Fitness Trackers Could Mean Insurance Savings For Pet Owners

MoreThan has partnered with PitPat — which offers a FitBit type device for dogs — and will offer up to £100 in cash rewards for people who help their furry friends meet specific health goals.

According to The Financial Times, customers who take out a new MoreThan pet insurance policy for a dog will also be given the option of signing up for the PitPat Life subscription service for £4 a month. That fee includes the collar-mounted PitPat activity monitor that will track the dog’s exercise levels, as well as create daily exercise goals based on the pet’s age, weight and breed.

Users then earn points for helping their pet reach these goals and carrying out such tasks as weighing their dog on a regular basis. If the owner is able to accomplish the exercise goal with their pet every day for a year, the maximum reward of £100 can then be unlocked. Instead of taking the cash, owners can also redeem the points for rewards including money off dog food, a caricature of your pet, or renewing the MoreThan insurance policy.

“Happy and healthy dogs lead longer and richer lives,” said Andrew Moore, director of pet claims at MoreThan and a qualified vet. “The love we have for our canine friends means it can be easy to overfeed them, with our research showing 50 percent of dogs are overweight due to being overindulged by their owner.

The PitPat activity monitor has already been on the market for three years, with the company working during that time to upgrade the device, said PitPat’s founder Andy Nowell.

“We realized that dogs roll in poo. The monitor is now waterproof, has a battery life of a year and the Velcro is replaceable,” he explained.

By the end of 2020, PitPat Life, which has already expanded into Denmark, would like to have 50,000 members.