LT here. Sometimes I can’t find my friends. Cats just don’t tell you where they are going. That can mean danger if they are not careful! Humans can go crazy when they don’t know where their cat is at (for other reasons too but for now we are focusing on cats).
What is a cat tracker? A cat tracker is typically a GPS or other device that is attached to your cat’s collar and it will let you know where your cat is generally at (note, if there is a cat-nip café in your area look there first).
Ever see those signs around the neighborhood that say “cat missing”? Not only are the pictures normally awful but it is sad to see a cat that has lost its servant – I mean owner.
If you worry about your cat going missing, get a tracker with long battery life, a good range of distance, and a reliable connection. Someday cats will have their own cell phones but until then a tracker may be worth it. As for cats, we view humans as having the responsibility for knowing where we are but sometimes humans do not do their job.
Let me tell you about a good friend of mine. His name was Kirby. He was an outdoor cat for many years and was very savvy. Kirby spent every night near racoons and they each respected each other’s territory. Well, one day I went to visit Kirby and could not find him. I overheard the people that worked for him saying they had not seen him in a couple of days. I did some searching also because I can smell things humans will never see and I knew Kirby’s sent well. After hours of searching, I could not find him. A couple of days later a neighbor called and said he had found a black cat in a drainage ditch that looked like Kirby. Well, sadly it was Kirby. He might have fallen in or got into a fight. The ditch was dry so he did not drown. If he had on a cat tracker the humans could have found him very quickly and he would likely still be alive.
So, cat trackers are kinda like having insurance. The sooner you find you find your cat the less you might pay in vet bills – and we all know vets are not cheap. Plus, speaking as a cat, I really do not like going to the vet. I do not recall one pleasant experience there. There are a lot of things you can do when you find your cat (e.g., food and water) that will solve a lot of problems.
When I first heard of cat trackers I thought – what is that? Humans go out wearing safari gear and hunt for lost cats. Or, dogs that are trained by humans to find cats – not a bad idea but can really trust a dog or dogs finding me out in the middle of nowhere. I can a dog explaining it now – the cat must have fallen off a cliff – look at those wounds – while the other dogs are laughing in the background.
If you do lose a cat (or horse, bird, dog, etc.) there is a website called Paw Boost that can help. You put in a bunch of information about the animal, location, etc, and maybe if someone sees it and finds your pet they will know who owns it. I am not certain of the success rate but the cat tracker should give more immediate results and time is everything when a pet is missing. Another site is by Petco and it is called “love lost”. You can indicate whether you found a pet or lost one. The site says that 1 in 3 pets go missing at some point in their lifetime. That means a cat tracker could make a lot of sense. The stress of searching through websites could be avoided if you find the cat you work for quickly! A happy ending all around! Be sure to have plenty of treats ready for the reunion! Maybe even a can of tuna!
There is a website you can go to for some good information.
https://allaboutcats.com/best-cat-tracker.
They have tested several and provided an opinion on them. Some of them have cool names – Loc8tor (get it?), Eureka Technology Marco Polo Tracker (I think Marco Polo should be illegal), Cat Tailer (ok, hard to say something witty about that name), and Girafus Pro-Track-Tor (is that because giraffes are tall and can see over things?). Anyway, you get the idea.
Let me know what you think. Do you have one? If so, does it work well? Does your cat like it? Has your cat figured out how to turn it off?
Stay cool,
LT
