Help I need a Tracking Device for Cats

[AllyC]

Hi one of my cats Milo went missing on the 3rd of March, just disappeared. We searched everywhere, put up posters, online everything but nobody had seen him. We were heartbroken.

After six long painful weeks, a very weak, bedraggled Milo walked in through the cat flap last Wednesday morning. We couldn't believe it, we are beyond overjoyed. But how are we ever going to be able to let him go out again. I've decided the only way I will ever let him even sniff the great outdoors again is if I can see his every move. So, I think we need a pretty serious tracking device as Milo is a devil for wandering, loves climbing trees and chasing things.

Its so frustrating not knowing what happened to him as he came very close to not making it. The Vet said Milo lost half his body weight and was very dehydrated, he also seems really nervous which he most definitely wasn't before. He's sleeping a lot but the pawing at the cat flap has begun so I need to find something pretty fast. When we put collars with name tags on, he will come back a few hours later without them so I don't trust the collar/name tag (although he will have that too).

Does anybody know of a really good, lightweight, not massive, long range cat tracker please. All the trackers I've seen online look really big, I know he would spend his life battling with it to get it off.

Cat Tax picture added of Milo on the morning he came home.

Poor Milo, not experience here but someone was recommending Pet Tracer as a high end option. I haven't been able to get my cat to wear a collar so I've been a bit reluctant to actually make the jump to a tracker but an experience like this would definitely push me in that direction

Thanks Dwells, oh my its expensive alright, but I don't think we will be able to let him out unless we can see where he is all the time. Yeah cats really don't like collars do they!

I use Tractive, I'm very happy with it. The unit is about £30 maybe? Currently a sale on and I pay £168 every 2 years for the subscription which is worth it for peace of mind.
Edited to add my boy got stuck in garages 4 times but I knew as he hadn't moved for a while and I was able to 'rescue' him!

So happy your boy returned safely. It is such a worry when they go roaming like that!

We use Tractive. They are quite chunky and I thought the cats would hate them but no issues with that. They seem fairly comfortable to wear and you get a lot of info - not just on their travels but also if about sleep / exercise etc - a bit like a feline Fitbit. Not cheap but immensely reassuring for peace of mind. Even reminds you to put it on charge when the battery is low.

Hi thanks for the replies. Oh it was the best feeling in the world when I walked down the stairs and he was there yowling away at me, I really thought he was gone.

Ha a Fitbit for cats there would be a lot of reminders to move going off 😊Yeah I've seen the Tractive but thought it looked really bit. Interesting to hear the cats don't mind it.

4 times in a garage oh wow, I could see Milo doing similar though.

Another vote for tractive, I have used an elastic collar with my boy, although they do seem to keep the standard breakaway collars on (mostly)

Thanks Deargodletitgo what’s an elastic collar?

Pawfit has just released a smaller tracker for cats. We’ve got the dog one for our medium sized dog. The app is reasonably good, it doesn’t always update as often as I expect it to but hopefully they’ll keep improving it. I feel confident that we’d be able to find my dog if she went missing though.

Has anyone tried the tiles or Apple airtags?

Following as ours just reappeared after 2 weeks trapped, we think, in a garage. How likely are cats to do this again? I suspect she won’t learn her lesson as she’s a bloody minded tortie 😩

Has anyone had any luck with an air tag?

We did the apple airtags in the special collars and DCat managed to lose 2 of them! At least we could see what he was venturing though!

Another vote for Tractive. It’s not perfect but does give a good idea of you cat’s “patrol radius”.

@jacelancshas lots of experience with trackers on her beautiful grey boy Finlay

Thanks @Defiantly41
happy to answer any queries Tractive

Thanks everybody, I don't think an air tag would work for us as he wanders around fields with nothing around them, don't they need to be close to an iphone?

Zapeze ah I delighted she came back. I was so all over the place in the six weeks Milo was missing, I was consumed with trying to find him but it was like he disappeared off the face of the earth. Your worry is the exact same as mine, Milo is beginning to recover and he's outraged he can't go out and making sure we know all about it! I'm worried he will go straight back to wherever he was.

