A system for monitoring vital signs of a pet animal comprises an annular band, an accelerometer configured to measure at least one of resting patterns, activity patterns, movement patterns, position patterns relating to, for example the pet animal relieving itself, lameness and scratching, and a non-accelerometer sensor configured to measure at least one of the following non-accelerometer-measured bioparameters of the pet animal: temperature, pulse rate, respiration rate. One or more processors are configured to receive sensor output data and reference data concerning the measured bioparameters of the pet animal or of a population of the pet animal, and determine a suspicion of a specific medical condition by: (i) scoring at least two bioparameters and comparing a cumulative score to a threshold cumulative score or to a threshold cumulative range or (ii) identifying an abnormal pattern. The processor(s) may send an alert if at least one specific medical condition is suspected.
