The Future Of Pet Health Is Built On Technology, And Love

It may be easy to love your dog or cat, but it can be hard to be a good pet owner. The source of much of the difficulty is also a central challenge for pet professionals: dogs and cats can’t talk. They may have non-linguistic ways to communicate with us, but it’s hard to understand when our four-legged friends might be sick. Cats famously hide their pain, and dogs too make it difficult to notice when they’re suffering. Even when we do sense that there may be a health issue, it’s often impossible to zero in on the what and where.

The good news is that over the past decade, technological breakthroughs have been helping owners, veterinarians, breeders and shelter owners overcome these most fundamental barriers.

For Royal Canin , our half-century-long commitment to pet health has been focused on nutrition. Still, we see our work as part of a larger effort to improve the lives of dogs and cats, and their owners, working hand-in-hand with professionals to improve the health of pets. We are firmly convinced that technological innovation in such fields as wearable devices, disease diagnostics and individualization of nutrition will help shape a better future of pet health in which we are empowered to not only “hear where it hurts,” but also to anticipate and prevent illness in the first place.

Data from wearables is precious information for a pet’s health

The digital revolution is reshaping how we all live our lives — and that’s also very much the case for veterinary medicine and pet nutrition. You may have already seen smart collars, which have been making it easier to locate a missing pet. But newly designed collars, vests and other AI-driven wearables can monitor pet activity levels, the speed at which they eat and sleeping patterns, generating data that paint a precise picture of their well-being — and communicate problems in real-time.

The advances in how to process the data have been no less impressive, with new diagnostic technology equipping owners and professionals with the tools and knowledge to better understand the current state of the pet’s health. Today, for example, periodontal disease can be spotted with a quick swab in the mouth. Combining blood and urine samples with the power of algorithms and AI, professionals can predict the risk of renal damage and disease much earlier than in the past and let us get to work quickly to prevent it.

Technology is also emerging that enables professionals and owners to understand the nutritional needs of pets and unlock the full potential of the right diet. We are proud to be at the forefront of progress in this field, having recently launched Royal Canin Individualis, a state-of-the-art program that harnesses the power of data science and AI to provide the most individualized nutritional solutions for each pet.

Individualis offers a tailor-made diet for every single pet

Vets have always adapted diets to the profile and conditions of cats and dogs but doing so was problematic when pets face multiple conditions. The risk was to prioritize one pathology over others, and sometimes do more harm than good. Individualis allows vets to design diets that consider all of a pet’s characteristics, including 11 risk factors such as breed, age, activity, lifestyle, and neutering status. A tailor-made diet becomes a tangible benefit that vets can help deliver to cats and dogs by fusing their professional diagnosis with the power of data.

Technology is sure to continue shaping the future of pet health, empowering vets to be more efficient, and owners to take the best possible care of their pets. It also brings us new digital platforms that allow for more e-visits with vets, educational and training programs, and convenient delivery of products to owners.

At Royal Canin, we work with pet professionals because of our shared passion for providing the most advanced care possible to support cats and dogs health. And yes, we too sometimes can’t put into words just how much we love our pets and how valuable this partnership is to us.?That’s why we jointly will continue developing the expertise and knowledge for benefit of cats and dogs. Therefore, I’m pleased to invite you to the upcoming 2021 Vet Symposium – one more Royal Canin event dedicated to vets and pet professionals – on September 28 & 29. Please sign up and join us for free at:?https://bit.ly/3xZ0Xgb . I’m looking forward to seeing you there!