Best of CES 2023: Pet tech's smart collar, litter robot

LAS VEGAS (AP) — From a litter box that automatically cleans itself to buttons designed to allow your dog to communicate with you, this year’s CES tech show in Las Vegas featured a range of products aimed at gadget-loving pet owners.

Big and small companies representing everything from the food to the automobile industries put their latest products on display at the show, which wrapped up Sunday.

While some of the products are already available for purchase in the U.S., others, like Ilume's smart dog bowl, are not yet.

But whether you're hoping to keep your dog on an optimum diet, or you want to avoid the unpleasant work of cleaning your cat’s litter box, there are a lot of gadgets out there aimed at making pet owning easier.

Here are some of the pet tech products showcased at CES:

A FITNESS TRACKER FOR YOUR DOG

If you wonder what your dog is doing while you’re not home, French startup Invoxia has a product for you. The company’s smart dog collar monitors your pet’s activity and sleep, sending the data to your phone.

The latest version unveiled at CES, which has a GPS tracker, includes more advanced heart health monitoring.

The collar is $149 in the U.S., with a monthly $8.25 subscription for an app that monitors the data and shares it with your veterinarian.

‘TALKING’ PETS

Have you ever wondered what your dog would say if it could speak to you?

FluentPet promises the next best thing — buttons the company says you can train your pet to push if it’s hungry, needs to go outside or wants to play.

The buttons come in a hexagon-shaped plastic mat the company calls a hextile. Hextiles can be connected to each other to form a bigger collection of buttons.

“We find that actually, when dogs kind of know that they’re being...