action monitors and health trackers have been popularamong health witting someone for a couple of decade now , with massive technology improvements made over the last few twelvemonth . Now , companies are bringing all those benefit into the pet industry , particularly pore on activity monitors and wellness tracker for dogs .
In the most basic sense , what an dog wellness trackers do is show your pet ’s behavior patterns and activity , and direct that information feed in to your smartphone . This helps pet owners to track and supervise their animal ’s behavior changes . The reason this is utile is because it can tell apart you whether your dog needs more exercise or , more importantly , if there ’s any indication of some aesculapian conditions and potential health issues with your Fido .
In this podcast instalment , I had the pleasance of let the cat out of the bag withJames Andrews , a veterinary and laminitis ofFelcana , a pet technology company sharpen on wellness activity monitors for dogs and African tea . James secern me a story of how he grow commonplace of seeing pets being brought into his vet clinic for discussion of disease which could ’ve been foreclose if the owner have spotted the signs of complaint at an earlier stage , and how best-loved wellness monitor and apps can help with this problem .
Listen to the sequence in the television above and discover the full podcast copy below . For more , visit this installment ’s post on the official possibility of Pets website .
The Benefits of Dog Health Monitors(raw podcast transcript)
- To learn just the interview copy , please scroll down below .
Today , speak of hit out to expert in the industry , I speak with James Andrews who is the creator of a health monitor , it ’s a new health monitor that ’s hitting the grocery store , and his company ’s called Felcana . Now the wellness monitor that he has is exchangeable to traditional activity trackers for favourite but it offer some really great benefit that other products do n’t offer as well .
So when you think of activity monitor sure things probably come to thinker like monitoring your firedog ’s action stage , how much he kip , maybe supervise the metre that he spends deep down or outside , things like that , which are for sure beneficial . Felcana sort of take it up a nick , and this is a raw product that actually has n’t hit the mart yet , powerful now they are wrap up aKickstartercampaign and they are only about $ 5,000 shortsighted of their goal as of today which is when I ’m record this podcast , it ’s November 1st , and so they ’ve get a couplet of weeks bequeath to go and they ’re fairly certain that they ’re last to meet their finish .
Anybody that backs them , those first modeling should be being sent out for beta examiner in the Summer of 2017 , and later next year , about this time next twelvemonth right before Christmas they are hop to turn their product on the market , it hits store shelf . So Felcana might be something that you ’re looking for to grease one’s palms for the dog or firedog owner on your inclination , or pet possessor I should say because they work for cats too , next Christmas . So I again spoke with James today and I ’m going to allow you cat go out front and listen to that interview because there ’s a lot of swell beneficial data in there about the companionship and how that come about , as well as wellness monitors and the grandness of those as well .
Interview with James Andrews, DVM
Samantha : I’ll start off by just welcoming you to the podcast , the hypothesis of Pets . We ’re excited to have you and I ’ll ask you first to just differentiate me a lilliputian bit about Felcana and how you came up with the idea for the company .
James : Yeah . Well so it ’s capital to be on the podcast , and we first started building Felcana early in 2016 ; and Felcana is the eco - organization of connected machine for pets , for their owner and for veterinary . And what it is is a internet of diminished devices that you may either place on your Canis familiaris or your cat and beacons that you instal around your home , you may point them anywhere you wish , next to your water bowl , next to your dog ’s basket , next to your dog ’s flap , you know if he has a frank fuss to go alfresco into the thousand , and both the machine that you put on to your dog ’s collar and the beacons , and the objective is to roll in the hay a lot of data about your firedog ’s behavior , his activity floor , how much water they ’re drink , how much time they ’re drop in layer , and that ’s incredibly utile for pet owners because it turn over them more information on what their dog ’s up to , it can help them with former designation of diseases .
So things like arthritis , which is quite common in dogs we can utilise both the natural process monitoring in our twist that run on a frankfurter leash but also the entropy coming out of our micro location beacon , so for example one next to the dog ’s seam to say your bounder is start to do a slight moment less activity , maybe he ’s not run away quite as spry as he used to and he ’s spending a little bit more fourth dimension in bed and we can use that to distinguish former signs of diabetes .
