The Evolution of Pet Wearables Series Part 1

March 18, 2025
Part 1: From Human Health Tech to Veterinary Care

The intersection of technology and healthcare has rapidly transformed human medicine over the past decade. Now, this digital revolution is extending its reach to our four-legged companions, creating unprecedented opportunities for monitoring, diagnosing, and treating pets. This blog explores how wearable technology initially developed for humans is being adapted for veterinary applications, examining the scientific principles behind these innovations and their potential impact on animal healthcare.

From Human Wrists to Pet Collars: The Technology Transfer

The journey of wearable technology began predominantly in human healthcare, where devices like fitness trackers and smartwatches have become commonplace. These innovations initially focused on simple metrics like step counting but quickly evolved to monitor complex vital signs including heart rate variability, blood oxygen levels, and even electrocardiogram (ECG) readings1.

The adaptation of this technology to veterinary medicine follows a similar trajectory but faces unique challenges. Unlike human wearables that benefit from direct skin contact, pet devices must function effectively through fur, accommodate diverse anatomies from Chihuahuas to Great Danes, and withstand the rigors of animal behavior—from enthusiastic play sessions to inevitable water exposure.

What makes this technological transfer fascinating from a scientific perspective is not merely the adaptation of existing sensors, but the development of entirely new algorithms and baseline parameters specific to different species and breeds. For instance, normal heart rate ranges vary significantly between a Yorkshire Terrier (120-160 bpm at rest) and a Great Dane (60-100 bpm at rest), requiring sophisticated adaptive algorithms to establish what constitutes "normal" for each individual animal.

The Market Evolution: From Novelty to Necessity

The pet wearable market has experienced explosive growth, evolving from simple GPS trackers to comprehensive health monitoring systems. According to Grand View Research, the global pet wearable market size was valued at $1.8 billion in 2020 and is projected to expand at a compound annual growth rate of 13.5% from 2021 to 20281. This rapid expansion reflects both technological advancement and changing perceptions of pets as family members deserving of sophisticated healthcare.

The initial wave of pet wearables focused primarily on location tracking—helping owners locate lost pets. The second generation expanded to activity monitoring, analogous to human step counters. Today, we're witnessing the emergence of third-generation devices capable of monitoring multiple physiological parameters simultaneously and even predicting health issues before clinical signs become apparent.

Scientific Foundations: Core Technologies Driving Innovation

Sensor Technologies

At the heart of pet wearables are various sensor technologies adapted from human applications:

• Accelerometers and Gyroscopes: Three-axis accelerometers measure movement in three dimensions, allowing devices to distinguish between walking, running, playing, and resting behaviors. When combined with gyroscopes that detect rotational movement, these sensors can create detailed activity profiles.

• Photoplethysmography (PPG): This optical technique detects blood volume changes in the microvascular tissue and has been adapted to work through fur for heart rate monitoring in pets. The scientific challenge involves adjusting light wavelengths and sensor positioning to penetrate different coat types and colors.

• Impedance-Based Sensors: These measure the electrical resistance of body tissues, useful for respiratory rate monitoring and potentially hydration status assessment.

• Temperature Sensors: Infrared and contact thermometers adapted for continuous monitoring through fur provide early warning of fever or inflammation.

Data Processing and Analysis

The raw data from these sensors would be meaningless without sophisticated processing algorithms. Key computational approaches include:

• Signal Processing: Techniques like Fourier transforms and wavelet analysis extract meaningful patterns from noisy biological signals.

• Machine Learning Algorithms: Supervised learning models trained on species-specific datasets can classify activities and identify anomalies in physiological parameters.

• Edge Computing: Processing data directly on the device before transmission reduces power consumption and allows for immediate alerts when abnormalities are detected.

Veterinary Applications: Beyond Simple Tracking

The scientific underpinnings of pet wearables enable a range of clinical applications that are transforming veterinary medicine:

Continuous Health Monitoring

Unlike traditional veterinary examinations that provide only periodic snapshots of an animal's health, wearables offer continuous monitoring. This paradigm shift enables the detection of subtle changes over time that might otherwise go unnoticed until an animal becomes severely ill.

"Continuous monitoring through wearable technology provides invaluable data that can reveal trends invisible during standard clinical examinations," explains Dr. Aaron Massecar, Executive Director of the Veterinary Innovation Council. "We're seeing cases where changes in activity patterns detected by wearables led to early diagnosis of conditions like hypothyroidism or osteoarthritis, weeks before owners would typically seek veterinary care."

Objective Assessment Tools

Traditional veterinary assessments of pain, mobility, or behavior rely heavily on subjective observations. Wearables provide objective, quantifiable data that can complement clinical judgment.

For example, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine have used accelerometer-based monitors to objectively measure changes in activity levels following pain medication administration in dogs with osteoarthritis, providing quantitative evidence of treatment efficacy beyond owner reports.

Remote Patient Monitoring

The ability to monitor patients remotely has significant implications for post-surgical care, chronic disease management, and access to veterinary expertise in underserved areas.

Challenges in the Scientific Development of Pet Wearables

Despite remarkable progress, several scientific and technical challenges remain:

• Validation Studies: Many commercially available devices lack rigorous validation against gold-standard medical equipment, raising questions about data reliability.

• Interspecies and Breed Variations: Physiological parameters vary dramatically across species and breeds, requiring extensive research to establish normal ranges and meaningful deviations.

• Battery Technology: The need for long battery life often conflicts with requirements for continuous monitoring and small, lightweight design.

• Data Security and Privacy: As with human health data, pet health information raises questions about ownership, privacy, and potential commercialization.

The Future Trajectory: Where Science Meets Compassion

The scientific foundation established for pet wearables points toward increasingly sophisticated future developments:

• Predictive Analytics: Machine learning models trained on large populations could potentially predict health issues before clinical signs appear, enabling truly preventative medicine.

• Integration with Veterinary Practice Software: Seamless data flow between wearables and veterinary record systems could create comprehensive health timelines.

• Multimodal Sensing: Combining different sensor types can provide more complete health pictures, such as correlating activity levels with heart rate variability to assess stress or pain.

The evolution of pet wearables represents more than technological advancement; it signifies a paradigm shift in veterinary medicine toward continuous, data-driven, preventative care. As these technologies mature and validation studies accumulate, pet wearables will increasingly become standard tools in the veterinary toolkit, offering new insights into animal health and well-being.

In our next blog, we'll delve deeper into the specific sensor technologies that enable activity monitoring in pets, exploring how accelerometers and gyroscopes translate physical movement into meaningful health insights.