Virtual pet fostering. Aging tests for cats and dogs. How new tech could help Miami pets
Miami Beach’s annual tech conference went to the dogs.
No, not Pitbull, though he was at eMerge Americas 2025, too.
More like cute, wagging-tail pups. Rescue dogs like 3-year-old Sultan walked around the Miami Beach Convention Center on Friday, searching for a new home. Crowds formed for snuggle breaks with playful rescue puppies.
The indoor pop-up puppy park was the official launch of a new virtual fostering initiative by South Florida nonprofit Friends of Miami Animals Foundation, or FoMA. The nonprofit works with Miami-Dade’s animal shelter and other local pet rescues, including SGT Canines, who brought their rescue dogs to the conference.
“So many people want to help homeless animals and shelter animals, but they can’t take a dog or a cat into their home,” said Yolanda Berkowitz, the nonprofit’s president and founder.
Once a person registers online to be a “virtual foster,” the nonprofit will “send them some profiles to select a pet, a little bio, some pictures and videos, and they can share on their social media with their network and spread the word about animals that need help,” said Berkowitz. People can still foster an animal at home if they want.
Finding homes for rescues is critical in South Florida. Animal shelters are swamped and can’t keep up with how many homeless dogs and cats are in the region. Berkowitz says there are several reasons for the overcrowded shelters. Everything is expensive in South Florida, including pet food and other pet supplies. Vet bills are pricey. People move into apartments and condos that may have size, weight and other restrictions, along with costly pet fees.
“We can make a difference,” she said.
Virtual fostering wasn’t the only pet tech featured at the 11th annual tech conference, which drew dozens of healthcare, business and tech experts over two days in Miami Beach.
Genetic research is fueling the future of health, not just for humans but pets too.
Aging tests for pets
“A lot of people are feeding their pets a one-size fits all for all of their pets. Pets are individuals like humans, and they need personalized care as well,” said scientist Andria Beal, founder of Fort Lauderdale-based EpiPaws. “We have a way to really personalize care and really extend the health span of our pets, help them avoid disease,” and help them live longer and healthier lives.
The company currently sells an aging test kit that uses saliva swabs to estimate how old your dog or cat is, with lab results available within a few weeks. It plans to release a health monitoring test later this year that will estimate what the biological age of your dog or cat is.
A dog could be five years old, for example, but its muscles and organs could be experiencing accelerated aging, and actually be the equivalent of an 8-year-old dog, Beal said.
“Aging rate is highly influenced by environmental variables, food, exercise, pharmaceuticals, even stressors and social interactions affect aging rate and your stress levels,” Beal said. “What we can do is we can come up with a personalized plan for your pet to try and install new healthy habits in their lifestyle to adjust that aging rate and slow it down. And by slowing down the aging rate, we can avoid disease development.”
The concept of personalized treatment plans for pets mirrors a trend in the human medical field, where topics like personalized wellness and healthy aging are increasingly popular.
Doctors and researchers are attempting to use AI to better identify a person’s individual risk for cancer, diabetes and other health conditions, or to detect cancer and other diseases sooner. People are using rings, watches, and smartphones to measure their heart rate, sleep and other health metrics.
Genetics is playing a key role in figuring out which treatment option will be more effective against a person’s cancer. And doctors are paying more attention to what changes a person can make to their diet, exercise, sleep and other factors of their life to help them age healthier and reduce or prevent disease progression. People are paying more attention too.
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Even the city of Miami Beach is on its own health journey and is undergoing a six-month assessment with a company founded by Miami Beach resident and longevity expert Dan Buettner to figure out how it can become a healthier place to live, work and vacation. Buettner gave viewers a first-hand look at the diet and lifestyles of those living the longest and healthiest lives in the Emmy-award winning Netflix docuseries “Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.”
As for the eMerge attendees, plenty agreed that the best things for their health at the conference were the puppies.
“After a busy day yesterday, this was the perfect puppy fix,” said Megan Paice, who traveled from Baltimore to attend the conference with MoveAmerica, a nonprofit that is working to solve industrial and supply chain challenges in the country.
By late Friday, at least two dogs had found new homes and two more had potential adoptions lined up.
This story was originally published March 29, 2025 at 6:00 AM.
