Short answer: the three practical ways to see your pet while you are away are a standalone pet camera, a camera built into an automatic feeder, or a sitter who sends you updates. A feeder camera is the option most cat owners choose, because it solves feeding and watching with one device rather than relying on someone to show up.
Why this comes up so often in the UAE
The expat pattern here creates a specific problem. Annual leave often means two or three weeks away rather than a long weekend, and it usually means leaving the country. Add frequent regional work travel to Riyadh, Doha or Muscat, and pet owners in Dubai spend more nights away than owners in many other markets.
Cats in particular are often left at home rather than boarded, because most cats cope far better in their own territory than in a cattery. That is usually the right call, but it turns into anxiety if you have no way of knowing how they are.
Option 1: a standalone pet camera
An indoor Wi-Fi camera pointed at the room your pet uses most. Cheap, easy, and good picture quality.
Limits: it only watches. It cannot feed, so you still need someone to come by. It also only sees where you pointed it, and cats have a talent for sleeping outside the frame.
Option 2: an automatic feeder with a built in camera
The feeder dispenses scheduled portions and the camera sits in the device, so the picture is aimed at the one place your pet reliably visits several times a day. You can confirm that food actually came out, that your pet came to eat, and that they are moving normally.
Better models add two way audio, so you can hear the room and speak to your pet.
Limits: dry food only in almost all cases, and it shows you the feeding area rather than the whole home.
Option 3: a sitter, neighbour or boarding
A person is still the only option that can clean a litter tray, handle an emergency, or take an animal to a vet. For trips longer than about three or four days, a human check in is not optional.
Limits: cost, availability during peak holiday periods, and the reality that a daily visit is fifteen minutes out of twenty four hours.
What most UAE owners actually end up doing
The combination that works is a feeder camera for the daily routine, plus a person who visits every two or three days for the litter tray, water refresh and a genuine welfare check. The device removes the guesswork between visits, and the visits cover what a device cannot do.
Practical things to sort before you fly
- Test the Wi-Fi. Set the device up at least a week before travel and check it from mobile data, not from your home network.
- Leave the router on. Obvious, and still the most common cause of a dead camera mid trip.
- Air conditioning. In UAE summer, leaving the AC off is genuinely dangerous for an animal. Set a safe fixed temperature rather than a schedule.
- Multiple water sources. A bowl can be knocked over on day one. Put out more than one.
- Give your vet details to whoever is visiting, and tell the clinic that person may bring your pet in.
- Microchip details. Make sure the registered phone number is one that works while you are abroad.
Where PawCast fits
PawCast is the feeder camera type. It dispenses scheduled meals, lets you trigger a feed manually from the app, streams live video, and has two way audio so you can hear and speak to your pet. The camera is in the feeder, which is where your cat or dog turns up several times a day, so you get a reliable sighting rather than an empty room.
PawCast is currently 149 AED as an offer price, reduced from 350 AED, with 10 AED delivery across the UAE within 4 to 5 working days. KANU also offers assisted setup, so the delivery team helps connect it to your Wi-Fi. See kanu.ae/products/paw-cast-feeder.