On April 1, Pocket FM, the audio streaming platform, announced something ‘wild’ — an audio series for animals. “We are unveiling something truly special — the world’s first audio series for our beloved animal friends! But here’s the twist — we have also made sure that humans can join in on the fun, with subtitles added for human convenience,” it said, sharing a small clip of the inter-species audio series, featuring the dogs’ woofs and the birds’ chirps.
While this interesting but too-good-to-be-true idea turned out to be an April Fool’s prank, it gave an idea of the wide-ranging applications technology can have in the pet care space.
Parrots and toddlers appear similar in more ways than one, such that they imitate others, can develop vocabularies, and can make their needs known loud and clear.
Interestingly, to keep their pet parrots entertained, several owners employ a similar strategy as they do with their kids, which is to turn to screens for video games, and apps designed for kids, as per a report by The New York Times. And as per a study, conducted by researchers in the United States, such apps have the potential of enrichment tools for parrots.
However, these need to be designed as per the birds’ biology as they lick the screens and do not use their fingers.
Interestingly, such apps for pets are available on app stores.
For example, Jolly Pet — “A perfect game for cats, dogs, and literally any other pet!” Just like they play catch IRL, here the pets catch toys that appear on-screen, each of which behave differently and have different sounds. While a limited number of toys and environments one plays in are available at first, one can unlock more as your pet moves ahead in the game. Then there is the Squeaky Toy Sounds if your pet goes “crazy for squeaky toys”.
An app that eases human-dog interaction is the Human to Dog Translator, which translates what you are saying into your pup’s language.
When you get yourself a pup, training is crucial— sleep, toilet, etc. Nowadays, we have apps for this as well, such as the Zigzag Puppy Training App, which manages schedules for the training, offers the owner tips and tricks, and is personalised. Delving out of the online world, there are tech add-ons for IRL, too, to keep your pet healthy and happy.
For example, automatic pet feeders, which not only help in feeding the pet when the owner is away but also help with setting meal timings and portion control to establish good eating habits and keep the pet healthy. You can also record a voice message, which plays each time the food is dispensed, which also lets your pet know that you are around.
Just like pet feeders, there are bird feeders too. Not just for pets, these come with a camera allowing you to know and photograph the birds that visit your home.
To ensure safety, you can get smart pet collars. These help you to not only track the real-time movements of your pet but some of them are also equipped with sensors to track their vital essentials such as the heart rate.
To alleviate the fear of intruders, there are electronic pet doors, which open and close only for your pet. For this, you must ensure that your pet wears a smart key on the collar. When it approaches the smart door, the signal travels making the flap open, and it closes as soon as the pet is out of reach.
There are a couple of smart toys too to keep the animal entertained.
Such as the treat dispensing dog toy, which dispenses treats and keeps the pet active and entertained. For the catch-crazed pets, interactive ball launchers can be a good buy.
These interactive toys launch tennis balls for your dog to catch as much as it likes. It seems technology hasn’t left anything untouched, including the animal kingdom.
