"It is easy to see that our dog isn't feeling well from his behaviour; he might become reluctant to go for a walk, or can't manage to go as far. Cats are harder to keep track of and technology like the Microchip Cat Door Connect enable us to see patterns in behaviour that could be an early warning of health problems such as arthritis." he said.
NZ Cat Foundation chairwoman Anne Batley Burton was not sold on the idea it could help predict illness in cats, but could imagine the monitoring coming in handy.
"It depends whether people really want to know what their cat's doing," she said.
"Sometimes I go out and I worry if the cat hasn't come in."
Getting a notification could be a relief if the owner was worried about a pet that hadn't been home for a while, or spent most of its daylight hours outside.
"I want to know that they're home safe and sound."
Batley Burton said it was an "interesting concept" but that it didn't necessarily add a "huge amount of value".
She stressed it was important to check the batteries regularly and make sure pets' microchips hadn't stopped working, if using a microchip pet door.
Sacred Temple Cat Club interim president Linda Morgan said some people had webcams at home to watch their pets, so didn't see why such a pet door monitor would be needed on top of that.
She wasn't sure what benefit could be gained from receiving a notification that the cat had gone outside.
"You're not necessarily going to jump in the car, race home and try and find the cat," she said.
The new cat door also allows people to remotely set access permissions for multiple pets - meaning they can keep some pets in while allowing others out.
The monitoring data is stored, allowing owners to track their pet's behaviour over time. Owners can also remotely lock or unlock the door at any time.