And the reason we ’re building Felcana is it ’s primarily because we ’re a team of veterinarians . So I ’m a veterinarian myself and I ’ve practiced and spent a tenacious time process dogs and cats and while I was doing that I realized that it ’s really really concentrated for vets to get good information about the patient they ’re handle . So it ’s really surd to get precise selective information from favourite owner because you usually ask them questions but they ’ll tell you the story , and you ask questions such as “ Have you point out your blackguard being less fighting ? Have you find him slow up down a scrap in the yard ? Have you noticed your dog drinking more water , eating less food ? ”
Those form of questions ; and often favorite owners do n’t really sleep together , sometimes they recall they acknowledge but then when you really dive into the details and ask more specific questions they do n’t . And so we bring in we can use technology , and the technology we ’re progress at Felcana to really resolve those interrogation and help vet diagnose disease in dogs and cats as well more quick and therefore process dog more effectively .
Samantha : Yeah I imagine that ’s terrific , I mean specially for pet parent that … you jazz I ’m thankful that I lick from home and that I can be with our dogs all the prison term so it ’s easier sometimes for me to notice if their behavior is a footling act off , but especially if you ’re out of the house for hours every daylight it ’s nice to have technology traverse your dog-iron ’s behavior than looking out for those signs and symptom when you ’re not usable .
James : dead . And it also has … we’ve construct in a few spare piece of functionality into Felcana to make it really cool as well . So we ’ve put onto the gadget that goes on your dog ’s collar a light , and you’re able to use that Light Within if you ’re walking your dog at night , and you’re able to take your smart … Felcana Smart Band app and switch the light on and you’re able to either the light always on or you’re able to have it twinkle so that you’re able to see your dog at dark when you ’re walk him in the park or down the road and you do n’t have to worry about him as much because you’re able to see exactly where they are all the metre .
Samantha : Sure that ’s a benefit . I live in a very rural … we are very much out in the country and a spate of favorite owners own deal of acre of land so that beacon will also be really helpful too if you let your dog out at dark just to be able to keep track of them in your yard if you have a big yard . So that ’s a wonderful addition .
James : perfectly . Another thing you could apply our Felcana system for is monitoring your dog walker . So having someone arrive into your home when you ’re at piece of work and take Fido out for half an 60 minutes or an hour is becoming increasing more mutual and you do n’t screw if the detent Zimmer is taking your dog out for half an hour like they should be or really just going around the corner with your dog and having a coffee for ten minutes and then bringing them back . And you could use our Felcana arrangement , including the impertinent speech sound app to check that the dog walker is coming at the right time and they are walk your dog for the right length of metre as well .
Samantha : Oh that ’s excellent , that ’s something I would not have thought of , but that ’s a grand feature of speech as well . Is the beacon as well as the gadget that goes on the collar , are they water immune or water validation ? Are they good for outside use ?
James : Yeah . We spent a mountain of meter making sure that all of the Felcana product are extraordinarily perdurable causal agency as we know dogs can really put things through their pace . We need to check that that not only are they waterproofed but dogs care to stick out in lake , things like that , but we want to check that that they ’re very strong and rugged too so that when your dog ’s running through on the road or even sort of chewing on it , if they were to do that that the Felcana equipment would endure all that sort of clobber . So they ’re incredibly durable .
Samantha : Wonderful , that ’s great to acknowledge . And we ’ve already talked a little scrap about some of the things that make Felcana sort of suffer out , I believe we had talk about how technology is increasing , It seems like every day there is newfangled production on the market . So we ’re take care some similar type of products , some activity monitors , and I know that you had mentioned the beacon light and the strength . Are there any other thing that make Felcana really stand out from other exchangeable devices ?
James : Yeah I imagine there are a few thing . So the size of Felcana , Felcana it ’s very very minor , it only matter nine grams , which I cerebrate is about a third of an Panthera uncia , so it ’s very very minor . It ’s designed to be very very comfortable for your heel as well , so we spend a lot of time take a shit certain that the conception is very very streamlined with a dog ’s collar so that when your domestic dog is numb at home , the Felcana gimmick is n’t rubbing off on their neck opening , it ’s not squashing their windpipe or anything like that , it ’s very very comfortable . So we made sure that we got that base covered .
And then we also wanted to verify it looked undecomposed because from our enquiry of other machine out there for hound and cats we did n’t really think any of them looked nice , and it ’s significant if you ’re walk your dog to make certain that you ’re glad and your dog-iron look capital . So we spend a reasonable amount of time reach sure that our twist bet nice as well .
Samantha : groovy ! So the welfare for activity proctor , we ’d already talked about how it can monitor their bodily process level and how much water supply they ’re drinking and things like that , so if somebody came to you , because obviously technology it ’s not a must - have but certain things like this are … there are some with child ground to have them , if a pet parent came to you and read , “ Geez you get it on I ’m consider buy an natural process proctor like Felcana but we do n’t really have the extra money in or budget . ” What would you tell them are some of the salutary rationality for purchasing an activity proctor , and specifically maybe Felcana in cosmopolitan ?
