# GPS/Tracking collars for cats (UK)?



## Lel

I was wondering if anyone has been able to find a suitable GPS/tracking collar for a domestic cat. Having searched extensively on the internet for something suitable I have found that either the collar is far too bulky and heavy for a cat to comfortably manage, or the battery life is so limited that it would be likely to run out before you realised your cat was missing!

(I should mention that this is something I've spent hours researching, having just been reunited with my cat after he's been missing for over 3 months. He spent about 2 years of his life as a stray and I fear that he may have an instinctive tendancy to wander off and not find his way back home.)


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## DoggieBag

Check out - Loc8tor Pet - Quickly Locate Your Cat with "the Best Locator in the World"


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## hawksport

Marshall telemetry will be bringing something out small enough to be worn by a falcon with good battery life fairly soon, no idea what the cost will be though


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## Lel

Thanks for your replies; something with a range of about 100m is just not going to cut it really (especially something which relies on a clear line of sight when we live in a built up area).

Thanks for the tip re: Marshall telemetry, this firm did not come up in any of the searches I have done; if they make products small enough for birds I wonder why they aren't also advertising these for other pets?! I will have a look on their website.


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## Lel

Thanks for your replies. (not sure where my reply has gone)

I've emailed marshall radio to see if they offer anything suitable.

The locator only had a very short range; I really need something that will cover a bit more ground


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## DoggieBag

My fault, should of said - They do different ones check the store.


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## Kiwi

I have used the petloc8tor mentioned above for both my cat and dog for the past 2-3 mths. I have not needed it for the dog but it works brilliantly for the cat & I use it almost daily. I recently found her trapped under a shed in the freezing cold and managed to coax her out. There are different models in the range - my cat is female and tends to stay in her local area but you can pay more for the GPS model which works world-wide. I thought she would object to the tag (she is an ex-barn cat) so I bought the weather resistant pet cover (for a couple of quid) which means it is affixed directly to the collar and not dangling. She has no problems with it  Well worth the investment IMO and has saved me hours of searching the hedgerows x


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## Lel

Thanks for your advice, I will look into that model - the GPS options I've found are too bulky for my cat (he loathes wearing a collar anyway) and I thought that the limited range might mean it wasn't very effective.


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## Kate m

Hi Lel
let me know how you get on, I am having the same issue! Just moved house and my cat (who was a stray and I got from the RSPCA) got lost for a week and I had to place an ad in the local paper to get him back! I am now scared to let him back out and have been looking into the tracking devices. The radio frequency ones just wont cut it, I need something long range (he was over a mile and a half away) The only one i can see so far is Pawtrack but I like you am concerned about the weight of the device (although the vet said 50gms is ok), plus I wonder how much it is going to be as it links to your phone and so monthly charges Pawtrack let me know if you find anything else!


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## Lel

Hi Kate
Unfortunately I haven't found anything suitable.
We did shell out for the loc8tor but to be honest I don't believe it is worth the money at all - it has a very weak signal even when our cat is just the other side of our garden fence.
I have spent hours researching this and don't think there is anything out there.
Our cat currently wears the loc8tor on his collar (which comes with a waterproof cover) and a name/address tag in case he does do another disappearing act!


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## raesene

Hi,

We've been using this cat locator http://www.com-spec.com/thecatlocator/index.htm for about 5-6 years now for our two bengals.

The range is reasonable in the sub-urban area we live in (a couple of hundred yards anyway) the collars are pretty robust and the battery life has been fine (needs changed about once a month).

They've been pretty useful to us as our cats rarely go our of range, so if they've been out a while, we can easily check that they're about. Also the few times when they have got stuck in places it's been possible to track them down using this system.

I'd agree on the GPS options, I've looked into it a number of times and the available ones all seem more suited to dogs than cats.


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## hawksport

This might be worth looking into
http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=310386317427&cmd=VIDESC&index=1&nav=SEARCH&nid=62220627579


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## ElaineB

I've been using the G-Paws pet tracker for a while. The unit is small and light enough to be comfortable for a cat. I put the first one on my Russian Blue and she got shot of it and the collar on the first night, but that is always going to be the weak point with this kind of device. 
I've tracked the adventures of my young Maine Coon since he started going out and it's not bad. The tracker does seem to lose the signal occasionally as there are gaps in the time, and it sometimes doesn't record at all when I know he's out. I've also walked to the shops with it and it tracked me slightly off where I actually was - unless I was in someone's garden & not on the pavement!

Drawbacks: Not a GPS that tracks while worn: Have to remove the device & download the files. A little glitchy & patchy on picking up a signal and not always completely accurate.

Plus points:If you're looking for information about territory range to give an idea of where to look should they go missing, it's enough.
The website is great and easy to use & downloading the files is really easy.


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## GPCats

Lel said:


> I was wondering if anyone has been able to find a suitable GPS/tracking collar for a domestic cat. Having searched extensively on the internet for something suitable I have found that either the collar is far too bulky and heavy for a cat to comfortably manage, or the battery life is so limited that it would be likely to run out before you realised your cat was missing!
> 
> (I should mention that this is something I've spent hours researching, having just been reunited with my cat after he's been missing for over 3 months. He spent about 2 years of his life as a stray and I fear that he may have an instinctive tendancy to wander off and not find his way back home.)


I wish we would have been finished with our device in January, but if anyone is still looking for a device made just for cats you can checkout GPCats(dot)com - Not sure why this site won't allow me to post any links. Anyway, I hope you find what you're looking for.


