Best Pet Cameras
Stay Connected With Your Pet Even When You’re Not Home
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Pet cameras are designed for all kinds of pet owners. Some pet lovers can’t bear to be apart from their dog or cat (and some pets can’t bear to be apart from their owners). Others, however, just need to keep an eye on their furry little troublemakers when they leave the house, whether they’re tearing up furniture or barking up a storm that’ll wake the entire neighborhood.
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Pet cameras are a convenient way to keep you connected with your dog or cat, whether it’s for interacting with your pet, monitoring your pet for bad behavior or just to be entertained by your pet’s actions in your absence. (Like, for example, solving the mystery of how the treat drawer gets opened every time you leave the house.) You can even use pet cameras to keep an eye on pet sitters when you are out of town.
What to Look for When Buying a Pet Camera
Pet cameras can be as simple as a device that allows you to stream video of your dog through an app, or far more advanced with interactive features like treat dispensers or video chats. Here’s what to keep in mind as you search for the best pet camera for your particular needs:
- Capture Quality: If you only need to monitor what your pet is up to during the day, a 720p video stream should do just fine. But if you’ll be monitoring in darkness, you’ll need to ensure your pet camera has night vision. And, if you’re hoping to capture cute images or video to share on social media, your pet camera should boast at least 1080p quality.
- Purpose: Do you need the pet camera to simply monitor your dog or cat while you’re away? Or do you need it to help you reign in a misbehaving pet? Depending on your use case, you may be able to get away with a simple pet camera that just provides video. However, pet cameras with two-way audio are still quite fun to have, even if you don’t need to constantly pop in to tell Fido to get off the couch.
- Treats or No Treats: Some pet cameras double as a treat dispenser which — in tandem with two-way audio — can be really effective for training your pet to engage in good behavior while you’re away. They’re also just a nice way to show some affection when you can’t physically be there with your pet.
- Budget: High-end pet cameras can run you well over $100, but they may have more features than you really need. You can find a ton of cheaper but equally effective models at a much more affordable price if you just need some simple monitoring.
With that criteria in mind, we rounded up some of the best pet cameras you can buy right now.
