Pet tech has a graveyard, and it is worth touching before you spend a dollar. In mid-2025, Whistle, one of the most recommended GPS-and-health trackers in the category, was acquired and then shut down, and the devices simply stopped tracking on a set date. Owners who had bought the hardware and paid for years of subscription woke up with a dead collar. That is the single most important fact about buying pet tech, and almost no roundup mentions it: the device on your pet is only as durable as the company behind it and the fee that keeps it alive.
So this list is not organized around novelty. Before the picks, here is the framework I now use for every connected pet product, and then a set of devices that actually clear it.
How to judge any piece of pet tech before you buy
- Does it need a subscription, and what happens if you stop paying, or the company folds? A camera that stores clips only behind a monthly fee, or a tracker that is useless without a data plan, is a recurring cost and a single point of failure. Prefer devices that still do something basic without a subscription.
- Will it survive the actual animal? Chew resistance, waterproofing, and the ability to take a beating matter more than app features. A “smart” toy your dog destroys in a week is not smart.
- Does the app earn its place, or is it a gimmick? Real value looks like weight management, health-trend alerts, or genuine convenience. A novelty push notification is not a reason to buy.
- Is there a lock-in risk? Proprietary refills, filters, and cartridges add cost over time. Factor the consumables, not just the sticker price.
With that lens, here are the picks.
Best Pet Health Tracker and GPS (post-Whistle)
This category needs a fresh answer, because the old default is gone. With Whistle discontinued, the two devices worth comparing are Tractive and the Fi collar, and they split along a clear line. Tractive offers live location with tight accuracy and the cheaper long-run subscription, updating your pet’s position every few seconds and costing meaningfully less over five years. Fi counters with battery life that no competitor touches, running up to around three months between charges thanks to smart WiFi-and-cellular switching, at a higher subscription. Choose Tractive if accuracy and total cost matter most, Fi if you hate charging things. Either way, understand that both are subscription devices, and buy with the Whistle lesson in mind: pick the one whose data plan you are willing to keep paying.
Best Smart Dog Toy
An interactive toy is one of the few gadgets that earns its keep when you are too busy to play. “A great many dogs simply aren’t getting enough stimulation or exercise, and they end up bored. There’s no phone or TV to occupy them,” notes trainer-informed guidance on enrichment. A self-propelled toy like the Cheerble Wicked Ball fills that gap.
It looks like a prop from Star Trek, and it acts the part, with modes that roll, bounce, and light up on their own to give a dog both mental and physical work, which also helps burn off stress. The reason it makes this list rather than a novelty pile is durability: it is molded from natural, waterproof rubber that stands up to chewing, and there is a smaller version for little dogs. Supervise the first few sessions to confirm your dog treats it as a toy, not a meal.
Best Cat Water Fountain
Cats are famously bad at drinking enough still water, a holdover from desert-dwelling ancestors that got most of their moisture from prey, which is why so many cats ignore a full bowl. A fountain’s moving water is the nudge that works. The Petlibro Capsule fountain runs a quiet recirculation system with multi-stage filtration and two flow modes, a stream and a gentle bubble, so a picky cat can settle on a preference.
The consumable to budget for here is the replacement filter, the recurring cost that comes with almost every fountain. It is worth it if your cat is chronically under-hydrated, but factor it in.
Best Pet Cam
A good pet cam does one job well: it lets you check in and talk to your pet. The Google Nest, wired or battery-powered, installs in minutes and records in 1080p with a wide field of view and 6x zoom, and it can distinguish people, vehicles, and pets so you are not pinged every time a shadow moves.
This is a textbook subscription-tier device, and you should go in clear-eyed. Without a Nest Aware plan you get only a few hours of event history; the longer recording windows, up to 60 days, live behind the paid tier. If continuous history matters to you, that fee is the real price of the camera.
Best Automatic Pet Feeder
A feeder is where “smart” turns genuinely useful, because it does something a bowl cannot: portion control and scheduling. As veterinary nutrition guidance puts it, an automatic feeder does not just check a box on your to-do list, it can help manage weight and build healthy eating habits, and breaking the day into more frequent, smaller portions helps pets that “scarf and barf.”
