It may be distressing to leave your beloved pet at home alone. When you’re away from home, a good pet camera shows you that your pet is happy and safe even if you aren’t there.
But after extensive testing and research, we found that most pet owners do not need a high-tech camera for their pets. Our favorite low-cost security camera, the Wyze Cam, offers a comparable level of protection. Remote engagement with your pet is made possible with a specialized pet camera, but that camera is larger and more expensive because of the extra features it offers.
Our recommendation is the Petcube, which allows you to send your pet treats even if you’re miles away. You don’t have to worry about accidentally overfeeding your pet because of the treats dispenser. The wide viewing angle makes it easy to see your elusive companion in the corner of a vast room, thanks to the guest portal.
Wyze vs Petcube
Wyze
Even though it’s the cheapest device in our review, our small security camera performs everything we’ve come to expect from a pet camera. For the price of a single camera from the competition, you can cover your whole home with Wyze Cams, which are easy to set up and operate, and record video clear enough to see a grey cat dozing on a grey couch.
If you share pet ownership with someone else or want everyone to see how gorgeous your pet is, you may provide visitors access to your feed without revealing your account password. The Wyze Cam, on the other hand, does not contain a food dispenser or laser pointer, but our research has shown that these features may be confusing and perhaps harmful to many dogs.
Place it on a shelf or attach it to the wall anywhere in the home, thanks to its compact size. In just five minutes, you can connect the Wyze Cam, download the app, and follow the onscreen instructions to get it set up.
Wyze cameras can be seen in a centralized location on the app dashboard, where you can access their camera settings and watch footage from their cameras that was recorded throughout the day.
At night, the Wyze Cam can take videos at 10 frames per second and has a 110-degree field of vision. Wyze’s new cloud feature offers 14 days of free rolling storage. When motion or sound is detected by the camera, it saves 12-second clips in the dashboard’s Events section and sends the recordings to the cloud securely.
Petcube
The Petcube emerged as one of the top picks for the best pet camera with a reward dispenser. The built-in food dispenser can take any brand of crunchy treats up to 1 inch in diameter. Unlike other models we tested, the Bites 2 won’t give your pet too much food.
The camera is easy to use, and the pictures it takes are excellent. You can provide family and friends access to live streams without putting your login information at risk. But this idea is pricey, both for the initial purchase and the monthly cost of $48 to $120 for cloud storage.
It’s easy to set up, has the widest viewing angle of any model, and gives you a clear picture that you can share with family and friends. The camera can pick up on motion or sound, and you can change how sensitive the motion sensor is so that you don’t get too many or too few false alarms.
A safe, shared streaming broadcast comes with the Petcube. If you own your pet with someone else, you can let that person watch the video stream without giving them your login information. The Bites 2 and the Play 2 smart pet cameras from Petcube are basically the same in terms of features and how they work. The Bites 2 has a food dispenser, and the Play 2 has a laser pointer.