27/08/2026
Best pet health monitors for dogs with chronic conditions
The pet health monitoring market looks like one category. It isn't.
We compared five of the most widely discussed devices - including Maven, FitBark, and Tractive - against our own line. The split that emerged is worth understanding if you're building or sourcing in this space.
Lifestyle and behavior trackers measure movement. They use accelerometers to infer activity, sleep, and rest. Good tools for trend monitoring. But they estimate health from behavior, not the other way around.
BCG-based monitors work differently. Ballistocardiography captures the mechanical waveform of each heartbeat directly. From that one signal: heart rate, respiratory rate, and HRV. Continuously. Not estimated from motion data.
For dogs managing chronic conditions - cardiac disease, epilepsy, respiratory illness - that distinction is the one owners feel when something changes at 3am and they need to know what happened.
Our devices use BCG. One comes in at 20g with a 7.8mm profile. The other adds 4G GPS and geofencing. Both are IP67 waterproof, CE/FCC certified, and available for OEM customization.
You're probably already counting your dog's breaths at 3am, phone timer running, trying not to wake him. The monitor strapped to his collar should be doing that for you.