Documenting rest vs movement in older Cavaliers

So your vet wants you to actually document how much your Cavalier is resting versus moving throughout the day — that's a really specific and useful brief, and the right camera can make it genuinely easy to do. Pet cameras range from basic motion-activated models to ones with two-way audio and treat dispensing, and the right choice depends on what you actually need to do with it. For a vet-monitoring job like this, is it just about reviewing footage later, or does your vet want you to log timestamps and share clips? And is your dog mostly in one room, or does he move between a few spots during the day?

That makes complete sense — Cavaliers are unfortunately prone to mitral valve disease as they age, and reduced activity or reluctance to move is one of the early behavioural signs vets look for. For what you're describing, you don't need anything fancy, but you do want a camera with reliable motion detection and the ability to review a timeline of activity, rather than just live footage. Can I ask — do you want to leave it running all day and review it in the evening, or would it help to get alerts on your phone each time he moves so you can note it in real time?

In that case, I'd go with the Furbo 360° Dog Camera. It has motion and sound alerts that ping your phone each time your dog moves, so you can jot down the time without needing to watch live footage all day. It also stores a full activity timeline so you can scroll back through the day and see exactly when he was active versus still — which is exactly the kind of pattern your vet is asking you to describe. The 360° rotation means you can cover the whole living room from one spot, and the video quality is sharp enough that you can clearly tell whether he's just shifting position or actually getting up and walking around. It connects over standard home WiFi and the app is straightforward. It's around £150–£180 on Amazon UK. The treat dispenser is there if you want it, but for this use case you're really just using it as a smart activity monitor — and it does that job well.

Honest answer — the Furbo detects motion generally, so yes, a person walking through will trigger it too. The way around that is to set it up at your dog's level and angle it at his usual resting spot, which naturally filters out a lot of background movement. Some people also just check the thumbnail on each alert, which takes two seconds, and ignore the ones that are clearly a person. It's not a perfect science, but for building a rough log of rest versus activity for your vet, it's more than good enough. If you wanted pixel-perfect pet-only detection, you'd be looking at much pricier systems that aren't really designed for home use.

Good luck with it — and I hope the monitoring gives your vet what they need. Catching any changes early in a Cavalier at ten is exactly the right thing to be doing. The Furbo should make keeping that log genuinely easy rather than something you have to think too hard about.