Pets have it better than their owners

Don’t believe it? Check out some of the electronic gadgets that the animals don’t have to pay for themselves:

1. BowLingual Dog Bark Translator
The BowLingual, from Japanese firm Takara, uses voiceprints to determine what your dog is trying to tell you. Simply attach the translator’s microphone to the dog collar and it will transmit the dog barks to a processor that analyses the sounds and determines which of the six emotional states the dog is in. The translator then comes up with the best match from about 200 possibilities in its database and displays it on the device’s screen.

2. Litter-Robot
This is essentially a cat litter, albeit a rather expensive one, that senses when your cat has done its stuff. It then clears away the soiled portion of the litter tray by dumping it into a plastic bag at the bottom of the machine.

3. Portable Extractor
You can also have the pleasure of removing cat pee with the Portable Extractor, which uses backlight LEDs to find urine stains.

4. Zoombak Advanced A-GPS Dog Locator
This GPS device can track the whereabouts of your dog and send e-mails to you if it strays outside defined parameters.

5. Komfort Pets Carrier
When the weather is hot, your pet dog might not want to move (or be moved) about unless the mode of transport comes with its preferred temperature setting.

6. Snif Tag
The weather is one thing. But if your dog has it too good, you’ve gotta worry if it’s getting lazy. With the Snif Tag, you can see if your best friend is getting enough exercise (not by pushing its luck, of course). The product incorporates a three-axis accelerometer and motion sensor software, and uploads data such as how much time your dog spends walking, running and sleeping via an Ethernet connection to your PC.

7. Jog A Dog
And if you’re really convinced your dog is putting on weight, get the Jog A Dog, a treadmill that forces the canine to work out on an 11-degree incline.

8. QuickFinder Deluxe
All that workout comes to naught if your pet is not properly groomed. For this purpose, the QuickFinder Deluxe might come in handy. The device uses a sensor to detect heat from blood vessels, allowing you to tell when it is safe to clip your pet’s nails.

9. Petporte
What do you do when you realise that you have been feeding your neighbour’s cats day after day? To prevent trespasssing, get the Petporte, which uses an RF IC embedded in your pet to grant access to authorised individuals.