Could our relationship with animals be improved by technology ?

As humans seem to be spending more and more time with technology, one could think that we would spend proportionally less time with our beloved companions. But in fact, technology has been improving not only our lives, but also the one of our pets. Here is how, and how it could affect our relationship with them.

Feeding our pets whenever they need

Every one has now seen at least once in its life these food and water distributors for cats and dog. First of all, these devices can help you to adapt food and water quantity to your pet’s feeding habits and behavior. For instance, some cats and dogs won’t be able to ration their food to have enough during an entire day, but will rather eat their whole plate at once. Pet food distributors allow you to feed your pet according to its needs, without putting your animal at overeating risk.

But these distributors can even go further : they can provide you with precious information. For instance, they can weight how much your pet is eating, and draw statistics that could help you detect any health issue affecting its eating habit. If you see that your animal has been eating or drinking much less for a few days, you can straight go to the vet and maybe avoid health complications to your companion.

Gathering research data

On a completely different level, technology can also help us to gather precious data in order to understand the animal world better, and to better respect it. Data sharing, deep learning and IA can assist scientists into studying, evaluating and track different species like sea creatures or birds for instance. With more and more accuracy obtained with different sensors, researchers are now able to analyze heart rates, temperatures and movements of the most unknown creatures.

Technology invited at the farm

It is probably at the farm that technology for animals has been the most welcomed. Monitoring cattle health, observing flocks, anticipating food quantity for the winter… The Internet of Things has been more than helpful to farmers, who can now overcome unforeseen events much better than in the past.

May it be at home or at the farm, it is most likely that if we take a better care of our animal friends, they will be happier and let fearful of the Human kind.