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## Doggiedelight

Im looking for something for my cats but must be small. This thread is quite old so wondered if anyone can recommend any recent products? Thank you


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## BennoSergio

Doggiedelight said:


> Im looking for something for my cats but must be small. This thread is quite old so wondered if anyone can recommend any recent products? Thank you


I'll be looking to purchase something also, I've looked around and researched various products but they all seem too bulky...


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## AdamE

BennoSergio said:


> I'll be looking to purchase something also, I've looked around and researched various products but they all seem too bulky...


I'd agree with a previous post which mentioned the catlocator from com-spec dot com (can't post any links). We tried the loc8tor and although sometimes it was okay, the range is really poor. We live in a rural area and the cats tend to wander quite far from the house so they were very rarely in range. We looked into a GPS system, but they are still very bulky and require an ongoing subscription and constant charging.

The catlocator has small transmitters which are fixed to the cat collars and the batteries last around a month. The range is very good and is alleged to be up to a mile. One of our cats is particularly adventurous and probably does sometimes go more than half a mile from the house. It picks him up fine. You can turn down the sensitivity as you get nearer (or they get nearer) and this allows you to pinpoint quite accurately.

Downsides: it's not cheap and the import duties were ridiculous (more than £60 if I remember correctly). It also takes quite a bit of getting used to, but practice makes perfect. Sometimes there does also seem to be interference on one of the channels our cats' collars use. Not sure where this is coming from but it tends to be during the day and can swamp the signal somewhat.

Overall though I'm pleased with it and the cats don't seem to have any problems wearing the collars and transmitters.


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## AdamE

So, no sooner had I posted the above than I started to notice strong interference when using the catlocator scanner on the channel used by the collar of one my cats. I spent a few days trying to track down what was happening and in the end emailed the suppliers who were very helpful. They eventually tracked it down to the "new DAB+ broadcast system" - not something that I had heard of before. The suppliers (in the US) had not been aware that this system was coming and on those frequences. They warned me that the interference was likely to get worse after the service launches fully on 29th February. As a short term fix they offered me new transmitters on frequencies least likely to be affected. Longer term they told me that it will take them a while to work out what to do about it.

So I would say that if you were tempted to order by my glowing review in my previous post then please contact the company first for advice as it seems it would be better for them to address this issue first. I'll post an update on here if I hear more from them.


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## Gallifreyangirl

I have L8cater on Jiggs and it doesn't have a GPS on it but it works great if hes not to far away. The reason we chose this is the battery has several months so if he gets lost we have got a chance to find him where as the others need recharging or a monthly fee. We paid £50 for it and have it attached to Jiggs collar.


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## MilleD

I've got a G-Paws, and whilst it isn't 'live' data, it was really useful to see where she was going when she didn't come in to my calling here. I was surprised how far she roamed at night.

However, the cat I used it on doesn't seem to be able to keep a collar for more than about a day so I've given up trying to make her wear one. 

I reckon there is a mad woman down the street who's house if full of other people's cat collars because she went mad at me when I dared to ask her if she'd seen Jasper's collar!

I've never been able to find a satisfactory live version that can't be lost when the collar goes missing though. That could prove pretty costly.


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## AdamE

MilleD said:


> I've got a G-Paws, and whilst it isn't 'live' data, it was really useful to see where she was going when she didn't come in to my calling here. I was surprised how far she roamed at night.
> 
> However, the cat I used it on doesn't seem to be able to keep a collar for more than about a day so I've given up trying to make her wear one.
> 
> I reckon there is a mad woman down the street who's house if full of other people's cat collars because she went mad at me when I dared to ask her if she'd seen Jasper's collar!
> 
> I've never been able to find a satisfactory live version that can't be lost when the collar goes missing though. That could prove pretty costly.


We lost two collars from the loc8tor system (quite expensive to replace) before switching to the catlocator (wish they had more distinctive names!). I also spent a lot of last Summer crawling around in brambles to get loc8tor collars back after our cats had managed to get them off, but the two we lost must have been deposited too far away for us to find them.


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## Mognut

I've been in contact with a gentleman called Peter Callaway who has designed and manufactured a GPS collar for cats called the Halo. His company is called Pawtrax and I met him and saw the product at the Birmingham Supreme Cat show. I'm on a waiting list for one of his collars. Perhaps you could look his website up, it might be what you're looking for. Hope this helps.


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## Citrineblue

For us it was easier to catproof the garden, with six cats the cost would have been excessive for a GPS system and the catproofing means the cats don't get into any strife.

Our system is 'Protectapet' which is a bracket and netting system, awkward areas such as tree, sheds and pergola are all sorted.

http://protectapet.com


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## Gazo76

Hi all,
I've been looking at the various comments and models out there on ebay, but nothing really stands out.

Is there a combined GPS roaming and instant tracking device on the market?

Our boys are starting to get more adventurous and while we don't mind them "playing out" in the evening, we'd prefer them home at night like our girls and have been out seacrhing for them a few times of late.


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## Danwiz

I'm looking at getting either the Pod 2 or the Tabcat for our cat, all the reviews I've read say the POD 2 is the best high end tracker at the moment and the tabcat is the best simple radio frequency tracker, not sure whether I need all the data that the Pod2 gives I just want to know that if I need to I can find my cat so may save the money and go with the tabcat. Anyone used it before?

http://www.tuxedo-cat.co.uk/best-cat-trackers/


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## Steve smith

Hey Lel,

Being in the same market of our GPS tracker for pet will help you to know real time location for your cat.


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## MilleD

Steve smith said:


> Hey Lel,
> 
> Being in the same market of our GPS tracker for pet will help you to know real time location for your cat.


If my cat was wearing that thing you are selling, he'd get stuck trying to get in through the cat flap. It's a bit big.


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