There has been a massive increase in cats that have gone missing in the Ipswich area in recent months, and the rate at which they are disappearing does not seem to be slowing. For the loving owners of their dear pets this is tragic. A few have returned home with injuries that look like they could be due to torture, but unfortunately most of them have not come home and it has got to the point where a lot of owners are trying to keep their pets indoors at night time so there is less chance of them being taken. For some people though, this is not really possible as the cat will either get out or may cause damage with the stress of being kept in.
So, is there any way you can stop your cat from going missing or being taken? We have been doing a review of some products that are available for sale to keep track of your cat when they go outside and found that there are maybe different products available with different features. You will need to look out for one that can track your pet when they are at a decent distance from home and also one that has live tracking in case your cat does not return.
Unfortunately this does mean that you get what you pay for and the increased functionality that is required to keep track of your pet does cost a bit extra. For example there is the G-Paws GPS Data recorder. This records where your cat has been and you can upload the data to their website and get a map view of what your cat has been up to. You can also share this data with other users. However, the key point with this gadget (which retails at between £29.99 and £49.99) is that you need to download the data from the device once your cat is back home and obviously this is not going to help if your cat has gone missing. Verdict: not suitable if your cat has gone missing but useful if you just want to see where they have been after they return home.
Another gadget is the Loc8tor Pet and this works with a transmitter and a receiver, where you hit a button to locate where your pet is. The receiver then emits a sound and a light. However, this only works within a certain range (this is purported to be 122m in clear range but users say it is less than this). So, also not really enough use to you if your cat has been taken or has wandered off further than your garden or next door. Verdict: not suitable if your cat has gone further afield than your garden.
Top Pick: So, the next gadget we looked at seems like it will do the job to keep tabs on your cat. This one is the Tractive GPS Pet Tracker. You can track your pet live over the internet so that you know where he/she is at all times and you can define a safe area for them (which may just be the boundaries of your house or even the village) so that you get an SMS alerting you when the cat has strayed out of this zone. However, there are downsides to this device – firstly it is quite big and is maybe more suited to dogs than cats. Secondly it only works well where there is a good mobile signal otherwise the signal may cut out. And thirdly the cost: It costs £149 for the whole unit but also you will need to pay a monthly fee for the tracking of around £5 a month. The cost may be worthwhile to stop your pet going missing but it obviously needs to be a consideration. There is a cheaper version called the Tractive MOTION but it appears that you need to download the data from that device. Verdict: suitable if you have good mobile coverage but expensive.
We have also found one more device that may be suitable. The problem with this one is that it only has one review which says it doesn’t work. It seems that a lot of these devices come from China and the instructions are poorly translated so that it is difficult to figure out how to get it to work. The Generic Real-time Waterproof GPS tracker works with a SIM card to send you a text message when you phone the receiver that will tell you the exact location of the tracker. This does not need a monthly fee and is cheaper than the Tractive but it is questionable as to how reliable it might be and what the customer service would be like but so that you can see the options available we have chosen to show it here and when you read this there may be more reviews available to give you a better idea as to whether you should buy this or not. Verdict: not enough reviews to know if this is a good option but appears to fit the bill if you can get it to work.
There are some great GPS trackers out there but most of them are a bit big to be used on a cat. They can be quite useful if you want to track perhaps and elderly or disabled person who may be prone to wandering off though. One of these is shown below for information but the bumpf says that it is 400g so not really suitable for a cat!
