4 Life-Changing Pet Care Tools

New pet technology helps seniors care for pets.

Having pets has proven to be beneficial to older adults’ health in many ways, including decreasing loneliness and lowering blood pressure.

Many seniors would like to own a pet, but may be worried about the commitment of having to consistently feed, groom, and exercise the pet each day. Not to mention remembering all it’s vet appointments.

Well, fear not! We’ll cover some amazing new pet technology that helps simplify the daily tasks of caring for a pet. These amazing pieces of technology will change your life.

Automatic Feeder

With these neat feeders, you won’t have to worry about rushing home to feed your pet at the end of your busy day. You just fill it up and it will replenish your pets food all throughout the day as needed. My only word of caution would be to watch out if you pet tends to overeat, or isn’t good at self-regulating. In that case, maybe this device wouldn’t be the best.

You can also purchase these for water too. I have personally found that this works great for my dog. Before I got one, I felt like I was constantly refilling her water bowl on the hour. Pets can become especially thirsty on a hot afternoon, or after they have been playing for awhile. This is a good solution if you tend to spend a lot of time away from the home throughout the day.

You can find these at your local pet store, like Petsmart or Petco. If you want to save money and don’t mind waiting a little, you can also get a great deal on Amazon.com.

GPS Pet Tracker

With this device, you’ll be able to track your pet when you’re away from home. You can see exactly where Fido is by checking his activity on your computer or mobile device. This smart technology can even send you a text or email when your pet gets out of the yard so you can find it quickly.

In addition, it not only tracks your pet’s whereabouts, but also measures their activity level so you can find out how active they are during the day. This will help you see where you can make healthy adjustments to their lifestyle, if needed. You can also share this info with your vet on your next visit, so you both can develop an action plan to keep your pet fit and healthy.

Tagg offers a tiny tracker that goes directly onto the pet’s collar. It was designed to be lightweight so it shouldn’t bother your pet too much to wear it. Having one of these can give you great peace of mind, knowing your pet’s location at all times, and being able to find him or her quickly if you need to.

Health Records Management App

There are a ton of apps out there for mobile device which can help you keep track of your pet’s health records, appointments, vaccines, allergies, and other important information. If you’re anything like me, having to maintain and lug around a big file around with you of all your pets shots can be downright annoying.

Anytime you have to take your pet to a new groomer or vet, they ask to see these records. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to run home and grab my dog’s records just to get her a nail trim. Having it all accessible in the palm of your hand 24/7 makes the process 100 times simpler.

A couple of good ones to look into are Dog Medical Agenda, The Pet Pal, and Pet Master Pro.

Automatic Ball Launcher

For those extra long days when you feel you don’t have enough time or energy to play with your pet, you can purchase an automatic ball launcher.

This is sure to keep your pet entertained all day. The machine launches tennis balls for the dog to fetch. It is triggered by a tennis ball being dropped in it’s funnel by the dog. You can set the distance on it for how far you want it to launch.

Word of caution: Make sure that you set this machine up in a safe area where it isn’t like to hit a lamp or other fragile piece of furniture. You should also be aware that this isn’t meant to be a total replacement for regular playing and engaging with you pet. Your dog wants to play with you more than a machine any day.

You can read more about this device on iFetch’s website.

In short, there are a lot of great technological advances that have widened our capacity to care for our pets. If you, or a senior you know, are considering getting a pet, you should have a long talk to determine whether pet ownership is right for you before buying or adopting an animal.