Woofers and tweeters: Apps for the pet lover

Your dog probably can't use your smartphone, but you can do it on his or her behalf.

Fido will never miss a walk or worm pill if you put some time in with Pet Master Free, by GF Media Apps, for Android devices. This ad-supported application lets you obsess about your pet's vital signs, vet schedule, grooming, training, and other appointments.

Special pages are set up for talk-to-text dictation to track the gritty details of "peeps and poops," "heat history," and other categories of pet health.

For specific health worries, there's Pet Vet, a free app from NBC Universal Inc. and www.petside.com. If your pet is ill, you can use this app to look up symptoms and solutions. Tap on a screen silhouette of a dog or cat to begin a search and learn about treatments.

A service on the app is meant to locate veterinary hospitals and clinics on a Google map of your area. But when I tried the feature, none were indicated - even at addresses where I knew there were vets.

RSPCA 'My Pet' is an app carrying the imprimatur of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, in England and Wales. It's free from Webmoco Ltd., for the iPhone.

Among the things you might want to do with the app is create a scrapbook about your pet. Any page can be sent straight on to Facebook.

The pet diary is for saving reminders for important dates and facts, such as veterinary appointments. A pet-care section on the app is limited to cats, dogs, guinea pigs, and rabbits and includes brief descriptions of the proper choosing, caring for, and feeding of these animals.

Take a picture of yourself, and Dog-A-Like purports to "analyze" your eyes, nose, hair, and other features before matching your face with a look-alike dog available for adoption. The free app for Android devices is by Tequila Australia. Australia? Yes, we're going far afield for these applications.

Results from the photo exercise are likely to amuse, though are not necessarily Spot-on. The down side is that the available orphan pets are in Australia. You'll have to be dogged to fetch your supposed canine double.

Dog-whistle apps that produce high-frequency sounds - and in some cases barks, catfight noises, and such - from your smartphone come in dozens of varieties and advertise themselves for purposes reflected in their names that include Dog Whistle Trainer and the disturbing Dog Annoy and Dog Teaser. User reviews of these and apps like them tend to be neutral to negative, with some summarized by money-paying users as "poo" and "dog."