Integrating Tech into the Clinical Plan

For those inclined to dismiss the idea entirely: If a client chooses to use a smart collar, consider viewing it as a tool to strengthen the partnership between the owner and the veterinary team (although we need to be clear that it is not a vet replacement). 

Owners can be encouraged to continue performing manual SRR counts initially, both to build confidence in the collar data and to better understand their pet’s normal baseline. Some devices, such as the Maven collar, have shown excellent agreement between manual and machine-recorded respiratory rates in published studies.

Reference: Murphy et al. 2025 (PMID: 41145070) Murphy, K. E., Benjamin, E. J., Leigh, R., & Adin, D. (2025). The Maven Pet Smart Collar system shows small bias compared to manually counted resting respiratory rates in healthy dogs. American journal of veterinary research, 87(1), ajvr.25.06.0220.

That said, these technologies are still relatively new and there may well be limitations or patient-specific factors that we do not yet fully understand. Ideally, the focus should remain on trends – small but consistent changes over 5-10 days are often far more meaningful than a single isolated high reading. However, it is essential to remind clients that medications such as furosemide or pimobendan should never be adjusted independently based on collar data alone.

The data also allows for much more objective follow-up discussions. Instead of a vague impression that a pet is “doing well”, an owner may be able to report that night-time restlessness has doubled over the past week, or that resting respiratory rates are gradually creeping upwards. This could be genuinely useful feedback!

How should we use the data?

For patients at higher risk of developing congestive heart failure (such as those with stage B2 myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) or advanced hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM)), these devices may provide valuable insights. We often monitor these patients for months or even years, watching for signs of congestive heart failure (CHF) that may never actually develop.

They can be particularly useful in anxious patients that dislike close observation, or in pets that sleep in locations where owners cannot easily monitor them manually.

If the SRR exceeds 30 breaths per minute, or if the patient develops worsening cough, exercise intolerance or syncope, formal reassessment is indicated. If the SRR is rising rapidly and the patient is clinically struggling, oxygen therapy and parenteral furosemide may be warranted. For pets already receiving diuretics, these metrics may also help significantly when titrating and fine-tuning doses to control pulmonary congestion.

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And what about heart rate?

The recent AI-COLLAR study demonstrated that monitoring resting heart rate in a dog progressing towards congestive heart failure may have provided as much as a 60-day warning before overt decompensation occurred. This does fit with what we would physiologically expect – as patients approach CHF, sympathetic nervous system activation gradually drives the resting heart rate higher, often well before overt clinical deterioration becomes apparent.

What can we tell clients?

At present, the Maven smart collar is the only consumer device currently available in the United Kingdom with a published validation study assessing respiratory rate accuracy in dogs, although others are likely to follow.

Ultimately, these tools help make home monitoring more objective and may improve our ability to detect subtle deterioration earlier.

But we should still be clear about the limitations:

• Likely most useful in stage B2 and stage C patients; considerably less useful in stage B1 disease.
• Cannot determine whether a patient would benefit from medications such as pimobendan or clopidogrel.
• SRR trends may help assess whether the lungs remain free of congestion, but respiratory rates can also be influenced by many non-cardiac factors.
• Resting heart rate may also prove valuable, although the evidence is still emerging.
• Activity and sleep data may become useful adjuncts, but are probably less reliable and easily influenced by other conditions, particularly chronic pain.
• These devices currently cannot reliably detect arrhythmias and are not a replacement for Holter monitoring.

As with most things in cardiology, context remains everything. Smart collars are unlikely to replace careful clinical assessment any time soon, but they may become a very useful extra piece of the puzzle and strengthen the dialogue between owners and their practices.

Download our info sheets for pet owners