HouseholdPets.co.uk is a reader-supported site, meaning if you click on any product links we recommend we may receive a small commission in return.
Cats often wander, especially if they have access to the outdoors. Just like the saying goes, cats are curious creatures; they like to be in the know about their territory. A cat’s tendency to roam can also depend on its hormones; an unneutered male will travel in search of a mate. In some cases, cats will go off to find a better hunting ground.
Although some domestic cats never leave their garden, Petplan has reported that the average roaming distance is between 40 and 200 metres from their home. This can, of course, cause some owners to worry about their pets’ safety. The risk of their cat being hit by a car can plague a cat owner’s mind frequently, but are there any ways to keep tabs on a cat’s activity and location?
One of the best ways to keep an eye on a cat is by using a GPS tracker. There are many different types of cat GPS trackers on the market, which can make knowing which one to buy a tough task. To ensure you buy the best cat tracker for your cat, this article lists 13 of the cat tracking options available to you right now.
First, let’s look at what a GPS cat tracker actually is.
Table of Contents
What is a GPS Cat Tracker?
The main feature of a cat-tracking device is to monitor the location of the cat wearing the device. As technology has advanced, so have the features of cat trackers; some cat GPS trackers can now tell the cat’s location, the location history, when the cat leaves or enters a trusted space, etc. Some tracking devices even have options for audio and visual cues, such as calling commands to get the cat to return home.
Some GPS trackers are designed already attached to collars, while other trackers need to be clipped or woven onto the cat’s collar. These devices can be connected to mobiles or tablets by using an app or monthly subscription, which allows the owner to monitor the cat’s activity when necessary.
Most cat GPS trackers require a monthly subscription to work effectively; this is important to check before buying a device. The subscription fees can vary from roughly £3.75 to £12.90 per month.
Household Pets’ Top Picks for Best GPS Cat Trackers
As each cat is individual, the required features of a cat GPS tracker will differ from one cat to the next. Some might travel long distances, meaning they need a tracker with unlimited range; other cats might be out for days at a time, requiring a tracker with long battery life.
To help cat owners find the best cat tracker for their pets, Household Pets has compiled a list of 13 options. By reading the reviews and features of each cat tracker in this article, an informed decision can be made on which one best suits the needs of your cat.
Best Overall GPS Cat Tracker – Tractive GPS Cat Tracker
This Tractive GPS cat collar is an excellent option for both cats and pet owners. Some of its features include live tracking, unlimited distance range, location territory, escape alerts, and health tracking. The device does require a subscription to cover the service costs of the tracker’s built-in SIM card; the monthly subscription fee is listed as £4.50.
Most reviews on this product were positive; pet owners who bought this Tractive GPS pet tracker were impressed by the product’s success.
“…I have a young cat who enjoys going out. With this collar, I can always check where she is. You can even set danger zones such as busy roads so that if your cat enters that area, you’ll be alerted. I also love how you can set a virtual fence that alerts you when your cat has left or arrived home.“
One customer found there were some issues with the signal, which meant tracking their cat was almost impossible at times. They said:
“It doesn’t take much for the tracker to lose its data signal – tall trees and thick hedges/bushes will result in “weak or no signal” being reported; my cat is very fond of hiding in the middle of a dense bush in someone’s back garden for ages so he’s “off-grid” most of the time whilst he’s wearing the Tractive tracker on his collar.”
It is available to buy as the tracker only or as a tracker and Rogz collar bundle. The device is scratch and waterproof, and it will fit most collars. However, the Tractive GPS tracker might not be suitable for very small cats; it is best suited to cats weighing over four kilograms.
Best Luxury GPS Cat Trackers
Top Pick option – Weenect Cat GPS Tracker
Boasting a very compact design, the Weenect GPS tracker for cats is advertised as “#1 in Europe”. Its product description lists no distance limit, real-time GPS tracking, anti-escape alerts, and recall training as some of the most popular features. The tracker’s battery can last roughly three days of normal use, and it will fully charge within two hours.
With the features this device offers, it is unsurprising that positive reviews were overall pleased with the item.
“Very good. Get clear, updated location whenever you want, charge lasts three days, charges really quick, is a little heavy but doesn’t seem to bother my boy.“
For some people who bought the Weenect product, the size was the biggest downfall, with some saying the device was too heavy for their cats to carry.
“Main downside is the size. Compact is stretching the English language a tad too far. Battery also seems to be going down quickly, but it may be because we are ‘playing’ with the tag more than we would when novelty wears off.“
Although a subscription is required (£3.75 per month) to run the SIM card, Weenect does offer a 15-day money-back guarantee.
Premium Option – Pawfit 2 Pet GPS Tracker & Activity Monitor
As the overall best cat tracker on this list, the Pawfit pet tracker allows the pet’s location to be found no matter the distance or time. Its accurate tracking updates the pet’s location every five seconds and keeps account of the cat’s activity levels. Cat owners can monitor their cats’ steps, calories burned, and active and rest hours.
These features on pet GPS trackers are useful, especially if the cat’s medical records show potential or present issues. However, some people who bought the Pawfit device believe these features are an added bonus to a good piece of kit.
“I am absolutely delighted with the tracker’s performance. In particular, the mobile network reliability, the precision mapping of the application, and the added bonus of being able to see the daily histogram of their activities, .i.e, distance, steps & caloric count.
“I have absolutely no hesitation in recommending the trackers.”
One review stated due to their area, the GPS technology was inaccurate, meaning the product was of very little use to them.
