The State of Pet Wearables in 2026: From Activity Tracking to Medical-Grade Surveillance

As we move into early 2026, the landscape of pet wearable technology has reached a definitive tipping point. The era of the “pet Fitbit” - simple accelerometers that merely count steps - is officially over. In its place, a new generation of sophisticated medical surveillance tools has emerged, backed by peer-reviewed clinical validation and high-frequency biometric data.

For veterinarians and pet owners managing chronic conditions like Congestive Heart Failure (CHF), the following summary outlines the “state-of-play” as of the first quarter of 2026:

1. Market Consolidation: The End of the Whistle Era

The most significant market shift over the past year was the sudden decommissioning of the Whistle platform. Following its acquisition by Tractive in July 2025, the Whistle infrastructure was completely shut down on August 31, 2025. Thousands of devices, including the Whistle GO and Switch, are now non-functional. Tractive has subsequently emerged as the dominant mass-market player, integrating Whistle’s health features into its own ecosystem and recently launching “beta” resting heart rate and respiratory rate monitoring for its $1.4$ million active users.

2. The Arrival of Peer-Reviewed Validation

For years, clinicians remained skeptical of wearable data due to a lack of independent scrutiny. As of 2026, that gap has closed significantly:

• Maven Pet Validation: In January 2026, the American Journal of Veterinary Research (AJVR) published a milestone study on the Maven Pet system, showing a negligible bias of $-0.78$ breaths per minute (bpm) compared to manual video counting.

• The AI-COLLAR Study: Perhaps the most expansive study in pet tech history, the AI-COLLAR research published in Frontiers in Veterinary Science, validated the Invoxia (Minitailz) Biotracker’s accuracy at 99.6% for heart rate and 98.6% for respiratory rate.

3. The “60-Day Window”: A Paradigm Shift in Cardiology

Data from the AI-COLLAR study has introduced a possible new clinical protocol for monitoring dogs with degenerative mitral valve disease (DMVD). Algorithms analyzing continuous data from the Invoxia Biotracker demonstrated that a sustained increase in resting heart rate can be detected approximately 60 to 120 days before the onset of pulmonary edema (the spike in respiratory rate). This provides a massive early-warning window that manual Sleeping Respiratory Rate (SRR) counting often misses. This gives plenty of time to get specialist recheck appointments / arrange a repeat echo, and hopefully take preventative action.

4. Insights into ‘normal’ resting breathing and heart rates

The AI-COLLAR study has also reveals some great insights into normal readings:

• Age affects the HR and RR hugely, with puppies having much higher readings that drop off quickly as they mature.
• Meanwhile body weight, suprisingly, makes very little difference. With dogs of 5kg and 50kg having very similar resting heart and breathing rates.
• Season of the year has quite a huge effect, with higher respiratory rates and lower heart rates present in the summer, compared to the winter.
• Time of day - Heart and breathing rates are also universally lower at night than in the day, even though they may be asleep in the day.

5. Seismocardiography vs. Fur

Traditional optical sensors (PPG) have historically struggled with the thick double coats of many dog breeds. In 2026, the industry has pivoted toward Seismocardiography (SCG). Both Invoxia and PetPace now utilize these sensors to measure the mechanical vibrations of the heart and lungs. This technology is effectively “fur-proof,” allowing for accurate readings without the need for shaving or direct skin contact.

6. Emerging Contenders from CES 2026

The January 2026 Consumer Electronics Show introduced several newcomers focused on “predictive wellness”:

• Satellai Collar Go: Winner of multiple “Best of CES” awards, this device utilizes the multimodal Petsense AI to build a “digital twin” of the pet. Rather than raw data, it flags “micro-shifts” in behavior - such as changes in head-shaking or sleep quality - that signal illness weeks before clinical symptoms appear.

• SiiPet PawTrack: A unique “unplugged” alternative that uses 4K AI cameras to monitor respiratory effort, gait, and posture without requiring the pet to wear a collar at all. As many pets don’t get on well with wearing collars, this could be a huge gamechanger in approach…

7. UK and European Availability

Geographic limitations remain a hurdle for some devices due to the reliance on specialized LTE-M cellular networks.

• PetPace V3.0: Fully supported in the UK, utilizing a dual-connectivity approach (WiFi + LTE-M) that ensures data syncing even in rural areas.

• Invoxia Biotracker: Currently not recommended for use in the UK due to inconsistent LTE-M coverage, though it remains widely available across mainland Europe and the United States.

Summary Table: 2026 Market Leaders

Device	Focus	Key Tech	Clinical Status
PetPace V3.0	Clinical Vitals	Acoustic SCG	High Validation (10+ years)
Invoxia Biotracker	Early Disease Detection	Seismocardiography	Validated (99.6% HR Accuracy)
Maven Pet	Owner Compliance	AI-Vet™ Alerts	AJVR Validated (RR)
Satellai Collar Go	Behavior Micro-shifts	Petsense™ AI	2026 Innovation Leader
Tractive Dog 6	Safety & Trends	PPG / GPS	Wellness-Grade (Beta Vitals)

For a more detailed breakdown of individual measurements and CHF monitoring scores, please refer to our constantly updated guide.

References:

Chetboul V, Humbert E, Dougoud L and Lorre G (2025) Resting heArt and respIratory rates in dogs in their natural environment: new insights from a long-term, international, prospective study in a COhort of 703 dogs using a biometric device for LongitudinaL non-invasive cARdiorespiratory monitoring (the AI-COLLAR study). Front. Vet. Sci. 12:1667355.