WA firm invents app to track animal health

A Perth tech firm developing sensor implants which can feed biological data from pets, horses, and livestock to a phone will begin commercial trials this year.

VetChip’s biosensors can read natural indicators of stress and illness in animals such as temperature, respiratory rate, location and heart rate and send that data to a mobile app.

The company has signed a deal with Charles Sturt University’s AgriPark to undertake equine trials, establish data storage, test extensions in other species, and progress commercialisation.

Its backers are also eyeing the US market after becoming the first Australian firm to win the Nestle-Purina Pet Care Innovation Prize in January.

VetChip chief executive Garnett Hall said the app worked in a similar way to human health devices such as Fitbit.

“It really is as simple as pulling out their device like this, opening up the VetChip app, and being able to see the vital signs of those animals not just in real time, but also historical information,” he said.

“You can never take a smartwatch and wrap it around a horse's leg and expect it to stay there, and you can never just simply build it into a dog's collar because of all the fur that sits underneath it.

“It seems rather obvious to me that we can take advantage of the existing subcutaneous identity chips, just supercharge that a little bit to have it monitor basic health parameters and send that up to the cloud.”

VetChip’s current focus is thoroughbred horses where commercial trials will take place later this year.

Oakford Equestrian Centre owner Mike D’Agostino has already been trialing the technology at his stables south-east of Perth where he looks after about 40 horses.

“Sometimes when you have a sick horse, you literally have to lay with them at night to keep an eye on them,” he said.

“Having the ability to watch that technology real time for us as horse owners and the like is just game changing to watch their temperature, to watch their heart rate.

“The ability to be able to monitor their health in real time without necessarily having to be present is just something we have never had access to before.”

While initially targeting horses, the technology is on track to be available to pet owners as early as 2027.

“If you think of thoroughbred horses, these are our peak athletes of the animal world and yet we can't even tell you things like their resting heart rate or heart rate variability,” Mr Hall said.

“We will have a number of markets that we begin to introduce the product to on our way to reaching every animal and every pet dog and cat.

“As the cost of technology comes down and as welfare standards tend to get higher and higher, then there will be a point where I see our technology going into every livestock animal.”

Charles Sturt University AgriPark executive director Nick Pagett said the partnership would underpin commercialisation of VetChip.

“The great thing about having CSU involved alongside that chip is that we can be testing and validating as a research project, but we can also be actually using it as an education tool and having students participate in those programs at the same time,” he said.

Innovation and Digital Economy Minister Stephen Dawson said VetChip’s work showcased Western Australian innovation “at its finest”.

“I am very keen to ensure that not only startups start here in Western Australia but get the opportunity to scale up and make it from here in Western Australia,” he said.

“We have been working with venture capital funds, we have helped establish a couple in Western Australia, and we will do more in that space, because it is important that there is money capital available locally.

“That helps companies stay local when they start to grow.”

Curtin University and the state government supported VetChip in its early stages.