Is there a tracking device for pets ?

franksm

My cat escaped last night and hasn't returned... this is the second time in a few months Normally he goes out (during the day) and returns after an hour or so. At the moment he's "lost" and I'm hoping he's just sitting in someone's house getting fussed over, and none of the myriad of "bad things" that could have happened to him. But the really hard part is not knowing where he has got to.

Got me thinking: I have a tracking device in my car - quite a heavy little device, but completely self-powered. If the car goes missing, I can call it and it'll report to me its GPS position. Wondering if there's something similar available for pets ?

Background the first episode: my 2 yr old black-and-white cat Monte went out one night in October and didn't come back. He normally does go out for an hour or two then comes back, then wants out again etc, but he's normally an indoors-car. That was a Wenesday: after searching tirelessly on Thursday and Friday I spent the Saturday putting up posters and putting an ad in the local paper.

On Monday I got a call from the vet to say someone had found him, called the ISPCA, and had Monte picked up and shipped to a vets. Seems he had been run over, breaking his back leg and had scampered off into the fields. This was at the main roundabout in Ongar. The guy who witnessed Monte get hit by the car in front, (whose owner got out and seemed to be prodding the wounded cat with his feet ?!) stopped and chased after Monte after shouting at the other driver. He caught Monte and brought him home, and nursed him for a bit. The ISPCA came out on Monday and brought the cat to a vet who discovered the microchip in him. They called me, I came to the vet and authorised surgery (€1,000 !)

Six weeks later, after wearing a frame on his leg and being housebound, Monte is all recovered but racked with cabin-fever. With his leg fixed and the frame removed, I let him out during daylight the odd time. Always he returned without a problem, sitting on the car outside peering into the house and demanding his dinner.

Now, January, and he's gone again. I have searched the streets and no sign of him.

Dave!

I can't help you, sorry , but good luck -- I'm sure he'll be back to ye soon enough!

Just wondering how much did your micro-chip cost? Our cat is getting all grown up now and he's getting more curious, so I'd often pass him by as I walk to the shops, and he's 5 or 6 houses down, in the front garden, so I figure he's bound to get lost at some stage, and a micro-chip could be a good idea.

franksm

Thanks... fingers still crossed.

The chip cost €45 and any vet should be able to do it - and neither you nor the cat/etc will ever know that it's there.

I think "Animark" and "Vetchip" are the tradenames

BrianD3

There are GPS tracking devices for pets but
a) although some are marketed as being suitable for cats, they are probably a little large and heavy for a cat.
b) they are very expensive

They will probably shrink and get cheaper in years to come but right now they don't seem great.

GPS trackers for cats have been discussed here
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=294572

There are also radio transmitters/receivers for pets but I believe these are pretty limited in terms of range and accuracy, still might be worth looking into.

Another thing I read about which sounds a bit mad - using a sniffer dog to track a lost pet. Apparently this is quite widely used in the US. Don't know much about it.

It is distressing when cats go missing. I hope you get him back. IME, a lot of the time they do come back but there's always a worry that something bad has happened. One thing I worry about is curious cats exploring an open car or van and then getting driven away somewhere by accident. We are always very careful if there is a tradesmen droing work on the house as the cat invariably ends up asleep in their van.

Assuming he does come back it may be time to consider cat proofing part of the garden so that he can still go outdoors but not escape.

luckat

Great news that your cat's back home. Couple of points.

There are GPS devices, but as explained, they're heavy and inefficient and expensive.

You can get your cat microchipped, but with cats it normally has to be done under anaesthetic, so it's a good idea to get it done when he's being neutered.

By the same token, if he's an entire male and you're not going to breed from him, it's a good idea to get him neutered for several reasons. 1) Entire males stray much more than neutered males; they go looking for a woman and get lost, or get into a fight and get lost. 2) You don't want to be responsible for hundreds of starving kittens. 3) Because of fighting in entire males, neutered males live longer.

Finally, if your cat goes missing, in the *vast* majority of cases (except with entire males as above), it's within a couple of hundred yards of your house. So your best dart is to put up "much-loved pet" notices in a quarter-mile radius of your house, with a good pic of your pet, if he gets lost, asking people to search garages and sheds, and to knock on doors.

Also get to know your neighbours, including the eccentric lady who feeds all the local foxes and cats at 1am.

And finally finally, train your cat (with treats and petting and praise) to come to you when you blow a "silent" dog-whistle. And keep the training up - if he's out, blow it and give him treats and petting and praise when he comes back. And don't let him out at night; it's not kind to the blackbirds and thrushes and robins and sparrows and finches, and all the other citizens whose lives are made a misery by hunting cats.

franksm

Thanks - he's not back though; he returned after his first jaunt thanks to the chip, and thanks to ending up at a vet who read the chip. He's gone again as of Friday.

I'm going to ring the Cats Aid and places like that today (plus the roads-maintenance/council office, for whatever that's worth ). I looked high and low over the weekend and didn't see anything at all. Have posters up all over the place now too.

That's a good idea about the whistle...

As to the GPS - guess it's going to come down to battery size too - car GPS yse 4 x rechargeable AA batteries as backup so the package gets quite heavy. I must search more on the old-tech solution ie. the miniature transponder/bug which just sends out a ping every few seconds.

Alun

You can get your cat microchipped, but with cats it normally has to be done under anaesthetic, so it's a good idea to get it done when he's being neutered.

Not as far as I know ... I've personally seen 4 cats being microchipped and they were all done with the cat awake.

Capall86

luckat wrote:

You can get your cat microchipped, but with cats it normally has to be done under anaesthetic, so it's a good idea to get it done when he's being neutered.

whoever told you that is full of sh*t, the microchips are put in by way of an injection, and can be done while the animal is fully conscious.

luckat wrote:

And don't let him out at night; it's not kind to the blackbirds and thrushes and robins and sparrows and finches, and all the other citizens whose lives are made a misery by hunting cats.

that is just natural, i think your going a little over board by saying actual peoples lives are made a misery by hunting cats.

Arcadian

Capall86 wrote:

that is just natural, i think your going a little over board by saying actual peoples lives are made a misery by hunting cats.

The poster wasn't implying that peoples lives are made a misery. Maybe you should read peoples posts properly before jumping in with your usual overly aggressive approach. Stress is a killer, wouldn't like to see you having a coronary:D

luckat

Of course by "citizens" I meant animals.

Really, I'm not overreacting. In Wisconsin, a US state with roughly the same human population as Ireland, it is estimated that seven million birds a year are killed by cats.

I know it's natural for cats to hunt, but it's natural for polar bears to hunt too, and I'm not about to fulfil that natural urge by hopping into the polar bear enclosure in the zoo, any more than I'd let a cat out at night to kill the blackbirds that give me such pleasure.

Arcadian

Actually in several US cities it's against the law to let your cat outside, fullstop. If only it were the same here, these are not native animals and should not be allowed to roam free to decimate the wildlife population.