The Verge's Favorite Pet Gear for 2025* – The Verge's editorial team shares their top picks for innovative pet gear, including smart fountains, automatic litter boxes, and travel carriers.

The Verge's Favorite Pet Gear for 2025 – Innovation Meets Furry Companionship

Pets are no longer just animals we care for—they’re family members. As technology continues to evolve, so does the world of pet gear, with smart fountains, advanced litter boxes, health-monitoring collars, interactive toys, and travel solutions designed to make life easier for both pets and their humans. In 2025, The Verge’s editorial team curated a list of their favorite pet gear innovations, focusing on functionality, safety, convenience, and enrichment. From automatic hydration solutions to stylish travel carriers, these picks highlight how technology is transforming modern pet care.

This article provides a deep dive into the best pet gear of 2025, offering insights into the products The Verge recommends most, how they benefit pets, and why they’re worth investing in.

The Rise of Smart Pet Gear in 2025

The global pet care market has been booming for years, but 2025 represents a turning point. With more people working hybrid jobs and spending increased time with their pets, demand for smart, automated, and sustainable pet products has skyrocketed. Companies are now leveraging AI, IoT, and eco-friendly design to create solutions that go beyond basic care.

• Hydration is smarter with water fountains that filter, monitor, and even remind owners when to refill.
• Feeding has become personalized with AI-controlled smart feeders that adapt to dietary needs.
• Litter management is now largely hands-free thanks to advanced, odor-free systems.
• Travel with pets is easier, with ergonomic carriers and GPS-enabled safety features.
• Playtime is interactive, with toys powered by AI that prevent boredom and promote activity.

Against this backdrop, The Verge’s team reviewed and selected standout products in categories that matter most to pet owners today.

Smart Fountains: Hydration With Intelligence

One of the top concerns for pet owners—especially cat parents—is hydration. Cats, in particular, are prone to kidney and urinary issues if they don’t drink enough water. That’s why smart water fountains have become essential in modern homes.

1. PetHydro Flow+ 2025 Edition

The Verge’s top fountain pick, the PetHydro Flow+, combines sleek design with high-tech features. Equipped with triple filtration (carbon, mesh, and UV sterilization), it ensures clean water at all times. Its AI-driven app integration allows owners to:

• Monitor daily water intake.
• Receive dehydration alerts.
• Sync data with vet-recommended hydration goals.

The fountain also has a silent motor and a wireless charging base, reducing clutter and making maintenance easier.

2. AquaWhisker AI Fountain

Designed specifically for cats, the AquaWhisker uses motion sensors to detect when a pet approaches, releasing a gentle stream of fresh water. The Verge praised its low power consumption, app-free simplicity, and sustainably sourced materials.

Automatic Litter Boxes: Cleanliness Without the Hassle

No product category has seen more growth than automatic litter boxes. Once clunky and unreliable, the latest designs are hygienic, quiet, and odor-resistant.

3. LitterLux Pro 2025

The Verge editors unanimously highlighted the LitterLux Pro as the gold standard of self-cleaning litter boxes. Its key features include:

• AI-based waste detection that adjusts cleaning cycles to your cat’s habits.
• An integrated odor-neutralizing system using activated charcoal and ionization.
• Smart app notifications for low litter levels or full waste drawers.

Owners love its eco-friendly litter compatibility, cutting down on plastic waste.

4. WhiskerBot Lite

A more budget-friendly option, the WhiskerBot Lite offers semi-automatic cleaning with fewer moving parts. The Verge notes it’s ideal for small apartments or first-time cat owners who want convenience without spending too much.

Travel Carriers: Safety and Comfort on the Go

As people return to travel—whether by road, rail, or air—pet travel carriers have evolved from simple crates to smart travel systems.

5. PawPorter Air+

The Verge selected PawPorter Air+ as the best all-around travel carrier of 2025. Designed for both cats and small dogs, it combines:

• Airline-approved sizing with expandable compartments.
• Built-in ventilation fans to regulate temperature.
• GPS-enabled tracking to prevent lost pets during travel.

It even comes with removable comfort pads and noise-dampening walls, reducing stress for anxious pets.

6. NomadPaws Explorer

For road trips, NomadPaws Explorer is The Verge’s top choice. It doubles as a car seat and travel carrier, with seatbelt integration and shock-absorbing materials. Pet parents praised its ergonomic design, which prevents pets from feeling cramped on long journeys.

