FitBark for Research

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FitBark for research

We make clinical studies cloud-based, affordable and easy to manage.

🐱‍💻 Summary

FitBark has been adopted by over 150 research institutions and vet schools in all continents to validate new drugs, products, surgeries and treatments related to mobility, anxious behaviors and skin conditions. Common applications include osteoarthritis, nutrition, weight management, pain management, ACL and other orthopedic surgeries, rehabilitation, sleep disorders, skin disorders, circadian rhythmicity etc.

Background

Many validation studies for new pet treatment plans do not include accelerometer-based measurements. Rather, they are based on subjective activity metrics, or otherwise lab-based activity measurement (rather than in free-living conditions). For example, a new stem cell orthopedic treatment might include a survey where a pet owner is asked “from a scale of 1 to 5, how did the activity of your pet change 1, 4 or 8 weeks after starting the treatment”? The main reason why we do things this way is that accelerometer-based studies have been historically expensive and difficult to manage.

We have been using FitBark to to manage dogs with generalized anxiety along with a nutraceutical diet (Forza10 Behavioral or Armonia) and a correct therapy. We are delighted with the quality of FitBark's data and how easy it is to access the information we need to run our studies.

Prof. Raffaella Cocco, Dr. Sara Sechi, Dr. Alessandro Di Cerbo

Department of Veterinary Medicine, Pathology and Veterinary Clinic Section / University of Sassari

FitBark benefits

Here’s how our cloud-based platform compares with state-of-the-art technology.

State-of-the-art

FitBark

Activity monitor designed for

Humans

Companion animals

Cost of each monitor

100's of $

< $70

Cost of desktop-based software

1,000's of $

Free mobile, web and data storage

Cost of inventory management

Meaningful

Device may be gifted or drop shipped

Cost to setup the device

Meaningful

User sets up the device

Cost to create a study-specific control group

Meaningful

Might not be necessary if similar pets exist

Data visibility during collection process

None

Data is remotely pushed to the server

Data consolidation across study locations

Challenging

Data is immediately consolidated online

Potential loss of data offline

Meaningful

AWS 24/7 backup

Data export for advanced analysis

Manual

Cloud API, .csv export

Data integration with 3rd party software

Manual

Cloud API feeds directly 3rd-party apps

The study shows that “healthier together” is more than just a slogan, as dog and human activity go hand in hand. Activity trackers such as FitBark may increase the depth of our understanding of what motivates people to increase their activity not only for their own good, but for that of their pets as well.

Anna Zamansky

Researcher in Information Systems and the founder of the Tech4Animals Lab at the University of Haifa