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Cats are pretty independent creatures. When I’m away, I get the impression I miss mine more than he misses me. This is especially true now that I’ve introduced him to the Petzi Treat Cam. It’s a Wi-Fi-connected camera that also shoots out treats to your waiting canine or feline friend. My cat loves this thing. He’d love it even more if he could break into it.
I’ve reviewed a number of security cameras in my day, so I have no shortage of videos of my cat. He tends to trip the motion sensor… constantly. The Petzi doesn’t record video, but you can check on your pet remotely thanks to its live-streaming capabilities. You can also snap a photo, and sharing is heavily encouraged by the iOS and Android app’s social features. It’s not perfect (purr-fect?), but it does allow for some quality interaction between you and your pet when you’re not home.
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The Petzi isn’t exactly pretty. It’s plastic, white, and rectangular. There are screws for mounting it to the wall and Velcro for affixing it to a piece of furniture. Go rogue and leave it standing by itself, and your pet will knock it down. Whether he was trying to stick his face in the dispenser part of the contraption or batting at it, my cat managed to knock it over a couple times before I wised-up. You’re not supposed to just let it hang out on the floor, though. It shoots the treats, spewing nibblets in several directions, so your pet gets some exercise while going from bit to bit.
Setting up the Petzi was relatively straightforward and involved downloading the app, selecting the camera from the list of Wi-Fi networks under my phone’s settings, and going back to the app to connect the camera. It worked perfectly well the first time, but I had some issues reconnecting after I accidentally unplugged it a few days later.
There are some aspects of the treat cam that are well designed. My cat may have stuck his face in the dispenser, but he never managed to crack it open. While it’s a little annoying that you have to wrench the cover off every time you want to fill it with treats, it does seem to manage to prevent break-ins.
The back of the Petzi has channels where you can feed in the cord. This is pretty smart, because the only thing my cat loves more than treats is wires.
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To set up the app, the Petzi wants to know all the deets about your pet. It’s kind of like setting up a dating profile for your cat. I was supposed to add a description (just here for the treats), his age (a kitty never tells), species (so species-ist!), breed (well bred), size (he’s comfortable with his girth), gender (let’s just say he’s neutered), website (maybe the spiderweb on the porch?), and favorite treat (all of them). Of course, most of these had drop-down answers, so my cat’s personality couldn’t really shine through. Then I added his cutest picture (it sort of looks like he’s breakdancing) and was ready to roll.
When you open the app, you’re greeted with an array of pet pics, broken down into sections like “most popular,” “just dogs,” “just cats,” and so on. From the menu button, you can check out your pet’s profile, browse your notifications (when I posted a cat photo, five people “awwed” it), and access the camera feed (no pun intended).
The 720p camera is pretty grainy, but it gets the job done. The camera doesn’t pan or tilt, so what you see on screen is what you get, and you can’t capture video. From the camera screen, you can take a (grainy) picture, talk to your pet (the audio only goes one way, though), and shoot the treats. The little jingle that plays every time you pull up the camera on the app had a Pavlovian effect on my cat, who would lazily make his way to the camera on his own sweet time. But the feeder jammed when I was out of town once, and he was not happy. I checked on him via the app a few minutes later, and his face was right in front of the device, looking, if not disgruntled, far from gruntled, to quote P.G. Wodehouse.
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4 1/2 stars! This product is a godsend. We have a small dog with separation anxiety and this gives us a way to make our time away be better. She can hear our voices from time to time and get treats; we can see if she’s stressed or not. This little invention has done more to help us leave our dog alone than dog therapy and medication. That is saying a lot!
Having said all of that, because I anticipate buying this product again: This is the first iteration of this product and it somewhat shows, therefore four and a half stars instead of five. You can only use small round treats (the tiny bone shaped milk bones it came with got jammed) & the signal to the camera isn’t always consistent (but still more consistent and amazing than one would imagine!). It would be great if there was a more industrial strength model. A larger dog who really wants the treats inside could do some damage as the product is mostly made of plastic (probably to keep costs down, but I would think there could be different grades/models in the future). It would also be great if the camera could move or be a fish eye lens so you get an even bigger view of the space. It would also be better if the audio was two way, being able to hear if your dog is happy or stressed (whining, crying) would be helpful.
Finally, the customer support for this company is outstanding. They really care about their product and customers, that bodes very well for the future of this product.
This is a great product that has some room for improvement. I mainly purchased this because of the treat dispensing feature. I have a dog who likes to wander into the kitchen and get into the trash when I’m gone, and I wanted to find a way I could train this behavior out by rewarding him for staying in the living room. It’s been really helpful so far, but I’ve mostly used it as a way to check in on my dogs instead of a training aid.
Pros:
+ Treat dispensing feature is great. You are able to use any kinds of treats you want, although they have suggestions for what works best.
+ Video is good quality. You are able to take snapshots.
+ You can send audio.
+ Overall a good design. I worried about my dogs trying to bust open the container to get the treats but it would be hard to do so. It’s easy to mount it on the wall. It looks nice.
+ The support team is very nice. They respond promptly and they are very helpful. They seem to genuinely care about keeping their customers, unlike some dog product companies. If you have a problem with your device, I’m sure they will fix it.
+ The camera only turns on when you connect through the app.
Cons:
– Audio is only one-way. Originally, their Kickstarter said it would be two-way so I’m not sure what happened there. This feature would have been a major improvement.
– You can only view the camera through their application. It would be great if there was a way to view it online too, so I can keep an eye on it throughout the day.
– There are delays with everything. Your video is delay by a few seconds, and any interactive button you push has a delay as well. I expected a slight delay, but it’s slower than I hoped. My internet connection is fast, so that isn’t the issue here.
– Treat dispensing mechanism can use some work. They suggest hard treats that are at least 1 inch long, but even the treats they supply you with that match this description aren’t perfect. Sometimes one treat gets dispensed, sometimes 4+ do. I’ve also seen it get stuck once. I wish there was a better way to control how much got dispensed.
– Minor con, but I feel their their social feature is a waste of time. They created a new social networking site that you can upload pictures of your pets to, much like instagram and the more dog-focused Pack. It has nothing to do with the camera. I rarely even see any photos posted that are actually taken from snapshots. I wish they would have put the effort into improving another part of the application instead.
Some easier improvements: I’d like to see the addition of video recording in the future in addition to their snapshot feature. I’d also like to see a way to record video throughout the day. Currently, you’re only able to view the camera when you connect with your phone. You can’t see what happened in the past. It would also be great if you could set it up to alert you when there’s movement.
Overall, it’s a good purchase if you want to be able to interact with your pet more, instead of just watching them.