Amazon Alexa isn’t just a phenomenal voice assistant for the needs, wants, and personalized automations of human beings, but it is all that for our pets, too. Except the common features, like shopping for pet supplies, setting home temperature, routine reminders and notifications, "away" turning on and off of home lighting, and even donations, there are some interesting skills you can use to take care of you cat. We've put together this guide to familiarize you and your family with several of Alexa's pet-friendly features.
Soothing music for your cat
Pets sometimes can be difficult to deal with, especially when they are anxious or hyper. When we’re away, when there’s a storm, or when a stranger visits that your pet isn’t used to, your cat may not hiss, but they may still be anxious deep down. Under these circumstances playing music can be one of the remedies that the pet owners can use to calm their pets down and this is where fantastic skills like Calm My Cat come into play. All you need to do is to enable this skill is say, “Alexa, open Calm My Cat” and it will play soothing, pet-friendly music to calm your furry companion.
And if you’re not a fan of the yoga-adjacent playlists that Calm My Cat bring to the table, you can always program an Alexa Routine that will start streaming music from a playlist of your own choosing, whether that be through Spotify, Apple Music, or another Alexa-supported streamer.
Alexa can talk to your cat
Worried about your furry best friends when you're at work all day? They're probably missing you too, so why not have Alexa entertain them while you're gone? You'll need to download Meow skill in the Alexa app for cat lovers. The way it works is Alexa acts as a virtual cat and converses with your pet by meowing. Alexa can start the "conversation" and once your pet responds, the virtual assistant will continue mimicking the animal sounds. Just say, "Alexa, enable Meow" and your pets will be entertained all day.
Finding your cat
It's part of a cat's normal behavior to hide – whether this is finding a safe place to sleep, lying in wait to pounce on a toy, or just because they feel safer hidden away. Kitty skill is a specially-designed cat call that encourages your cat to come out from hiding. If you have a shy cat that prefers to hide when you have company, gets lost, or sleeps under furniture, use this skill to call for your cat and your kitty will come out to play with Alexa.
Smart home cameras
Our pets relish our company and are often devastated when we head to work or hit the road for a little getaway, so what can we do to remind them that we still exist and to still interact with them? That’s where a smart home camera comes into play, and thankfully, most reputable brands are all about interactivity these days with two-way chat abilities. Let’s say you want to be able to simply land a set of eyes on your four-legged friend. Well, just about any smart security camera, indoor or outdoor, is going to give you the ability to call up a live feed from a remote location, and Alexa can help you jumpstart this real-time footage through some Alexa Routine customizations. For many pets, nothing is more calming than the sound of their owner’s reassuring words.
Reminders
Much like the keys you always misplace, Alexa can remind you to give medication to your cat and which medication to give. You can set a reminder and Alexa will remind you. You can also tell Alexa that you gave medicine to your pet and if you later can't remember it, Alexa will let you know you already did. Alexa can remind you to trim your cat's nails, groom your cat, feed your cat or give treats, etc.
Home safety
Alexa Guard is a home security feature built right into the speaker. Say “Alexa, I’m leaving” to your Amazon Echo and it will activate guard mode, listening for breaking glass and smoke and carbon monoxide alarms. Alexa will send you Smart Alerts via notifications to your phone if an Echo device detects those sounds while you are away.
