As a pet owner, you may wish that you could be there for your fur baby at all times. But unless your pet is small enough to fit in a handbag, you probably can’t get away with taking it with you everywhere you go. Sometimes the dog or cat just has to stay home. But thanks to modern technology, your four-legged friend never has to be alone.
Many of the more affordable “pet cams” you’ll find are nothing more than wi-fi security cameras. If all you want is to see and talk to your dog, a security camera will work just fine. The pet cams we chose, however, have features designed specifically for pets—from the ability to remotely toss treats to playing with a laser.
There are several very promising pet cams on the market today that allow owners to video chat, throw treats, play games, and even roam the house with their pets. I spent some time using four of these popular cameras with my dog, Stanley, who starts incessantly yelping every time he’s left in a room, to see how well they actually worked and whether they would help him get over his separation anxiety.
The result? Stanley definitely was not cured of his anxiety, however the Petcube Bites 2 (available at Amazon for $199.00) kept him somewhat distracted from his anxiety by allowing me to toss treats remotely, and it was a pleasure to set up and use.
These are the best pet cameras we tested ranked, in order:
Petcube Bites 2
How We Tested
Other Smart Pet Cameras We Tested
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The Petcube Bites 2 tosses treats to keep your pets happy when you're gone.
Hi, I’m Sarah Kovac, a smart home writer for Reviewed. I’ve been a pet owner for as long as I can remember, and know well that guilty feeling you get when you see your dog watching forlornly from the window as you leave. Somehow I always manage to feel bad leaving my cat alone, too, despite the fact that none of my cats ever seemed to care about or even notice my presence unless they're hungry.
Pet cams might be able to help relieve some of that guilt for pet owners who have to be away from their furry friends. You can check in, chat with, and toss treats to your dog or cat from anywhere with an internet connection… but will your dog find it calming or creepy?
We tested four of the best-selling pet cams with my Lhasa Apso, Stanley, by closing him in a room alone and seeing if the interactions with the pet cams helped calm his separation anxiety. We could have tested these on our cat also, but (surprise!) she couldn’t care less whether we’re around or not. We tried the cameras in various lighting conditions, over data and wi-fi, and on both iOS and Android. All units performed similarly across connections and platforms.
Easy to refill treats
Nice design
Works with Alexa
Nothing we can find
Sarah Kovac is an award-winning author and smart home editor for Reviewed. Previously, she worked with a multitude of outlets such as Wirecutter, TIME, PCMag, Prevention, The Atlantic, Reviews.com, CNN, GOOD, Upworthy, Mom.me, and SheKnows.
We use standardized and scientific testing methods to scrutinize every product and provide you with objectively accurate results. If you’ve found different results in your own research, email us and we’ll compare notes. If it looks substantial, we’ll gladly re-test a product to try and reproduce these results. After all, peer reviews are a critical part of any scientific process.
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