Give pets a voice

Domethics s.r.l. is an Italian company from Torino, focusing primarily on smart homes, telemedicine, energy efficiency and general well-being. With their Carepet system they won the Next Award for Pet Innovators at Zoomark 2025 in Bologna. Domethics manufactures wearables and IoT products: smartwatches, Adriano, the winner of the ‘Innovation Awards 2022’ at CES in Las Vegas, and Carepet. Carepet is a project to collect data on heart rate, breathing, sleep and environmental information to give pets a voice. The data allows to identify mobility issues, monitor heart conditions and detect night-time itching attacks and share them with you vet. PET worldwide spoke with founder Mirko Bretto about his new product.

Domethics is an innovative SME established in 2018, although the founding team has been working together since 2012. The name comes from the union of Domotics and Ethics, because when we founded the company, we decided to focus exclusively on activities with a positive impact in terms of social sustainability. All the founders grew up inspired by Adriano Olivetti, a visionary entrepreneur who was among the first to understand that technological innovation is only meaningful if it also carries social sustainability. For this reason, every one of our projects is guided by the principle of Innovability.

We have been working in the field of smart homes for many years. Our first product, called Adriano, is a system that gives a second life to unused smartphones and tablets, transforming them into gateways for the smart home. But no home can truly be called smart if, besides taking care of the well-being of the humans living in it, it does not also consider the well-being of the animals who share that space. This is why in 2020 we decided to develop a product dedicated to their welfare.

Analyzing post-Covid data, we observed an increase in pet adoptions but also a sharp rise in abandonments, which grew at double-digit rates. In Italy alone, more than 80,000 dogs and 50,000 cats are abandoned every year, and the main reason is often linked to healthcare costs. Many new owners, driven by the excitement of the moment, were not prepared to cover veterinary expenses: just consider that the average annual cost for a dog is about 1,562 euros, of which 341 euros are for medical care, while for a cat it is 1,208 euros, with 194 euros dedicated to health.

As with humans, prevention is better than cure. But while we can communicate our symptoms, our pets cannot speak: being able to detect early signs of discomfort becomes crucial. With Carepet, we decided to monitor key vital parameters — heart rate, respiration, amount and quality of rest, and movements during sleep — in order to obtain early indicators of health and wellness.

Carepet is an intelligent bed, equipped with integrated sensors within an orthopedic honeycomb foam mattress, covered with a waterproof and breathable cover and an anti-slip base. The connected app collects the data, compares them daily with clinical standards for each breed and age, and processes them through AI to create personalized trends. This allows the owner to receive real-time insights into their pet’s condition and, if necessary, a suggestion to consult a veterinarian.

Our goal is not to replace the work of veterinarians but to provide them with a reliable tool. Users can share the collected data history with their vet, giving professionals a broader knowledge base to make diagnoses or monitor specific conditions. In certain cases, such as heart disease, the veterinarian can even recommend the use of Carepet to ensure continuous, non-invasive monitoring.

Our app is in constant development. By the end of the year, we aim to expand its features, adding personalized tips on nutrition and activities, and introducing a guided questionnaire to help those who wish to adopt find the pet most suitable for their lifestyle and living environment.

But our vision goes further: We want Carepet to become a truly essential digital tool for pet owners. That’s why we are creating a kind of electronic health record for pets, where all vital signs, past visits, treatments, medications, and vaccinations are stored in one place. Thanks to automatic reminders, owners will receive notifications for regular check-ups, vaccine boosters, or preventive visits.

We are also working on integration with pet insurance providers and telemedicine platforms, making professional advice more accessible and easing the financial burden on families. In addition, the app will feature a dedicated user community, where owners can exchange experiences, share advice, and receive tailored suggestions.