Smart Collars and Health Trackers

With wearables now common for humans, it was inevitable that pets would get their own health-tracking collars. These devices help owners and vets monitor wellness in real time.

7. FitPet Halo Collar 3.0

The Verge hailed this as a game-changer for pet health. Features include:

• Real-time activity tracking (steps, sleep cycles, calories burned).
• Location tracking with geofencing alerts.
• AI-driven insights that recommend diet or exercise adjustments.

Data can be shared directly with veterinarians, making routine check-ups more informed.

Interactive Toys: Enrichment for Mind and Body

Pets, especially indoor cats and dogs, need stimulation. Smart toys in 2025 are AI-powered companions that adapt to pets’ moods and play styles.

8. RoboFetch Max

A smart ball launcher that adapts to your dog’s energy level. It features:

• Adjustable throwing ranges.
• Built-in treat dispenser for rewards.
• Safety sensors to prevent accidents indoors.

9. PurrPlay AI Mouse

Designed for cats, the PurrPlay AI Mouse mimics real prey with unpredictable movement patterns. The Verge loved its silent motor and replaceable, eco-friendly parts, making it both entertaining and sustainable.

Sustainable and Eco-Friendly Pet Gear

Sustainability was a recurring theme in The Verge’s recommendations. From biodegradable litter to carriers made of recycled plastics, 2025 marks a shift toward environmentally conscious pet ownership.

• EcoPaws Plant-Based Litter: Dust-free, compostable, and odor-resistant.
• GreenTail Travel Gear: Uses recycled ocean plastics for leashes, collars, and harnesses.

The Verge emphasized that sustainability isn’t just a trend—it’s becoming an expectation in pet product design.

Why The Verge’s Picks Stand Out

The Verge team didn’t just select products based on novelty—they focused on real-world usability. Their top criteria included:

1. Safety: Every product must prioritize pet well-being.
2. Ease of Use: Gear should simplify owners’ lives, not complicate them.
3. Durability: Products that withstand daily use scored higher.
4. Sustainability: Eco-friendly options received special recognition.
5. Value for Money: Innovation must be balanced with affordability.

The Verge’s Favorite Pet Gear for 2025 highlights a fascinating shift in how technology, design, and sustainability are reshaping modern pet care, where pets are treated not just as animals but as family members whose comfort, safety, and health matter as much as those of humans, and the editorial team has curated a selection of standout innovations ranging from smart fountains and automatic litter boxes to advanced travel carriers, health-monitoring collars, interactive toys, and eco-friendly solutions, making 2025 the year pet tech truly became indispensable. At the forefront of hydration solutions, The Verge praised the PetHydro Flow+ 2025 Edition, a beautifully designed smart fountain that uses triple filtration including carbon, mesh, and UV sterilization to provide safe drinking water while offering app integration to track intake, alert owners of dehydration risks, and even sync hydration goals with vet recommendations, all running quietly with a wireless charging base that eliminates clutter, while the AquaWhisker AI Fountain won attention for its cat-specific design that uses motion sensors to release a stream only when a pet approaches, offering simplicity, sustainability, and energy efficiency. Cleanliness also saw dramatic innovation, with automatic litter boxes becoming mainstream, and The Verge hailed the LitterLux Pro 2025 as the gold standard, with AI-powered waste detection that tailors cleaning cycles to each cat’s habits, an odor-neutralizing system with charcoal and ionization, app notifications for low litter levels, and compatibility with eco-friendly biodegradable litter, making it not only convenient but sustainable, while the WhiskerBot Lite was chosen as a budget-friendly semi-automatic option ideal for first-time cat parents or those in smaller living spaces. Travel carriers have been reinvented too, responding to pet parents’ needs for safe and stress-free journeys, and The Verge’s top pick PawPorter Air+ combined airline-approved sizing with expandable compartments, built-in ventilation fans, GPS-enabled tracking, noise-dampening walls, and removable comfort pads, all of which reduce anxiety for pets during air travel, while the NomadPaws Explorer was favored for road trips, doubling as both a car seat and carrier with shock-absorbing materials and ergonomic design to keep pets safe and comfortable on long drives. Wearable tech has entered the pet world in the form of smart collars and health trackers, and the FitPet Halo Collar 3.0 emerged as a game-changer, offering real-time tracking of activity, sleep cycles, and calorie burn, along with GPS-based geofencing alerts to prevent pets from wandering too far, plus AI-driven health insights that suggest diet and exercise adjustments, with the added advantage of data-sharing features that allow veterinarians to receive accurate activity reports during check-ups, thus making pet healthcare more proactive and precise. Entertainment is equally important for pets, especially for indoor animals that may suffer from boredom, and The Verge applauded interactive toys like RoboFetch Max, a smart ball launcher that adjusts its throwing range depending on a dog’s energy level and even rewards with treats, while PurrPlay AI Mouse for cats mimicked the behavior of prey with unpredictable movements and a silent motor, using eco-friendly replaceable parts to combine fun with sustainability. Speaking of sustainability, 2025 also marked a turning point where eco-conscious pet ownership became the norm rather than the exception, with innovations like EcoPaws Plant-Based Litter that is compostable, dust-free, and odor-resistant, or GreenTail Travel Gear crafted from recycled ocean plastics to create durable leashes, collars, and harnesses, reflecting an industry-wide commitment to reducing environmental impact. The Verge’s editors were careful to evaluate products not just on novelty but on safety, durability, ease of use, affordability, and ecological responsibility, ensuring that each recommendation represents meaningful value for pet parents. Altogether, these products represent a remarkable convergence of automation, artificial intelligence, ergonomic design, and green innovation, showing how pet care has advanced from simple bowls and cages to a realm where hydration, feeding, cleanliness, comfort, and mental stimulation are all optimized with smart solutions, making life better for both pets and their humans. The Verge concluded that the PetHydro Flow+ sets a new bar for smart hydration, the LitterLux Pro redefines litter management, PawPorter Air+ takes travel convenience to the next level, and FitPet Halo Collar 3.0 makes pet wellness quantifiable and actionable, while interactive toys and eco-friendly products underline the need for balanced enrichment and environmental responsibility, and collectively, these gear choices illustrate how technology is no longer an optional luxury in pet care but an essential partner in ensuring health, happiness, and harmony for furry companions in 2025 and beyond.

