Short version: Mr Petcam is the older, better-known cat collar camera at around 38 g and roughly $70 for the camera alone. Whiskcam is lighter at 24 g and ships as a complete kit for €79. Once you add the SD card and phone adapter Mr Petcam does not include, the two land in the same price range — so the real decision is weight and how big your cat is.
Buy Mr Petcam if your cat is over 6 kg, you already own a MicroSD card and a card reader, and you would rather buy from a brand with several years of customer feedback behind it.
Buy Whiskcam if your cat is under 6 kg, or you want one box that works out of the packet without a second order.
Disclosure up front: we make Whiskcam. That is a real bias and you should read this accordingly. What we can offer instead of neutrality is specificity — the numbers below are checkable, and we say which ones we measured ourselves and which ones we did not.
Mr Petcam vs Whiskcam: The Specs
| Mr Petcam | Whiskcam Original | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | ~38 g | 24 g |
| Resolution | 1080P | 1080P Full HD |
| Lens | Not published | 170° wide angle |
| Battery | ~2 hours | Up to 2 hours |
| App required | No | No |
| SD card included | No | Yes, 32 GB pre-installed |
| Phone adapter included | No | Yes, USB-C / Lightning |
| Collar included | No | Yes, 39 cm adjustable breakaway |
| Listed price | ~$70, camera only | €79, complete kit |
| Realistic total | ~$85–90 with card and adapter | €79 |
| Night vision | No | No |
| Brand age | Several years, more reviews | Founded 2026, fewer reviews |
Mr Petcam figures are taken from their published specifications and from user reviews, not from our own bench testing — we did not obtain a unit to weigh ourselves. If any of these is out of date, email support@whiskcam.com and we will correct it.
The 14 Grams That Actually Decide This
Thirty-eight grams versus twenty-four sounds like a rounding error. On a cat it is not.
Across five months of testing on four cats between 3.2 kg and 7.8 kg, the pattern was consistent enough to be boring: anything over roughly 35 g bought us about 90 seconds of movement before the cat sat down and stopped cooperating. Under 30 g, they carried on as though nothing had changed. That is the difference between footage of a cat exploring a garden and footage of a doorstep.
Where this reverses is size. On Bear, the 7.8 kg Maine Coon we borrowed, 38 g was a non-event — he did not notice either camera. The heavier a cat, the less the weight difference means, which is exactly why Mr Petcam is a reasonable pick for a big cat and a poor one for a small rescue.
Run your own cat's weight through the calculator in our safety guide if you want the number rather than the rule of thumb.
What You Actually Pay
The listed prices are not comparable, because they are not selling the same thing. Mr Petcam sells a camera. To use it you also need a MicroSD card and something to read it with, which is another $15–20 and a second delivery.
- Mr Petcam: ~$70 camera + ~$15–20 card and adapter = ~$85–90
- Whiskcam: €79 for camera, 32 GB card, phone adapter, breakaway collar, USB-C cable and setup guide
Neither is dramatically cheaper. The genuine difference is whether your camera works the day it arrives or the day the second parcel does.
The Case Against Us
Mr Petcam has been selling for several years. We launched in 2026. If you are choosing between a company with a long trail of customer feedback and one without, that is a real argument and we are not going to pretend otherwise — it is the single strongest reason to buy theirs instead of ours.
What we offer against it is a 30-day money-back guarantee with no return shipment required. If your cat refuses the camera, which happens more often than any brand in this category likes to admit, you email us and we refund you. That is the mechanism we can offer in place of a track record we do not have yet.
Which One Should You Buy?
| Your situation | Pick |
|---|---|
| Cat under 4 kg | Whiskcam — 38 g is a large fraction of a small cat |
| Cat 4–6 kg | Either; weight stops being decisive |
| Cat over 6 kg or a Maine Coon | Either — see our Maine Coon guide |
| You already own SD cards and a reader | Mr Petcam — you are not paying for the kit twice |
| You want it to work out of the box | Whiskcam |
| Brand track record matters most | Mr Petcam |
| You need to find a missing cat | Neither — buy a GPS tracker first |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mr Petcam better than Whiskcam?
For cats over about 6 kg, or if you already own a MicroSD card and value a longer brand track record, Mr Petcam is a reasonable choice. For cats under 6 kg the 14 g weight difference is the deciding factor, and Whiskcam is lighter at 24 g against roughly 38 g.
How much does Mr Petcam cost in total?
The camera lists around $70, but the MicroSD card and a phone adapter are sold separately and add roughly $15–20, bringing the realistic total to about $85–90.
Do either of them stream live or work with an app?
No. Both record to a MicroSD card that you retrieve afterwards. Neither has WiFi, live streaming or an app. That is a deliberate design choice in this category: a WiFi radio adds weight and heat to something worn on an animal's neck.
Do either of them have night vision?
No. Both are daylight cameras. Footage degrades noticeably in low light, which matters if your cat is primarily crepuscular — most are.
Can I put either on a dog?
Both work on small dogs under about 10 kg. For a larger dog, use a dedicated action camera harness mount rather than a collar clip.
The Honest Summary
These are closer than either brand's marketing suggests. Same resolution, same offline design, same absence of night vision, similar battery, similar real cost. The two differences that survive scrutiny are weight and what arrives in the box, and both favour the same buyer: someone with a smaller cat who does not want to place a second order.
If your cat is large and you already have the accessories, buy theirs. We would rather tell you that than sell you a camera your cat will not wear.
For the full field including the Insta360 GO 3S, generic Amazon cameras and why a GoPro does not work on a cat, see our 2026 comparison of every cat collar camera we tested, or read the full Whiskcam specification.