Pet Trackers
Not knowing where the cat you love has disappeared to is devastating.
Posters on lamp posts and shops, and adverts in the local paper take time to put together, and all this to do when you are beside yourself with fear and worry.
Replies to your cries for help come in from kindly people who think that they have seen your feline friend. Your heart leaps, but it turns out not to be your much loved companion.
Has he/she been stolen, become lost, or is he/she lying somewhere in terrible pain? The imagination runs riot, and the anguish is unbearable. If he/she is eventually found, but too late, do you wonder if you could have saved him/her if you had known where he/she was earlier?
In the section which addresses the containment of ‘Outdoor Cats’, Feline Friends has expressed the opinion that preventing your cat from leaving its ‘safety zone’ should ideally be the first choice for those of us who live in the proximity of public roads. However, there are many who do not have this problem or who, for a variety of reasons, are simply unable to provide suitable confinement. So what can this group of cat lovers do when their inquisitive bundle of fur decides to venture into the unexplored? How do we find him/her? Feline Friends decided to trial cat tracking devices which use radio frequency technology to locate the errant cat.
The first device we purchased was a ‘Loc8tor Plus’ which was said to be able to guide us to within an inch of our pets. The test was undertaken in February 2009.
Although the final results of our test were disappointing, there were many elements of the equipment which the tester thought to be excellent:
- The transmitter (homing tag) was small (30.5mm x 19.5mm x 8.5) and light (5 grams), and fitted easily onto the cat collar without appearing to cause any discomfort to the cat.
- The receiver was easy to hold (86mm x 54mm x 6mm), and could be kept in any handy drawer or cupboard when not in use.
- The instructions were very simple to understand.
- The receiver was easily programmed to locate different cats, which was excellent for a multi-cat household.
So, how well did the device work for finding a cat somewhere in a large garden?
The tester went out of her back door and turned on the receiver. No signal was received, and the handset advised her to move her position. Needless to say, the decision to move to the left, the right, or forwards was not given.
Knowing that her cat infrequently turned left out of the back door, the tester chose to turn right, and walked 15 metres away from the house. Still no signal. She turned around in a full circle (as recommended in the instructions) to try to get a signal. Nothing. She walked a further 22 metres, turning full circles every so many paces.
Another 16 metres and the tester then called the cat – who immediately appeared from under a thick bush just 11 metres away. The receiver emitted a signal as soon as the cat emerged.
The device was then tested in an open field, free of shrubbery and hedges, and worked quite well. However, how many cat owners have no shrubs, hedges or fences in their gardens?
The locator was left on the cats, and the test repeated four more times with similar results. Then the youngest (and smallest of the two cats) started to return home with the locator flashing and bleeping for no apparent reason. The bleeping would stop after some 20/30 minutes.
It took a few days of this regular occurrence for the tester to realise what was happening. There was deep snow in the garden, and the homing tag was getting wet. Whilst this meant that the product was (at that time) unsuitable for the British climate, the company has subsequently produced a ‘splashproof’ case for the tags. Having returned the Loc8tor we have not been able to test how waterproof these cases are.
The second device we purchased was a Jerross ‘Cat-Track’ system. In terms of size it appeared to be at a distinct disadvantage. The receiver was very large (at 12cm x 6cm x 4cm) and has six long antennae fitted to it, making it cumbersome to handle.
The transmitter is also bulky (38mm x 10mm) and has a pliable 14cm long antennae. It is supplied already fitted to a cat collar with small cable ties which the tester found were irritating the neck of one of the cats. She therefore removed it from the collar provided, and stitched it to another collar – making it more comfortable for the cat.
The instructions were difficult to understand; and trying to speak to Jerross Telemetry on the telephone proved difficult. Exchanging emails was the best method of communication for those of us with computers.
So, how did this system perform when actually put to the test?
Despite the disadvantages referred to, the tester was amazed at the range and accuracy of the equipment. Whilst a lot of practice was needed to operate the receiver effectively and much twiddling of knobs was proving necessary, the tester never failed to locate either of her cats.
Surprisingly, a signal was even received when a stone building was in a direct line of sight, so the tester simply walked around the building and then carried on in the direction of the signal. The naughty moggy was found hunting in the undergrowth of a house some half a mile away.
In our test, the tracker located both cats regardless of the shrubs, fences, and even buildings in the way. Furthermore, when the youngest scallywag fell in the pond (and then scrambled out again) the transmitter on her collar continued to work.
Our tester’s opinion? ‘An absolutely brilliant tracker once you get accustomed to using it properly.’