The Palo Alto-based startup Hoomanely is developing a system that collects daily data about dogs to help owners and veterinarians notice indicators of illness earlier. The system consists of the EverBowl smart feeding station and an AI-powered analysis platform that presents results through an app and long-term reports.
EverBowl measures the amount of food and water a dog consumes and how quickly it consumes them. It also records chewing and swallowing sounds, face-related temperature, mouth movements, and other signals. The platform uses this data to build a baseline specific to each dog and an ongoing health record, then alerts the user when persistent and significant changes from that baseline appear. The pet owner can manually enter additional information to update the record with data the sensors cannot capture.
Why does this matter?
Hoomanely believes that feeding routines provide a repeated environment for collecting data: the place, posture, and time are similar, and the behavior usually occurs twice a day for years. According to the company, appetite, hydration, and oral comfort may be affected by multiple problems, from dental pain and stomach disorders to hormonal changes and diseases. Therefore, the goal is not limited to measuring food intake, but also includes creating a time series that may reveal a change that is difficult for the owner to notice directly.
During an 18-month pilot testing phase, the company collected approximately 5 million data points from more than 80 dogs. It says the system detected a change in one dog’s eating pattern that was later found to be associated with a broken tooth that had begun to become infected. In another case, the app showed a persistent change in eating patterns and temperatures compared with the baseline, prompting the owner to visit a veterinarian, where the dog was diagnosed with tick fever.
Limitations before medical use
These examples do not prove that the platform is a diagnostic tool. The company acknowledged that it does not yet have independent data on sensitivity, specificity, or false-positive rates for clinical events. Measuring these indicators requires a study comparing system alerts with actual diagnoses. The test group is also relatively small, and it appears that only about 50 devices have been shipped so far.
Hoomanely says that EverBowl and its associated reports are available through a monthly subscription costing $29, while emphasizing that the service is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis. The company plans to conduct formal veterinary studies measuring sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and false positives for each alert category, rather than providing a single overall figure.
From a smart bowl to a data platform
The company intends to expand its ecosystem through a wearable device called EverSense to measure movement and comfort, and the EverHub platform to integrate data from external devices such as smart collars, feeders, and home devices. In the long term, Hoomanely wants to build an animal health data company, using the data in research, nutrition services, and insurance, with the possibility of expanding in the future to cats, livestock, and horses.
The company raised $1.8 million in a pre-seed funding round and says it has begun discussions for a seed round. In practical terms, the project’s current value lies in continuous monitoring and providing veterinarians with a longer record, while upcoming studies will determine whether the alerts are reliable beyond the limited experimental cases.