James : Yeah . So I think you mentioned sort of you do n’t have a large budget to pass on one . So Felcana is not tremendously expensive , we ’ve spend a lot of time making sure that our price point is very affordable . So currently we ’re sell a Felcana on a pre - orders basis onKickstarter , and the full organisation including beacons , including the Felcana collar , and let in the hub to charge it in is only $ 78 , so it ’s not tremendously expensive , and in terms of our competitive stead on pricing , we ’re very free-enterprise .
Samantha : perfectly .
James : The benefits that you get from Felcana , one is is over the long term thin out veterinary bills because you could identify signs of disease earlier and give more data to the veterinarian when he ’s examining your frank , that help to reduce veterinary notice …
Samantha : Certainly .
James: … and we all know how much those can be .
Samantha : Absolutely , yeah . Yeah I mean just from early spying of a common disease you recognize you could save yourself hundreds if not thousands of dollars .
James : That ’s right . And a good example is arthritis in dogs . And I keep mentioning arthritis and that ’s because roughly about 20 % of wienerwurst will develop arthritis over their lifespan , so it ’s very very common . former treatment of arthritis is paramount in terms of maintaining your dog ’s quality of life but also ensuring that you ’re not pass passel of money on drugs and even surgical type treatments .
And by mark an early oncoming in arthritis what you often see is a cut back level of activity and the hot dog not running quite as quick as it used to means that we can do … or veteran can either take much more simple discourse , if you want to call it that , earlier on . So for example we can make certain that the dog is the optimal weight , often we have many obese detent in the world and if the dog is obese and it ’s got arthritis then it ’s going to make the arthritis bad . So we can start to treat things originally and trim veterinary bill that manner .
Samantha : Great ! It ’s certainly I recollect , as far as babble out about the budget and open any kind of pet activity monitor , that ’s sure as shooting I would think would be a number one reason for a draw of pet parents , I think like you said , that the savings over time could be really rattling .
James : Absolutely , and it ’s not just savings , it ’s not just a veterinary benefit , there ’s tons of really fun , interesting stuff that you as a pet proprietor can get , you’re able to see how much activity your dog ’s acquiring . We divide the activity not just sort of into ‘ active ' ‘ non - active ' but we take it down to the next level , so we can differentiate running , walking , lying down , sit down , et cetera , et cetera . And then you may liken your dog with other dogs in the neighborhood to see if you ’ve got a very acrobatic energetic andiron or is your more sedate , so that you may compare your hot dog with exchangeable stock .
So if you ’re liken Labradors , you’re able to equate Labradors and see how your Labrador compares with other Labradors ; and then you’re able to compare your dog with dogs in general . And so there ’s heaps of generally useful , fun , insightful information that you may get out of the Felcana Ecosystem .
Samantha : in spades . So … the data to compare is that all on the app ? Can you look on the app and see dogs in your neighborhood or unlike dogs of the same stock ?
James : Yeah , exactly . So the app is … we ’ve design the app to be a very visceral , so I think it ’s often easy to make an app very very hard and complex and we ’ve spent a lot of time induce sure that our app is very childlike to use and very nonrational , but also has all the information at your fingertip should you need it .
So we have our home base screen where you get basic monitor , we have the ability for you to put in some specific dates into a calendar so you get alerts be that worming dates , vaccination dates , other dog ’s birthday and such like , so you could register all that . But you’re able to also do this equivalence and you’re able to very simply sort of filter the information to realize how your hound compares to other similar dog .
Samantha : For somebody like myself who is interested in technology but not super technologically - savvy that is large news because like you said a lot of time I encounter apps that are a niggling bit overwhelming when you do n’t really have a go at it how to pilot through them I guess at first , and it claim some time , so it ’s great to hear that you ’ve taken the metre to make certain that that ’s easy to use for us favourite possessor that are n’t as tech - savvy .
James : It ’s good to hear and it ’s crucial to get it right out with these apps because you want to make certain that they ’re giving preferred owner and vets the right data on what they want but at the same time you do n’t desire to make them consuming .
Samantha : And for somebody like me who we have three heel , is there a room to supervise multiple dogs at once ?
James : Yes dead . So all you need to do is buy extra collar gimmick , you do n’t need to buy extra beacons , and you’re able to have as many collar machine in your nursing home as you would like . So it will work with three hotdog , it will work with 33 firedog .
Samantha : And it all goes to the same app or do you need … is there like a dissimilar dwelling CRT screen for each dog ?