The Petlibro feeder comes in muted colorways, seals food with a twist-lock lid to keep kibble fresh, and lets you record a short call-to-dinner message. For a multi-pet home, confirm the portion sizes suit your smallest and largest animals before relying on it.
Best Smart Litter Box
A self-cleaning box is a real quality-of-life upgrade, and it doubles as a passive health monitor. A dirty box drives cats away, so keeping it clean protects litter-box habits, and the sensors do more than scoop. The Petkit Pura Max uses infrared and weight sensors to log each visit, your cat’s weight, and the timing and duration of use, all of which surface changes in bathroom habits that can be early health signals. It auto-cleans after each use and reports through an app.
Two honest cautions with any smart box: they are large, and they run on proprietary waste bags and, often, a maintenance routine, so account for the space and the consumables.
Best Pet Vacuum
Not everything worth buying is app-connected, and if your home is coated in fur, this is the highest-value “tech” on the list. The Bissell 2252 CleanView Swivel Pet is built specifically for pet hair, with scatter-free suction, easy maneuverability, and dedicated tools for stairs and upholstery. Owners of heavy shedders consistently call it the best they have used. It will not end the war on hair, but it turns the tide on floors, carpets, and furniture, and there is no subscription in sight.
Best Pet DNA Kit
A DNA kit is a one-time buy with a genuine payoff beyond the fun of the breed reveal: it can flag inherited health risks worth watching for. The Wisdom Panel Premium runs the usual breed breakdown alongside more than two hundred health tests developed by geneticists and vets, which matters because many breeds carry predispositions you would rather know about early. A relative-finder feature traces ancestry back a few generations. No ongoing cost, and the health screen alone can shape smarter vet conversations.
Best Smart Cat Toy
For a cat, the goal is to trigger the hunt when you cannot. The ORSDA interactive toy runs a colored ball around a track to keep a cat’s eyes locked and instincts firing, with a fluffy tail to pounce. Its best feature is behavioral: it drops into sleep mode and wakes on an interval, so it re-engages the cat through the day instead of running until the novelty dies. Better the toy than the couch.
Best Automated Cat Laser (with a caveat baked in)
Laser toys are controversial for a real reason: cats chase prey they can never catch, which can build frustration. The pick here is the one that designs around that flaw. The Saolife rotating laser offers multiple speeds and a 360-degree range, but the feature that earns it a spot is the timer, short, spaced sessions rather than endless chasing. Pair every laser session with a physical toy the cat can actually catch, a wand or a kickeroo, so the hunt ends in a “capture.” That is not optional; it is how you use a laser responsibly.
Best Flopping Fish Toy for Cats
Simple, cheap, and effective. This USB-charged fish flops and wriggles when batted, tapping into a cat’s wrestle-and-kick instinct, and a catnip pouch sweetens the deal. It is no substitute for you, but it is a solid way to keep a cat busy during a work call. Wash the cover and recharge; there is nothing to subscribe to.
What I cut from the old list, and why
Two things earned removal rather than a rewrite, in keeping with buying the gear that lasts. The dedicated pet-health-advice app that once anchored this list was a promotional in-house product tied to a specific publisher’s promo code, not a device you own, so it does not belong in a hardware roundup. And the electromagnetic flea tag that claims to repel pests via an “energy field” has no credible veterinary evidence behind it; recommending it would undercut the whole point of a tested list. Flea and tick prevention should come from your vet, not a pendant. Cutting both makes this a stronger, more honest guide, which is the entire idea.
Our editors picked these products. Availability and, importantly, subscription terms can change, so confirm current pricing and data-plan costs before you buy. If you buy through our links, we may earn a commission.
References
- PawBench. “Best GPS Dog Collars: Fi vs Whistle vs Tractive Compared.” https://www.pawbench.com/blog/best-gps-dog-collars
- Treeline Review. “7 Best GPS Dog Collars, Tested and Reviewed.” https://www.treelinereview.com/gearreviews/best-gps-dog-collars
- ASPCA. “Fleas and Ticks” (prevention guidance). https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/general-pet-care/fleas-and-ticks
