One of the worst nightmares for pet owners is having their pet go missing. Cats are free-spirited, adventurous, and curious animals that love to be outside and roam around. However, sometimes cats can get lost or stuck somewhere. So, having a GPS tracker on your cat will allow you to find your feline friend faster and ensure their safety.
There are plenty of cat GPS trackers out there. When picking a cat collar tracker for your kitty cat, features like location tracking history and accurate GPS location will appeal significantly to cat owners. However, there are specific considerations you want to keep in mind when you are making a purchase, like whether it’s easy to use and if there’s a monthly fee attached to the tracker. There is a pet tracker that’s perfect for you and your feline friend.
Tractive Cat GPS Tracker and Collar
Our Pick
Benefits
- Location tracking history
- GPS covers a long range and distance
- Able to monitor your cats activity levels
- Water-proof and shock-resistant
- Light-weight (weighs 35 grams)
- Long battery life (lasts for up to 7 days)
- Can track your pet from anywhere in the world
- Able to adjust the weight of the collar
- Can attach it to your cat’s current collar
- Provides comfort due to it’s slightly curved shape so it sits comfortably on your cat’s neck
Drawbacks
- You need a monthly subscription plan to use it
Whistle GPS Pet Tracker and Activity Monitor for Pets
Premium Pick
Benefits
- Small and lightweight
- Water-proof
- Can be attached to your cat’s current collar
- Long battery life (lasts up to 7 days)
Drawbacks
- Quite expensive
Cube Pro Cat Finder and Smart Tracker
Best Value
Benefits
- Water-proof
- Light-weight
- Multi-purpose with many features
- Replaceable battery
- Can be attached to your cat’s current collar
- No monthly subscription
Drawbacks
- The range is quite short (so not best for cats who love to roam far and wide outside but perfect for cats who like to lounge around and stay indoors)
Best Leading Cat GPS Trackers
Final Verdict
Cat microchip with tracker
No cat owner wants their feline friend to go missing. All the stress and worry about your missing furry friend can be diminished and erased entirely if you were to purchase a GPS tracker collar for them.
Price and size
Prices and sizes for cat GPS trackers and collars vary. Fortunately, most of them are quite affordable. Some of them are under $100, such as the one we placed down as best value, the Cube Pro Cat Finder and Smart Tracker. Most pet trackers are small in size and light-weight, so there’s no need to worry about them weighing your feline friend down. Unfortunately, there are many GPS trackers that can only be used with a monthly subscription plan.
Types of collars
There are three tracking technologies that cat trackers use: GPS, radio frequency, or Bluetooth. GPS, which stands for Global Positioning System, uses satellites to provide location data of individuals around the world. Due to its long detection range and its ability to display your cat’s location on a map, GPS collar trackers are the best ones on the market for accurately pinpointing the location of your cat.
Statistics
According to Lost Pet Research & Recovery, 11-16% of dogs and 12 – 18% of cats are likely to go missing at least once in five years. So, cats are more likely to go missing than dogs. RTO (return to owner) rates are 1.5 to 4.5% for cats once they end up in the shelter. The reason for this is because the type of identification for cats when it comes to microchips is only 15%, license is 21%, personalized ID is 25%, rabies tag is 27% and no form and kind of identification on the cats is 56%. But if you were to have a GPS tracker collar on your cat, there will be no need for these types of identifications.
Cat’s health when they go missing
It’s not only stressful for cat owners when their cats go missing but it’s also tough and taxing for the cat itself as well. While your cat is slowly adjusting back to its daily life again, you must be calm, patient, and gentle with it. This will prevent it from being more stressed out and too distressed. It’s wise to take it to the vet for a check-up, feed it small meals, bathe it to remove any fleas and dirt from its fur, and secure your home so that your cat won’t be able to escape.
FAQ
There are many ways to locate a missing cat. You can post it on social media, distribute filers, and advertise it in local papers with all the relevant photos and information about your cat.
You obviously should go and look for your cat on your own too because chances are they might be quite close to home. So, it’s highly advisable to check around the neighborhood, potential hiding spots that your cat tends to go to, and thoroughly search throughout your house, garden and backyard. It’s possible that your cat might have gotten stuck either on a tree or a roof, so searching in higher places is a good idea too.
You should be worried if you had searched for quite a while and are still unable to locate them. However, if it has already been more than 2 days, you should consider contacting your vet and local animal and pet shelters, informing them that your cat has gone missing and hasn’t come back yet. It’s possible that your cat might have gotten injured or harmed, and is unable to come home.
You can use the Apple AirTag for your cat but it is advised that you should also equip your cat with a GPS tracker, just to be on the safe side.
GPS pet trackers are made specifically to track your furry friend, whereas Apple AirTag is mainly used to find other items and belongings, such as keys, phones, wallets, handbags, and backpacks. Also, the range for it is quite short and only can be detected by other IOS devices.
No, you can’t since a microchip isn’t a tracking device. Hence, it can’t be used to track your cat and determine the location of your missing cat. However, it will allow individuals to identify your cat and who it belongs to.
There are many ways to prevent cat litter tracking such as:
– Not filling the box of litter all the way to the brim
– Putting the litter box into another box
– Placing the litter box on a rug or mat
– Frequently cleaning up the litter box
– Ensure that the cat litter isn’t near an area where you don’t want the cat litter to track, such as your bedroom or living room