By the Associated Press’s KELVIN CHAN
London (AP) Have you had a chance to see the cats?
Because our two cats, Juniper and Maple, can go outside through a flap in the backdoor, that is a popular chant in my home. They have microchips that allow them to be identified in the event of their disappearance, and like many other house cats in London, they are free to come and go, exploring the backyards and beyond.
It can be upsetting if your dog runs off or your cat spends a lot of time prowling outside and doesn’t come back as planned.
Technology can assist you in monitoring your pet’s whereabouts if you’re concerned about their whereabouts.
Dedicated pet trackers are collar-worn gadgets that usually locate the animal wearing them using GPS signals. They transmit the position to a smartphone app using a 4G cellular signal or your home Wi-Fi connection.
There are a lot of goods available. Among the companies that sell trackers for cats and dogs are Tractive, Jiobit, and Pawfit. For the latter, devices are typically lighter and smaller.
Fi and Whistle offer dog trackers that have built-in collars. The PetTracer cat collar employs radio signals from a home base station in addition to GPS. An Apple Watch software called FitBark tracks a dog’s location and other activities.
Garmin offers a line of GPS dog collars that connect to portable devices like walkie-talkies, but they are expensive and designed for hunters and other outdoor enthusiasts.
The majority of trackers allow you to mark a safe area on a map, which is typically your home and the neighborhood, and they will notify you if your pet leaves it.
Typically, they use the 4G LTE spectrum that is often utilized by wireless providers. According to Andrew Bleiman, executive vice president for North America at Tractive, it usually has the longest range of any cellular signal.
Unless you’re in a very remote location, like the heart of a national park, that means robust connectivity in the majority of Europe and North America, Bleiman said.
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The brand and model determine the exact cost. The majority of gadgets cost less than $100. But bear in mind that in order for the cell service to work, you will also need to pay a membership charge.
According to Bleiman, some pet owners find the peace of mind to be worth the $100 or more annual expense.
Although the battery life varies, most collars come with a built-in rechargeable battery. In ideal circumstances, they will last much longer, although most will last at least two to three days before needing to be charged.
Signal strength is one important issue. If the gadget needs to work harder to connect to Wi-Fi or pick up the GPS, the battery will run out more quickly. By not transmitting coordinates within the safe zone, some conserve electricity.
Pet tracking applications provide health and activity monitoring capabilities, much like fitness watches for people. On a daily or hourly basis, you can observe how much time your dog or cat has spent sleeping or exercising.
But be advised, according to Bleiman, a tracker won’t keep your pet in the backyard. Only when they exit the virtual fence area you’ve set up will it notify you.
After going missing for days at a time, Maple served as the inspiration for this One Tech Tip. As it happened, he was spending time in a backyard ten blocks away. We didn’t know until the residents used a pet microchip scanner to get our contact information and notify us so we could get him back.
Tractive made a loaner device available for testing. We put it on Maple, who obviously didn’t like it at first, using the breakaway collar that came with it. He hurried through a gap in the fence and out the rear door.
I tracked his activities throughout the course of the following day using the Tractive app. It depicted his trips to and from several nearby houses. Around midnight, he returned to rest for a few hours, went out to prowl once more at three in the morning, and then returned an hour later to slumber some more.
Seeing where he was spending his time was fascinating. The backyard where we had to previously rescue Maple was one of his favorite locations, based on the app’s heatmap.
I observed that Maple was no longer wearing the Tractive collar around twenty-four hours after I had put it on him. Somehow, it had fallen off.
Tractive features a radar capability that uses the Bluetooth on your phone to locate your pet if you are unable to locate them precisely or if the device gets lost. The features of other brands are comparable.
I could see on the app’s map that it was in a nearby backyard and that the circle was becoming larger, indicating that I was getting closer. However, I was unable to locate it, so I gave up so as not to wake the neighbors.
I’m not sure I agree with Bleiman’s recommendation to use a harness for cats who dislike collars.
Microchips are frequently implanted in dogs and cats, and the information is then entered into a database. This makes it much simpler to find owners of lost dogs and cats, even if they have been missing for years or have wandered hundreds of kilometers.
In several European nations, it is legally mandatory to implant pet microchips, which are around the size of a grain of rice, just beneath the skin. Although some states, like Hawaii, already have them, there isn’t a federal legislation in the US, so check with your state or local government.
However, there is some misunderstanding regarding the capabilities of microchips. They cannot be tracked in real time since they lack a power source. In order to scan the device for contact information, whoever finds your pet must take it to a veterinarian or a shelter.
Bluetooth trackers, such as Apple’s Air Tags, Samsung’s SmartTags, or comparable products from Tile, Cube, and Chipolo, are widely used by pet owners. These gadgets rely on low-power signals that are relayed by passing cellphones.
Depending on the type, Bluetooth trackers can range anywhere from 100 to 500 feet. There is no need to pay for a membership, and the batteries last for months or longer.
They are not, however, promoted especially for dogs. Based on the numerous suggestions that pet owners have made in internet forums, it hasn’t deterred them.
Chipolo cautions against using its circular plastic trackers on larger dog types or outdoor cats, and suggests that they should only be used for indoor pets such as house-trained cats and small dogs.
However, some pet owners may find them to be a remedy.
“If you’re in a downtown urban core, Bluetooth is a perfectly reasonable solution,” Bleiman said. Pets, however, move quickly. Additionally, it’s highly unlikely that your pet will be near a Bluetooth device if you’re in a suburban area, a woodland park, or even a more rural or wilderness setting.
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