I delved into the wild world of pet tech to find the 9 best cat-care gadgets — including a feeder with facial recognition, and a self-cleaning litter box with a sealed ‘poop dungeon’

Here at TechRadar, we spend most of our days writing about gadgets for humans. So when I decided to take a deep dive into the world of pet tech, I got a surprise: our pets are just as well catered to as us homo sapiens. There’s a smart solution to just about every animal-care task you can think of, plus a few products that deliver services I would never have even thought of.

It’s a sprawling and sometimes arcane market, so for this article I’ve focused cat tech, and honed things further by focusing on gadgets that look genuinely useful. One standout for me is the Pawport — a smart, secure, space-age-looking portal that fits over your existing pet door, and opens only for your cat. I’m also enamored with the Bites 2 Lite from Petcube — a cat monitor that also dispenses treats when your kitty is being especially well behaved.