This article originally appeared in Hepper Blog By Nicole Cosgrove, Jan 26, 2024

Health trackers are one of the hottest trends in the world of health and wellness, and not just for humans. If you own a pet, you’ve likely heard of smart collars to track your pet’s health. Much like a smart watch, smart collars use high-tech sensors coupled with AI to track data about your pet, like vital signs, behavioral patterns, and location. In addition to providing you with valuable information about your pet’s health, smart collars also give a voice to pets suffering in silence and give you peace of mind when your four-legged family member is diagnosed with a health condition. But which smart collar is the best one for you and your fur friend?

Among the many health trackers on the market, PetPace is one of the most advanced AI smart collars for monitoring your pet’s health. PetPace is a pet health and technology company dedicated to improving the lives of pets through wearable technology. Using advanced AI and non-invasive sensors, PetPace can track a variety of health markers about your pet, like temperature, respiration, and activity level to help you detect and manage their health conditions. The PetPace app even comes with personalized charts, dashboards, and goals to help you track your pet’s overall well-being.

I tried out the PetPace 2.0 Smart Collar for my Goldendoodle, Micah, and was impressed with the high-tech features and durable design. If you’ve ever wondered whether your pet is in distress or wanted reassurance about their overall well-being, the PetPace collar could be the one for you. Keep reading to find out!

About PetPace

Who Makes the Collar?

The smart collar is made by PetPace. PetPace was founded in 2012 by a group of veterinarians, tech specialists, engineers, and pet owners dedicated to helping fellow dog lovers and owners improve their pet’s health. Using a combination of veterinary knowledge and revolutionary technology, the company developed a smart collar that can detect health conditions and manage chronic diseases by tracking your pet’s vitals and gathering their biometric data. Backed by decades of scientific research and equipped with cutting-edge technology, PetPace is on a mission to help you help your pet live their best life.

Who Is the Collar Best Suited For?

If you want to keep an eye on your pet’s vital signs and be alerted when your pet is in distress, the PetPace collar is a great tool to have on hand. Since the collar continuously tracks a variety of different health parameters, it can identify abnormalities associated with certain health conditions, like seizures and heart disease, making it a great device for senior pets and pets with ongoing health issues. It even comes equipped with GPS tracking for anyone who has a runner or escape artist in their house. Even if your pet is relatively healthy, the collar provides a great baseline of your fur friend’s overall health and is designed to give pet parents peace of mind no matter the diagnosis or reason for purchase.

When it comes to sizing, the collar comes in small, medium, and large sizes, and accommodates pets of all breeds and sizes that weigh over 8lbs. It’s important to note that the current 2.0 model is made for dogs only. But if you are the owner of a feline furball, check back soon because a Beta version for cats is being tested and a cat-suitable collar will be available soon!

PetPace Smart Collar Overview

Staying up-to-date with your pet’s health can be stressful and time-consuming, especially if your fur baby is dealing with health challenges. Luckily, PetPace makes monitoring your pet a little easier with early detection and management of health conditions using real-time data.

How it works

Similar to the health features of a Fitbit or an Apple Watch, the PetPace collar works by using multiple non-invasive sensors to continuously gather your pet’s biometric data, store the data in a cloud-based database, and then share the data with an app on your phone.

To start the data-collecting process, you’ll first need to charge the collar and download the mobile app. The app requires a few steps to set up but the process is quick and easy to follow. Once the collar is paired with the app, securely fasten the collar around your pet’s neck and the collar will start collecting data. The collar is designed for long-term use and will stop collecting data when it’s removed from your pet, so it’s best to keep the device on your pet at all times to get the best results.

If the collar detects physiological or behavioral abnormalities, it will immediately alert you through the app. You can also check the app to look at specific health markers and see graphs and trends of the data.

Metrics and Data

The PetPace 2.0 collar continuously monitors the following data:

Every parameter that the collar tracks paints a picture of your pet’s health. Whether it’s an elevated temperature, an increased pulse rate, or a decreased Wellness Score, the PetPace system acts like an all-in-one medical check-up for your pet and notifies you when your pet’s data falls outside of the normal range. It even has a built-in GPS sensor so you can monitor your pet’s location.

One parameter I found interesting was posture. When I first saw that Micah’s posture was being tracked I was a little confused by its significance as a health marker. But after reading more about it, I found out that posture is an incredibly valuable marker for pets with a variety of health conditions, including arthritis, since a decreased score is often seen in pets with stiff joints and mobility limitations. Micah’s posture score was in the mid to high range of normal, which can indicate restlessness and excitement. As a high-energy, always-on-the-move doodle, that assessment couldn’t be more accurate.

Contents

When you order a PetPace 2.0 collar, your box will include:

• PetPace 2.0 Smart Collar
• Charging Cable
• Power Adapter (US only)
• Quick Start Guide

Pricing

The PetPace collar has a sign-up fee of $299.00 and a subscription fee starting at $150.00.  Both the collar and subscription plan are necessary to access the data, and the cost of the subscription plan depends on the yearly plan you choose.