The Verge’s Favorite Pet Gear for 2025 represents not only a carefully curated list of innovative tools and accessories but also a reflection of how technology, design, and sustainability are reshaping the way people care for their furry companions, because in today’s world pets are no longer seen simply as animals living in the household but rather as beloved family members whose health, safety, comfort, and emotional well-being are treated with the same seriousness as human needs, and this cultural shift has pushed companies and designers to create smarter, safer, and more efficient products that anticipate challenges and make everyday pet parenting easier, cleaner, and more enjoyable; in this landscape The Verge editorial team highlighted standout picks that include smart water fountains designed to monitor hydration and prevent illness, automatic litter boxes that remove the dreaded daily scooping chore, advanced travel carriers that ease stress during movement, wearable collars that track health data, interactive AI-powered toys to keep boredom away, and sustainable accessories that reduce environmental footprints, together showing how 2025 has become a landmark year for pet tech. For hydration, one of the most critical aspects of pet wellness, The Verge praised the PetHydro Flow+ 2025 Edition which combines stylish modern design with advanced triple filtration including carbon, mesh, and UV sterilization to ensure the water is always fresh and safe while its AI-driven app integration tracks how much a cat or dog drinks, sends alerts if intake drops below healthy levels, and can even sync with vet-recommended goals, all while running silently with a wireless charging base that reduces clutter, and for cat parents seeking something simpler the AquaWhisker AI Fountain caught attention for its motion-sensor system that releases a stream only when the pet approaches, thereby saving power, reducing noise, and appealing to eco-conscious owners with its sustainably sourced materials. Cleanliness, another universal concern, has seen massive leaps with automatic litter boxes finally achieving reliability, and The Verge described the LitterLux Pro 2025 as the gold standard because it uses AI to detect a cat’s habits and adjust cleaning cycles accordingly, integrates an odor-neutralizing system with charcoal and ionization to eliminate smells, sends smart notifications when litter is low or the waste drawer is full, and even works with biodegradable litters to reduce plastic waste, making it both hygienic and eco-friendly, while the WhiskerBot Lite stood out as a more affordable semi-automatic version suitable for small apartments or new cat owners who want a simple solution without investing in premium tech. Traveling with pets has always been stressful but now it is made easier with smart carriers, and The Verge selected PawPorter Air+ as the best for flights because it is airline-approved yet expandable, fitted with built-in ventilation fans to regulate airflow, GPS-enabled tracking in case luggage gets misplaced, noise-dampening walls to reduce anxiety, and removable comfort pads for coziness, while for road trips the NomadPaws Explorer earned praise as it doubles as a car seat and carrier, complete with shock-absorbing materials and ergonomic design that ensures pets remain safe and comfortable even during long journeys. Wearable technology has entered the pet world as well, and the FitPet Halo Collar 3.0 was celebrated as a revolutionary device because it tracks activity levels, sleep cycles, and calories burned while offering GPS location tracking with customizable geofencing alerts to keep pets safe from wandering too far, plus AI-powered insights that recommend diet or exercise changes, and the ability to share this real-time health data with veterinarians means owners can have more precise and proactive check-ups. But health and travel are only part of the story because play and mental stimulation are equally vital for pet happiness, and The Verge highlighted interactive toys like RoboFetch Max, a smart ball launcher that adjusts its throwing distance depending on a dog’s energy level and dispenses treats as rewards, ensuring safe and engaging exercise, and PurrPlay AI Mouse for cats, which simulates prey with unpredictable movement patterns, operates silently, and uses eco-friendly replaceable parts, offering both sustainability and endless entertainment. Speaking of eco-consciousness, sustainability was a major theme in 2025’s pet gear market, with The Verge spotlighting EcoPaws Plant-Based Litter that is compostable, dust-free, and odor-resistant as well as GreenTail Travel Gear, which produces durable leashes, collars, and harnesses out of recycled ocean plastics, showing how companies are aligning pet ownership with environmental responsibility. What makes The Verge’s list so valuable is that products were not chosen merely for being novel or futuristic but were evaluated against practical criteria such as safety, durability, ease of use, affordability, and ecological responsibility, ensuring that recommendations genuinely improve the lives of both pets and owners. The underlying conclusion is that 2025 marks the year when automation, artificial intelligence, ergonomic design, and sustainability converged to transform pet care into something smarter, safer, and more compassionate, where hydration is monitored in real time, litter boxes clean themselves, travel becomes less stressful, collars serve as health assistants, toys provide intelligent stimulation, and accessories contribute to a greener planet, proving that pet tech is no longer an optional luxury but an essential part of responsible ownership. In summary, The Verge positioned the PetHydro Flow+ as the leader in hydration, the LitterLux Pro as the future of litter management, PawPorter Air+ as the travel companion every pet parent needs, FitPet Halo Collar 3.0 as a life-changing health tracker, and interactive AI toys as vital companions that fight boredom, while sustainability initiatives point toward a future where pet care advances hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship, and collectively these choices show how innovation in 2025 has elevated pet parenting to a new standard of convenience, safety, and love.

