The Verge Guide to Pets
The Verge has launched a themed week of coverage exploring how technology intersects with pet ownership, covering devices that feed, monitor, clean up after and entertain cats, dogs, fish and other animals. The package reflects a growing market of "smart" pet products, while also examining where such tech falls short, overpromises or simply gets outwitted by the animals it's meant to serve.
The series includes reviews and personal accounts, such as a look at Whisker's $899 Litter-Robot 5 Pro, whose AI features reportedly fail to reliably tell the writer's two cats apart, and a piece on Google's Gemini for Home, which similarly struggles to distinguish between pets via Nest cameras. Other instalments cover tips for photographing pets, turning a fish tank into a high-tech setup, a parrot damaging a keyboard, and a cat using its own iPad.
- The Verge runs a week-long series on pet tech gadgets
- Whisker's $899 AI litter robot can't tell cats apart
- Google's Gemini for Home also fails to recognise individual pets
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Smart pet technology includes connected devices designed to help people care for or interact with animals. Products range from automatic feeders and cameras to self-cleaning litter trays and toys, and the market has expanded as more household gadgets connect to apps and artificial intelligence.
The Verge is a technology news site, and its coverage looks at how these products work in everyday homes with cats, dogs, fish and other animals. The pieces include product reviews and personal accounts, showing how pets may use or disrupt technology in ways their makers did not expect.
The subject matters to pet owners weighing the convenience of these devices against their cost and limits. It also raises practical questions about how reliably cameras and other systems can identify or monitor individual animals.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Smart pet technology represents genuine innovation addressing real needs for pet owners—remote monitoring provides peace of mind when away, automated feeders ensure routine consistency, and robotic litter management reduces unpleasant chores. Whilst some features are still maturing (such as artificial intelligence struggling with multiple similar-looking animals), this is natural for emerging technology. Market demand demonstrates that pet owners genuinely value these solutions, and improvements will follow as the category develops.
The case against
This very coverage illustrates the fundamental flaw with smart pet technology: expensive devices that routinely fail at basic functions. A litter box costing £800 unable to distinguish between two cats is not progress. Rather than genuinely improving pet welfare, such gadgetry substitutes costly, unreliable contraptions for the straightforward care and human attention that pets actually require. Traditional pet care is cheaper, reliable, and better serves both animals and their owners.