta]

My youngest cat steals the dog's chews to play with them. It's a good thing the dog is so good-natured and polite!



The best use of a webcam I've encountered was the one my veterinary oncologist had set up back some years ago, for the cats being kept in quarantine after radioactive iodine treatments. If not for that webcam, I'd have likely called every hour to ask about my old guy, and driven everyone there around the bend.



Now, what I wish someone would invent, is a claw clipper designed for arthritic hands. I've garden pruners with fat handles that take almost no force -- why not claw clippers?

[Sarah]

One thing wrong in this article...

my dogs LOVE to watch TV ;-)

[eli]

two terriers, they love technology. Dog movies, movies with animals. One attacked the Yetti in that Mummy movie the other night.



The other one is a future movie director. She knows when I am setting up to transfer dog-video from the camera to the PC, and insists on being at the keyboard for the whole process of creating another home video. (It is her plan to create the movie that puts her brother in a straight jacket.)

[The OTHER Pat]

Eucritta, I find the Doggyman nail clippers work well with very little force required:



http://www.cherrybrook.com/index.cfm/a/catalog.prodshow/vid/405472/catid/212/vname/Doggyman_Nail_Trimmers

[Original Lori]

Eucritta--depending on the dog's reactions to noise and etc. you could switch to using a dremel tool. Mine's actually the Sears Craftsman version and as long as Kasey gets treated after every nail he's just fine with it. We did start slow though, at first just getting used to the noise.

[Jason Merrihew]

Colorado Transplant,



Have you checked out http://www.purrfectfence.com/? I haven't used it, but I had seen it displayed at a few veterinary conferences. I thought it looked pretty cool.

[Eucritta]

Heh. What I need is a clipper for the cats, not the dog -- the dog has such robust black claws, I couldn't do them for love nor money. We take him to a groomer's to have them done every three weeks, but I'd rather trim the cats at home.



I've tried the Doggyman small, OTHER Pat, but while it was better than the old original Miller's Forge I'd used before ... on really bad days what I need is something with an assisted action, like a ratchet pruner.

[Colorado Transplant]

Thank you, Jason Merrihew.



This website (www.purrfectfence.com) has the best fences for my cats. I will contact them and see if it will work for me!

[Gina Spadafori]

CT ... when you get it installed, please let us know how you like it. I've been considering cat fencing for part of my yard. So Clara e Ilario can enjoy outdoor time without me worrying myself to bits.

[Colorado Transplant]

I bought the fence from said company (above).



It was always my dream to have such a fence because of all the disasters I have experienced with cats in the past. May I have this dream become a reality. I will let everybody know if reality lives up to my dream fence!

[Colorado Transplant]

This is for sure--I will blast it on your website, Gina, if it works.



The fellow I talked to said it was developed first to keep deer out and then for a sanctuary to keep cats in. The last 5 yrs they have made significant improvements.



Another improvement--some towns do not want fencing to be over 6 ft. tall. They had only 7 ft. tall fences before but now I could order the 6 foot fence because my town only allows for that height.



I cannot believe it until I see it, but he says no cat has escaped from this fence!



Unbelieveable details were given to me over the phone--like the top tilts a little back if the cat makes it to the top, the bottom is especially set up so no one can crawl underneath, the whole fence is transparent up close but not so much far away, only 10-14 hours to install this stand-alone whole yard fence, etc. The directions are inside and they will answer any questions. They also send a video for installation instructions. The man said a handyman can install it as long as he can read English (paraphrasing his remarks).



I am so excited that I can hardly contain my anticipation. The down side is waiting the 1-2 weeks it will take to arrive in Colorado from the shipment place and getting our carpenter, who is always busy, down to our house to install said fence. Man, as I said, I can hardly believe it because I have worried for over 50 years about any cat I have owned.



I cannot do it. I tried. I kept them in the house, then the enclosure I have, but now they are begging me for the yard. I cannot keep refusing them and now--maybe--I won't have to.



I haven't been this excited in a long time. Will my dream come true? You'all stay tuned, now, and I will submit my commentary in a few weeks.

[Jim Kahr]

That first aid iphone app is definite but there's one called puptox that has a list of poisonous things to dogs and cats. Makes a good supplement.