Thanks Sarkyandcynical, I'll have a look at Pawfit.

The very hansom Finlay looks pretty chilled with his tracker. Can I ask how heavy the Tractive is and will the weight loosen the collar, I can see Milo doing everything he can to get it off. How light is it really.

We use Ubeequee for our boy, fairly low start up costs and a small monthly subscription. Ours isn’t bothered by the tracker at all, if anything he eagerly awaits his collar being put on as he knows it means we’re about to let him out! Battery lasts a few days once charged and you have the opportunity to play a sound from the device if you’re struggling to find kitty

@Walker1178 same with my boy, he knows once he has his collar on he is allowed out! It doesn't bother him at all. I have also managed to mostly train him that when I play the sound on the collar it's home time 😀
He has lost it a few times but we can track it and get it back. He did lose the first one he had and also managed to somehow turn it off so we never got that one back but with Tractive they insure you for a new one once a year so it was replaced.
I find the app excellent and have set a boundary fence locally so if he goes out of it I get an alert and I carefully watch where he is.
I have a new kitten and when he's old enough to go out he'll get one too.
@AllyC I use a Rogz collar with it and have never had a problem. You can set the tightness of the collar and you just need to play around with it until it fits properly.
I see so many FB posts of lost cats locally that I wish more owners would use trackers.

I just had a look as it was so much cheaper than the other option but the reviews are really poor. Have you found it accurate?

Another Tractive owner here. So far the collar's come off three times and has been found by following the signal twice and once I just fell over it in the middle of the road!

If I take the device out to charge up, and put the collar down on a chair, Dcat will grab it and run off with it so he obviously hates it!! Works though.

Not sure peace of mind is what you get for any of these gadgets though. You may end up getting more stressed out when you know where they're actually going! (e.g. over a main road) but once that genie is out of the bottle, you know they're doing it regardless of whether their collar is on. I settle for knowing whose house Dcat is currently burgling...

Really appreciating all the advice and gorgeous pictures, thank you😊

Oh I never thought of only putting the tracker on when he's going out genius! Thank you @Walker1178

I'll look up the Rogz collar thank you @waitingforthehallmarkedman

@Heronatemygoldfish I think your Dcat and Milo would think similarly, I can definitely see him putting up a good fight and making his feelings known. He's currently scattering litter everywhere to make his feelings known.

Yes prepared for the panic staring at the phone to keep an eye on him. I know we'll be watching his every move and doing a lot of rooting around in the wilderness at the back of our house. You wouldn't mind but we live on an estate backed by fields and trees so we have both the farmland and the neighbors shed to contend with 🙁

Off to google suggestions thank you so much

i had a collar on my cat once. And it was tight enough, as per vet advice. He still managed to do himself some damage with it, so I’m wary of using them myself.

I've used tractive and airtags, tractive was more expensive but better.

You could always get a camera one -www.instagram.com/reel/DHo6056gqzc/?igsh=MmkzNW15ZG1oY3p3 this cat is hilarious.

Does anyone have a refer a friend code they might be willing to share with me for Tractive? We are going to give it a try with our recent escapee!

Tractive mini weighs 25g - we use it with the rubber cover on the Tractive collar which I put on the tightest break free setting
Finlay has lost quite a few but in some cases we have managed to track them down but due to some of the fields he hunts in having no public footpath or bridle way I won’t trespass
We have had 2 replaced FOC under the subscription but they do limit you to so many a year!
Recently we have found the battery running down too quickly as he is so active! So have adjusted setting to only track him every 20 mins instead of every 5 - you can still check up anytime you want using live setting if concerned
DD has same tracker for her cat but he gets shut in at night so she just puts him on charge at night when needed and won’t let him out in morning until it’s back on him
Their customer service has been great and the system is very easy to use

Finn is currently about 11.5 hours ahead of his next contender on the leader board 😊
DP says I’m a stage door parent!

Another vote for Tractive, I’ve had mine for 8 months now and no complaints so far.

Here’s my refer a friend link @zapeze tractive.com/r/vks7D7
:-)