James : you’re able to … so we do n’t meld all the dog on to one rest home screenland because that get very very complicated . How it works ? It ’s a little bit like your Twitter chronicle for lesson or your Instagram report where you have a small push being flipped between the dissimilar account so you’re able to flip between the dissimilar blackguard all on the organization .
Samantha : Great , so it ’s super easy to break on all three of your firedog at the same time if you wanted to .
James : precisely , exactly , yeah .
Samantha : slap-up ! So and then if I ’m then going to link to the Felcana website too so people can curb that out and theKickstarterlink as well . And on the website if masses want to check that out they will see the database that Felcana is building , so can you tell me a little flake about that database and how it ’s going to be used ?
James : Yes , so of path what we ’re doing here is gathering data about your pet and then that data is send to the Felcana Cloud and that ’s where we can do all the comparisons of your bounder with other dogs and it ’s also where we run our algorithms to identify early signs of disease . And then what we can also use that database for is epidemiology , so identifying how disease are evolve in the pet domain .
So we can delineate diabetes , countenance ’s use that as an example , we can distinguish diabetes in many site and then we can study that and we can compare diabetic dog in sealed parts of the world , different ages , of dissimilar strain and use that information to assist further veterinary inquiry and aid further cognition about diabetes in dog so that vet and research worker can start to see at some of those trait . It ’s very hard to find that information at the second so there are some … at the global level trust they can use that information to aid them for their research and desire to better the treatment of diseases in dogs .
Samantha : Yeah that ’s amazing ! That could have some huge benefits on the veterinary field in the time to come .
James : I opine you ’re utterly right , and we have a few link with a figure of the world ’s lead veterinary school and it ’s something that they really struggle to get is good data that ’s at a more ball-shaped type level . It ’s quite easy for them to get data point in terms of dog coming into their local clinics but if they need to search at something at a higher level it ’s very hard today to get that data , and so using Felcana Ecosystem we can aid that job .
Samantha : Yeah , I mean that ’s fantastic , you know dogs are so great for so many reasons but I think one of the salutary thing about dogs is how different they all are within … you know just the canine tooth mintage there ’s so many breed , and even within breeds themselves there ’s so many divergence , so it ’s nice to have a way to get a slew of info on so many unlike dogs , like you said , not just necessarily in one field but all over , so that ’s marvellous .
James : Yes , we think so too .
Samantha : And so you had mentioned briefly that you ’re race the campaign onKickstarterand that is running for a few more twenty-four hour period correct ?
James : That ’s right yeah . So it end on the fourteenth of December so we ’ve induce 13 days left as of today .
Samantha : So how is that going ?
James : It ’s fit really really well . So we ’ve congeal ourselves a prey of 25,000 pound and we are presently 81 % of the style towards that target , so we expect we ’ll get through it . We ’ve had a tremendous reaction from pet owners and specifically hot dog possessor all around the world , we ’ve had people in countries like Argentina , South Korea , New Zealand , the USA , pledging towards Felcana onKickstarter , and we ’ve also had a portion of veterinarian too salute Felcana , but also reach us to say this is a really great product and they want to try it as presently as they can and practice and they ’ve even started to talk to some of their patient and then their patients ' owners about how they can use Felcana to help their wiener out . So it ’s been tremendous , it really has .
Samantha : Yeah absolutely . I have no incertitude you guys are go to hit that scar in the next two weeks , so that ’s really exciting for you .
James : Absolutely , perfectly , yes . We ’re really aroused about the whole chance that there is to amend how hoi polloi attend at the dogs and cats using engineering science . I recollect there ’s a luck of swell technology out there , I mean there ’s go to be some amazing new applied science that we start to see coming out being uncommitted in the next few years , and I call back it ’s only good for the dogs , frankfurter welfare and veterinarians .
Samantha : dead . So if with theKickstartereverything goes great , you hombre make your goal , what are the next steps after that ?
James : So as everything onKickstarteris we still have to pluck our product to a lowly extent . So we ’ll make a few cultivation to it , nothing major , just a few tweaks around the edge to check that it ’s utterly perfect , and then we need to startle our yield . And so we will in other 2017 set off our manufacturing , embark on getting those product runs up and ready to go ; try out those to make certain they ’re work out well , and in latitude to that we ’ll be using some of our beta examination devices to gather more info from best-loved owners and veterinarian on exactly what we need to do and any tweaks that we need to make to the app .
So there ’s a real chance for anyone out there if they need to drink towards us onKickstarterfor them to also aid us with beta examination , and we ’re looking for genus Beta quizzer to have small dogs or large dogs say in the USA , in wherever . So we need a big break with different pet owners to test Felcana out to its max and make indisputable it ’s absolutely unadulterated .
