Increased anxiety and loneliness led to a boom in pet sales during lockdowns – but as offices open up again, people are having to navigate new challenges. A slew of pet-tech solutions is cropping up to relieve pet parents of the guilt of leaving home and to help alleviate separation anxiety.

While large numbers of retailers worry about their future, Pets at Home has seen its profits increase. The lockdown pet boom saw people adopting kittens and puppies in attempts to curb loneliness and, as a result, they splashed out on pet-parent memberships, accessories, and essentials.

For a new generation of pet owners, spurred on by the pandemic, the emotional health of their animals is more important than ever before. Petpuls’ AI-powered dog collar promises to deepen the pet-owner relationship and provide emotional transparency by giving dogs a voice.

Traditional pet food manufacturing processes are no longer acceptable to a new breed of pet parents who are projecting human values around health and wellbeing on to their animals. The Honest Kitchen is catering to this expectation with food that’s good enough for people to eat.