Conclusion

The Verge’s Favorite Pet Gear for 2025 reflects the growing role of technology in pet care. From smart hydration systems and automatic litter boxes to advanced travel carriers and AI-driven toys, this year’s top picks highlight the shift toward automation, sustainability, and pet wellness.

These innovations don’t just make pet parenting easier—they enhance the quality of life for pets themselves. Hydration monitoring prevents illness, automated litter boxes improve hygiene, travel carriers reduce stress, and smart collars keep pets safe and healthy.

In essence, 2025 is the year pet tech became practical, accessible, and indispensable. For pet parents who want the best for their furry companions, The Verge’s curated list is an excellent starting point.

Q&A Section

Q1:- What was The Verge’s favorite smart fountain in 2025?

Ans:- The PetHydro Flow+ 2025 Edition, praised for its AI-driven hydration tracking, UV sterilization, and wireless charging design.

Q2:- Which automatic litter box topped The Verge’s list?

Ans:- The LitterLux Pro 2025, known for its AI-based cleaning cycles, odor control system, and eco-friendly compatibility.

Q3:- What makes the PawPorter Air+ travel carrier special?

Ans:- It’s airline-approved, has built-in ventilation fans, GPS tracking, noise-dampening walls, and expandable compartments.

Q4:- Did The Verge recommend any health-monitoring pet collars?

Ans:- Yes, the FitPet Halo Collar 3.0, which tracks activity, sleep, calories, and location while sharing data with vets.

Q5:- How does the PurrPlay AI Mouse keep cats entertained?

Ans:- By mimicking real prey with unpredictable movements, silent operation, and eco-friendly replaceable parts.