Samantha : Absolutely . And so if people , patently if they want to pre - order , if they want to get one of those to have one of the initial product that are coming out they can jump onKickstarterright now or any time in the next couple of weeks and donate there . And what are those contribution spirit level and what will people receive ?
James : So we have … one we call the ‘ Super Early Bird Felcana Pack ' and that is 78 US dollar bill , and in issue for that you will receive one Felcana Helix shoe collar twist , two micro locating to place … micro location beacons to place around your home plate , and a Felcana Home Hub to commove your Felcana devices in ; and you ’ll receive those in the Summer of next year .
Samantha : Perfect , that ’s great , so especially for just $ 78 . And did you say the beacon light they can be used outside if you require to put one out in your yard ?
James : Yeah absolutely . Yeah so you may rank one of those out in your 1000 if you need to do that . Then the stock pack issue forth with two beacons and that would strictly be for an indoor use case , so you’re able to … dog-iron ’s water trough one , near your detent ’s seam , but there ’s also the facility to grease one’s palms extra beacons , they come in pairs so you’re able to buy two excess beacon and then you’re able to start put them round your yard .
So you’re able to put one in the preferred place that your andiron wish to spend his time in your yard to see when he ’s there or you’re able to put one form of by the tree if you did n’t require him to go near the tree or whatever , so you get warning signal if necessary about that .
Samantha : Yeah , what a various pecker , it ’s really exciting how much you may do with just one Felcana pack , that ’s astonishing !
James : Yeah we think so . We conceive so and we expend a pile of fourth dimension cause sure it ’s really great , and yeah , we think it ’s awful as well .
Samantha : So you think former donator will get their products maybe in the Summer of next year , do you have possibly ballpark of when we might be get word them on depot shelves ?
James : So we await them to be on store shelves for Christmas next year …
Samantha : Fantastic !
James: … yeah and the folks onKickstarterthey’ll be the first the great unwashed in the world to get them .
Samantha : Of course . Yep .
James : That ’s really great , we hope to have them on the shelves in some retail merchant across the US and Europe before Christmas next twelvemonth .
Samantha : Yes , sound like it might be a really respectable ducky or pet owner Christmas gift for 2017 . So that ’s exciting .
James : Absolutely , utterly . And you love the affair in terms of theChristmasgifts , what we ’re about to set up on Kickstarter drive is a special Felcana Christmas card , it ’s quite a British custom I remember to give people Christmas cards , so we ’ve get a special Felcana Christmas placard , so if anyone wants to plight to Kickstarter right now we ’ll get a Christmas placard over to you before the 25th for a … December , so you make a little memento if you ’re givingKickstarterpledges as a giving to someone ..
Samantha : Of course I have to thank James for speaking with me today , that was some really not bad selective information . And just to kind of high spot what he said about favourite activeness monitor and health monitors , they are a little bit more expensive than some parent possibly can give right aside but it is a great thing to squirrel forth some money for and purchase because it can really save you a lot of money in the foresighted run on those ex-serviceman bills and it can state you a lot about your dog , which is great data to have especially over the course of action of your dog ’s biography , you could kind of see how his action changes as he develop and rise .
So you’re able to learn a lot about your wienerwurst , your vet will sleep with a lot of entropy about your dog that you might not normally be able to give them in case there is any wellness problems in the future . And then of path just observe and monitoring those changes , note when any signs or symptoms of some certain health issues can kill up that preventative charge or early detection with some of those diseases can really keep you a lot in the farseeing run and the health monitor is go bad to end up pay for itself .
So if you ’re concerned in Felcana saltation onTheoryofPets.com , you may encounter a link to their internet site , you may also line up a link to theirKickstarterprogram , again that finish on December 14th , which is not very far away . So if you ’re interested in that you may get in on one of those , be one of the first to receive one , and if not be await for those to score storage shelves about this prison term next class . I will keep you guys updated on any new maturation .
Like I say , the beta testing should be happening throughout former and middle 2017 so if there ’s any major change or anything like that come I ’ll be sure to update that and let you guys get it on , but I think as far as James bring up , just some small pinch and it ’s dumbfound so many bang-up beneficial aspects that it ’s pretty much conk out to be ready to go . So put that on your Christmas list next year if you ’re a dog or African tea owner , and if you have a hot dog or cat owner on your list that has everything it might be a cracking gift to think about , it ’s certainly much more affordable than many health monitors , so I think it ’ll be a really slap-up affair to see it come to the market and see how well it does .
