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The Best Pet Camera

By Kaitlyn Wells
Updated
Photo: Sarah Kobos

Leaving your beloved pet home alone can be distressing. A good pet camera can make your time away painless, by showing you firsthand that your pet is happy and safe, even when you’re not there.

Our pick

The Bites 2 is the best pet camera with a treats dispenser that we found—but the up-front and ongoing costs are sky high.

The Petcube Bites 2 is the best pet camera with a treats dispenser that we tested. The onboard treats dispenser works with any brand of crunchy treats that are up to 1-inch wide, and the Bites 2 won’t overfeed your pet, like other models we tested did. The camera is easy to use, and the image quality is sharp. You can securely share access to the livestream with family and friends, without compromising your login credentials. But this model is pricey—not just the initial price tag but the ongoing cost of cloud storage.

For this guide, I spoke with Mikel Delgado, a certified applied animal behaviorist and postdoctoral fellow at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, who at the time of our interview used pet cameras to aid her research into cat behavior. I also consulted Laura Linneman, a behavioral rehabilitation specialist at the ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center. She’s a certified professional dog trainer who understands canine behavior and how to get the most out of pet cameras. Finally, I sought the expertise of Wirecutter’s own smart-home expert, Rachel Cericola, who’s covered consumer electronics for more than 15 years.

A dog on a couch, with pet camera shown on a side table.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

“Pet cameras” are basically home security cameras with playful features our pets can enjoy. Pet cams let us see what’s going on at home when the pet sitter or dog walker isn’t around to answer our barrage of questions. Some models also make it easy to engage with our pets when we’re at work or on a getaway.

I asked 10 coworkers and friends about their pet camera preferences and what they valued most about them. I researched models listed on pet forums and those recommended by veterinarians, dog trainers, and animal behaviorists. And I studied best-seller listings across major retailers, such as Amazon, Chewy, Overstock, Petco, PetSmart, Walmart, and Wayfair.

Then I compiled a list of eight popular pet camera models and seven security cameras, partly informed by senior staff writer Rachel Cericola’s existing recommendations. I compared each model’s price (ranging from $25 to $350), availability across retailers, ratings, camera resolution, cloud storage, warranty, and notable features, such as night vision, two-way audio, sensors, and treats dispensers.

A screen capture from a Furbo camera, showing a dog sniffing the floor.

We tested each camera in regular and night-vision mode.

A screen capture from a Furbo camera, showing a cat close to the camera.
We noted which cameras distorted the footage during our tests. Photo: Kaitlyn Wells

I tested each device in my 700-square-foot apartment in New York City to see how each model performed in the real world, spotty internet connection and all. Then I compared their performance based on the following factors:

  • Setup and app integration: How easy is it to set up the app for the camera?
  • Image quality: Do images and video look sharp in regular and night-vision mode?
  • Audio quality: Does audio sound clear through the camera’s speaker, as well as through the app?
  • Motion and audio detection: How quickly, frequently, and accurately does each device send push alerts when it detects motion or sound?
  • Interactive features: Do the laser pointers, treats dispensers, and two-way audio and/or video features work without a hitch? How easy is it to fix a jamming treats dispenser or a janky laser pointer?
  • Durability: Is this device breakable, and are there any pieces that a pet could exploit, damage, break, or swallow?
  • Privacy policies and security: What’s the security track record for each manufacturer, and what are the policies on protecting consumer data?
A dog sniffing a Petcube camera.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

Our pick

The Bites 2 is the best pet camera with a treats dispenser that we found—but the up-front and ongoing costs are sky high.

If you really love the idea of interacting with your pet via camera, the Petcube Bites 2 is the model we recommend. It’s easy to install, offers a sharp image that family and friends can livestream, and has a wider viewing angle than any model we tested. The Bites 2’s onboard treats dispenser is more reliable than the competition’s, too. Its viewing angles—though wonderfully wide—are flawed in some positions, and audio sensors can be finicky. Plus, the Petcube’s free cloud backup lasts for only four hours, so pet owners who can’t regularly check the video history may miss out on their pets moving around. And the paid storage plan may be too expensive for a pet owner who’s hoping for only the occasional look-see.

We like the Petcube’s interface because installation is a snap; we had the Bites 2 and Play 2 smart cameras running in five minutes. The dashboard is easy to navigate, for adjusting the cloud recordings, livestream sharing, automatic treats dispensing, and more. Perhaps the most thoughtful features are the ability to mute the camera’s connecting sound alert and to mute two-way audio so the noise doesn’t disturb your pet every time you take a peek.

A person using the Petcube app to monitor their pet's activity.
Photo: Sarah Kobos

The Petcube Bites 2 produces sharp, 1080p video, with a 160-degree field of view that captures images clearly, night and day. And the digital zoom feature makes spotting an elusive cat’s tail under the bed all the easier. The camera detects motion or sound, and you can adjust the motion sensor’s sensitivity level to reduce the number of false or frequent alerts.

The Petcube has a secure, shareable livestream feed. If you share ownership of your pet with someone else, you can grant them access to the camera feed without handing them your login credentials (an option unavailable with most of the cameras I tested). Those on the family list get unlimited access, and people on the friends and public lists are restricted to accessing the feed only certain hours or days of the week.

