Frequently Asked Questions

Upload a short video of your pet, and our system examines visual cues — body posture, tail position and movement, ear orientation, eye expression, and facial tension — alongside vocalizations like barks, meows, whines, and purrs. These signals are cross-referenced with established animal behavior science to identify your pet's emotional state. You'll receive three results: a scientific breakdown of what we observed and why, a playful "inner voice" monologue from your pet's perspective, and practical care tips tailored to their current mood.

Yes — free users can analyze one video per day at no cost. If you'd like to upload more, our Premium plan ($5/month) unlocks five videos per day, plus priority processing. We believe understanding your pet shouldn't require a subscription, so the free tier gives you full access to all analysis features.

Short clips of 5–15 seconds work great. Record your pet doing anything — playing, resting, reacting to a sound, interacting with you or other pets. The key is good lighting and keeping your pet visible in the frame. Avoid extremely shaky footage. Close-up shots where we can see the face, ears, and tail produce the most detailed analyses. No special equipment needed — your smartphone camera is perfect.

Dogs and cats of all breeds are our primary focus, and our system is optimized for their behavioral patterns. We also support rabbits, and the analysis may provide useful insights for other small mammals. As our behavior database expands, we plan to add more species.

Our system recognizes 15 emotional states: happy, excited, relaxed, curious, anxious, fearful, stressed, aggressive, sad, sleepy, hungry, playful, affectionate, alert, and neutral. Most pets display a mix — for example, a dog might be excited AND slightly anxious at the vet. The analysis captures the primary emotion as well as subtler signals in the full report.

PetWhats is grounded in decades of published animal behavior research on canine and feline body language, facial expression, and vocal communication. We provide a confidence score with every analysis so you know how clear the signals were. Think of it like a knowledgeable second opinion — it's highly informed, but no remote tool can be 100% certain. That said, our users regularly tell us the results match what they intuitively felt about their pet's mood, and often reveal things they hadn't noticed.

No — and we say this clearly. PetWhats is an entertainment and informational tool. It cannot diagnose medical conditions, and it should never replace professional veterinary care. If your pet shows signs of illness (lethargy, appetite loss, aggression, hiding), consult a licensed veterinarian promptly. What PetWhats CAN do is help you become more observant — noticing subtle changes in your pet's behavior earlier, which can be valuable information to share with your vet.

Most analyses complete within 10–20 seconds after your video finishes uploading. The upload speed depends on your internet connection and the file size — short, well-lit videos upload fastest. You'll see a live timer on the analysis page so you always know exactly where things stand.

Absolutely. Your videos are encrypted in transit and stored securely on Cloudflare's global infrastructure. We never share, sell, or use your pet videos for any purpose other than providing your analysis. You can delete any video and its associated analysis from your account at any time, and you can request full account deletion with complete data removal through the Settings page.

Most pet apps track steps, meals, or vet appointments. PetWhats is focused exclusively on your pet's emotional world — the part of pet care that's hardest to measure but matters most. We combine video analysis with animal behavior science to help you understand not just what your pet is doing, but what they're feeling. No wearables, no collars, no sensors — just the smartphone you already have.

Yes — creating a free account takes under 30 seconds (just a username, email, and password). We use accounts to keep your pet profiles, video history, and emotion archive private and organized. You can add multiple pets to one account and track their emotional patterns over time through the emotion archive.

Emotion is complex — even humans misread each other. If a result doesn't match what you expected, try uploading another video in different conditions (better lighting, less background noise, a different activity). Context matters enormously in behavior analysis. The confidence score will help you gauge how clear the signals were. If results consistently seem off, check that your pet is clearly visible and the environment is calm — or try a close-up video focused on their face and body.