Warranty and Returns

The collar has a 1-year warranty and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

In Summary

Pros

• Tracks a variety of health parameters
• Immediately alerts you when your pet is in distress
• Durable
• Easy to use
• GPS tracking
• Long battery life
• Lightweight

Cons

• Subscription is required for ongoing use
• App is slow to load

Key Features

Check Price on PetPace

Mobile App

The PetPace app has everything you need to effectively monitor your pet’s health. On the main page of the app is the dashboard, which shows the health, behavior, and analytics parameters outlined in the Metrics and Data table above, as well as a map of your pet’s health journey. The Health Center is where you can see trends and graphs of your pet’s data and set goals for your pet, and the Map is where you can access GPS tracking. There’s also an option to share your pet’s data if you want to keep your vet in the loop. 

Comprehensive Health Analysis

There are countless ways to monitor your pet’s health but few are as accurate and comprehensive as the PetPace smart collar. PetPace monitors all of the vital signs needed to make a medical-grade assessment of your pet’s health and then uses these metrics to generate health and wellness scores. To date, PetPace is the only vet-developed smart collar to continuously measure such a wide range of data.

Worldwide GPS Tracking

If you’ve ever lost your pet (or thought you lost your pet), you know how valuable GPS tracking can be. Luckily, the PetPace 2.0 Collar comes equipped with a built-in GPS sensor. The GPS tracking system gives you access to real-time location information about your pet, as well as a history of your pet’s whereabouts. The tracking system also allows you to establish a perimeter around your house and will notify you if your pet wanders past the designated “safe zone”.

Durable

A great thing about the PetPace collar is its weatherproof and waterproof design. While it’s not advisable for your pet to go swimming with it on for long periods of time, it is designed to work after being in water up to 3 feet (1 meter) deep for as long as 30 minutes. The collar is also dirt and dust-proof, meaning it will continue to work if it gets dirty, salty, or dusty. If it does get dirty, a quick rinse in fresh water is all that’s needed to clean it.

Is the PetPace 2.0 Smart Collar a Good Value?

The value of the collar really depends on what you’re using it for and how much you (and your pet) will benefit from having the data. If you have a young, healthy pet and just want to get a baseline read, it might be a bit pricey for the data you receive. But for older pets or pets with ongoing health issues, the collar could be a life-saving tool, which makes it well worth the money.

FAQs

How long does the battery last?

On average, the battery will last around 3 weeks between charges. However, battery consumption largely depends on whether you use WiFi or cellular data. The more time you spend away from WiFi, the shorter your battery life will be. When it does come time to charge the collar, it takes approximately 2 hours for the battery to charge completely.

What health conditions can PetPace help with?

PetPace is actively looking for ways to monitor different health conditions. A few of the health conditions PetPace can help with include:

• Cancer
• Endocrine diseases
• Heart disease
• Urologic diseases
• Allergies
• GI diseases
• Infectious diseases
• Reproductive diseases
• Anxiety

Can more than one pet be tracked on the same account?

Yes. While a different collar is needed for each pet, the PetPace app allows you to track all of your pets on the same account. PetPace also offers a discount if you buy more than one collar.

Our Experience with the PetPace 2.0 Smart Collar

I was excited to try out the PetPace 2.0 collar for my active six-year-old Goldendoodle, Micah. Aside from a few food sensitivities and gut issues, Micah is a relatively healthy guy.

However, he was hospitalized as a puppy for pancreatitis, so I like to keep a close eye on him and do my best to stay in tune with his health. After trying out the PetPace collar, I’m happy to say that staying up-to-date with his health just got a whole lot easier.

Setting up the collar and connecting the device to the app was a smooth and easy process. The instructions were clear and easy to follow and the device paired to WiFi right away. After I charged the collar and put it on Micah, I was able to see the data almost immediately in real time, which was super cool! I found the features of the app to be easy to navigate as well, and love how the dashboard is personalized to your pet. It does take time (up to 12 weeks) for some of the features to become available. This means certain features, like the Wellness Score and Pain Score, are locked until enough personal data is collected to generate an accurate score. Since Micah is relatively healthy, I’ll likely use the health features of the collar as a preventative tool to monitor his health, as opposed to tracking anything specific.

As far as GPS tracking, I don’t have a huge need for it since Micah is with me most of the time. That said, I do like to use the tracking when he’s off-leash. If there’s one thing Micah loves more than anything (except maybe treats … and snuggles) it’s off-leash hikes. He stays with me for the most part but will make a beeline for the trees out of pure joy and excitement. Even though he never wanders far and always comes when he’s called, there have been times when I’ve “lost” him because he’s taken longer than normal to come back or because he decided to stop and smell a bush. It’s in that moment when two minutes feels like two hours that I’m grateful to have a tracking device on him, and I can only imagine the relief I would feel if he really was lost and I was able to find him because of the collar.

The only downside I found is that the app is a bit slow to load. While it’s not a huge inconvenience, it does take a while for the data to show up and the pages to load when switching between different elements in the app. Given that many high-tech features are running simultaneously on the device, I’m actually impressed (and pleasantly surprised) that I haven’t run into any significant tech issues with the collar or the app. Overall, I’m excited to continue using the collar and seeing how it can benefit Micah’s health, especially as he gets older.

Conclusion

When it comes to the health and safety of your pet, PetPace is one tool you don’t want to overlook. As a highly effective and accurate way to monitor your pet’s health, the PetPace collar not only keeps you up-to-date with comprehensive information about your pet’s health but alerts you the moment your pet is in distress. From early detection of illnesses to management of ongoing health issues, the PetPace collar acts as both a life-changing and life-saving device.

This article originally appeared in Hepper Blog