Petcube sells two models of smart pet cameras that are nearly identical in features and performance: the Bites 2, with its treats dispenser, and the Play 2, with a laser pointer. The experts we spoke with said that treats dispensers offer only passive enrichment, and that laser pointers can cause stress among cats or lead to obsessive behaviors among dogs. If you must have an interactive element, we think the pet camera with a treats dispenser is the better and safer bet. The Petcube Bites 2 was quieter and more precise when dispensing treats compared with similar models, including the Furbo Dog Camera, PetChatz HDX, and Petzi Treat Cam.

A shooting pet treat is sure to get your pup’s attention. Video: Sarah Kobos

Using the treats dispenser is a game in itself. You open the app’s livestream and flick a bone-shaped control into the room, and the treats fly out, mirroring the distance of your flick. It’s the only model I tested with this game-like interface, and in my tests, treats flew between 1 to 6 feet away. The Bites 2 is also the only treats-dispensing model I found that had three removable treat dams, or inserts, to control how many treats release simultaneously, or to accommodate larger treats up to 1-inch wide. Typically, one to three treats dispense at a time. (Comparatively, Petzi doesn’t have a treat dam and frequently spewed out 10 treats at a time.) The Bites 2 also makes a soft, whirring sound when it launches treats, and this was less jarring than the Furbo’s and the Petzi’s grinding noise.

The Petcube Bites 2 is the best smart pet camera I tested, but it’s also one of the most expensive models. The Petcube platform stores only four hours of footage in the cloud for free, so to get anything more, you need to invest in a paid cloud storage plan.

The Petcube camera shown next to the Wyze Cam.
The Petcam Bites 2 is big enough that it can be hard to find a good place to put it. Photo: Sarah Kobos

The Bites 2 is large, so it may be difficult to place this camera in an unobtrusive spot in some homes. It measures 5.7 by 3 by 10.6 inches, and is roughly the size of a 2-liter bottle of soda. That makes it a tight fit for some bookshelves and television stands. Alternatively, you can mount it on the wall using the included drywall anchor screws, but then it’s harder to move when your pet favors another room. The camera lens exacerbates the placement issue. Petcube advises positioning the camera at least 3 feet above the ground and close to the edge of a surface for a better viewing angle. If you don’t follow that advice, you’ll be stuck staring at the wood paneling of your coffee table; the camera lens is at the base of the stand, and it has a 160-degree-wide lens, which warps the view.

A screen capture from the Bites 2 camera.
The Bites 2’s camera is located on the base of the device, which warps the view. Photo: Kaitlyn Wells

Interacting with the Bites 2 also has its challenges. Like most of the cameras I tested, with the Bites 2 there was a slight delay with its two-way audio. Though sound for the pet owner and the pet was crystal clear, I noticed a 3- to 5-second delay on the sender’s/human’s side. I blame the Bites 2’s delay on a quirk with the app’s design. You press the virtual microphone and then speak into the app to get your pet’s attention. During testing, I had to repeat myself twice before the microphone actually captured my voice.

The sensor alerts were a mixed bag. I like that you can adjust the sensitivity of the motion alerts; that reduces false alerts triggered by, say, a curtain flapping in the breeze. But I noticed that the sound alerts (which you can’t adjust) were rarely triggered, even when I projected music or recordings of dogs barking into the room.

Finally, unlike our security camera pick, the Bites 2 camera can’t be turned on and off through the app. If you’d like some extra privacy at home, you need to unplug the device, or connect it to a smart plug that you control.

The Petcube Bites 2 works with Amazon Alexa and has a one-year limited warranty.

In 2024, we plan to test the current picks in our indoor security camera guide alongside newer models from PetCube and other companies selling indoor cameras marketed specifically for pets. We will also look at some of the more affordable options in our guide to baby monitors.

  1. Mikel Maria Delgado, PhD, CAAB, CCBC, postdoctoral fellow, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, phone interview, January 7, 2020

  2. Laura Linneman, CPDT-KA, behavioral rehabilitation specialist, ASPCA Behavioral Rehabilitation Center, email interview, January 6, 2020

Meet your guide

Kaitlyn Wells

Kaitlyn Wells is a senior staff writer who advocates for greater work flexibility by showing you how to work smarter remotely without losing yourself. Previously, she covered pets and style for Wirecutter. She's never met a pet she didn’t like, although she can’t say the same thing about productivity apps. Her first picture book, A Family Looks Like Love, follows a pup who learns that love, rather than how you look, is what makes a family.

Further reading

  • Thirteen security cameras we tested side by side.

    The Best Security Cameras for Your Home

    by Rachel Cericola

    Wi-Fi security cameras can help protect your family and possessions. We’ve reviewed and picked the best models for every area of your home.

  • Our three picks for best indoor security camera, displayed next to each other in front of a yellow background.

    The Best Indoor Security Camera

    by Rachel Cericola

    Security cameras keep a watchful eye on all your prized possessions—not only your stuff, but family and pets, too—and send an alert when motion is detected.

  • The Arlo Pro 4 Spotlight Camera, one of our picks for best outdoor security camera, with a modern rounded square shape.

    The Best Outdoor Security Camera

    by Rachel Cericola

    An outdoor security camera can alert you to prowlers, package deliveries, and visitors, as well as animals in your trash and things that go bump in the night.

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