“After extensive testing, the accuracy in our area is so poor as to make it unusable. There have been many instances where he has appeared to be settled in a distant location when he has been in our garden all the time. I have changed all the available settings, but it has not improved.”
The Pawfit GPS pet tracker has a battery life of up to six days and only takes two and a half hours to charge fully. It can also be connected to the Pawfit app to use voice commands, but this might cause the battery life to dwindle quicker.
Budget Option – UBEEQUEE UBEE LYNX Cat Tracker
This cat tracker comes with a rubber collar attachment to secure the device to the cat’s collar quickly. The UBEEQUEE device is small and lightweight, weighing only 22 grams, and can be recharged with the USB cable that is included.
Cat owners can create a “virtual fence” of between 200 and 2,000 metres on the app to receive notifications when their pets venture out of the safe zone, such as around the house or garden. The location tracking is accurate to up to 15 metres. This data can be shared with family and friends via the app.
Customers were pleased with the item’s packaging and speed of delivery, as shown by the review below:
“Came well before it was expected. Battery life seems good took it out with me before letting my cat out with it to make sure it is working. So today’s the day we will let her out with it on, as all seems good. Location does keep jumping around a bit, but I understand it doesn’t work well inside.“
Unfortunately, the UBEE LYNX’s accuracy is not foolproof, as some reviews stated:
“Accuracy hit and miss…. when it’s good, it pinpoints to about five metres, when it’s bad, my cat teleports to India from Yorkshire in about five minutes!“
Although other UBEEQUEE cat-tracking products allow remote alerts, this device does not.
Best “Unlimited Range” GPS Cat Trackers
Top Pick option – Tracki Pets GPS Tracker
The Tracki technology offers the best coverage for tracking pets; the combined 4G, 3G, and 2G technology is much more effective than many GPS trackers that only work with 4G connections. It offers pet owners updates via SMS, push notifications, and email to ensure they are kept up-to-date on all movements. This is only improved by the option to receive tracking updates in one to five-minute inverals.
This product comes with a strong magnet, waterproof silicone cover, belt clip, keyring, and lanyard attachments. The silicone cover is likely the best attachment for using this product as a cat GPS tracker, as it will fit cat collars.
As Tracki believes that “the customer is king,” customer support is offered seven days a week, as this customer experienced after buying the tracker:
“There was a fault with the battery, where I had likely overcharged it; however, Belle worked with me to arrange a replacement, and as I purchased via Amazon, it came with a lifetime warranty which is very useful. The device is small enough to work on a small cat which was my main concern when purchasing!“
Although the battery life is supposed to last up to six days, this can differ depending on the tracking mode. The default tracking mode will use more than the energy-saving mode.
“I will say, though, that I just fully charged one 7 hours ago and the second about 2 hours ago, and the battery on the first one is down to 84%, and the second is at 93%. I’ve got both set at “Zero Updates” to conserve battery life in the hopes of not having to charge them again before my trip, but my trip is not for another five days, so I’m not sure that they will make it, even at zero updates.“
Tracki offers lifetime warranties for lost or damaged devices.
Premium Option – PitPat GPS Tracker
Made in the UK, the PitPat pet tracker is said to be recommended and used by vets. It tracks a pet’s location in the UK and even large European countries, monitors exercise and rest time, and also provides weight management options. As an added bonus, there are no monthly subscription fees with this product; it comes with a free lifetime SIM card.
PitPat offers pet trackers in multiple colours, including black, blue, green, pink, and red.
“The day after we got the tracker, something spooked her, and she took off. I could see from the app that she’d gone home, so I didn’t waste lots of time looking for her. It might be expensive, but I reckon it will pay for itself in a couple of years.“
As the GPS signal relies on satellite-based tracking instead of WiFi or Bluetooth, some customers found the device worked infrequently.
“This GPS tracker is not for my area of the UK. Requires a really strong mobile signal to take the data and relay it to the phone.“
Budget Option – Tractive GPS Cat Tracker Mini
The mini Tractive cat tracker is a smaller version of the one previously mentioned in this article. Although this is a “mini” tracking device, it will only fit cats above three kilograms. It is only the device’s size that has been reduced in this version of the GPS tracker.
Also, like the other, this Tractive GPS tracker can also be bought as an individual item or as a bundle with a breakaway cat collar.
Customers who bought this version of the Tractive cat GPS tracker enjoyed the additional features it offered, such as monitoring your cat’s sleeping habits. These updates can be shared with family, friends, and other people who might be caring for your cat, like cattery staff when you are on holiday.
“After a week’s worth of use, the app creates a cat’s personal territory, areas they frequent, and you can click to see a line of where they went with a heat map of where they spent their time. You can view their history as well.“
One of the few negatives that reviews mentioned about this product was the need for a subscription, although it was said to be worth the extra cost.
“...in relation to the subscription you need: This device collects GPS data, in order for you to receive that in real-time, it needs a mobile network available. This data connection costs money, like your monthly phone contract, so a few pounds a month to cover that data connection seems like peanuts when your pet’s safety is at stake.”
Best GPS Cat Trackers with Long Battery Life
Top Pick option – Kippy Cat GPS Tracker
Kippy tracking devices use four technologies to keep track of pets; Bluetooth, GPS-GLONASS, phone cell triangulation, and WiFi. With this, the tracker can keep an account of the cat’s location, steps, sleep, and other essential aspects.
The combination of signals used in this tracking system meant the device was very effective in monitoring the pet’s location correctly.
“Having now used it a number of times, including simulating the loss of our dog, I can say overall it’s an impressive bit of kit.
“The fact it utilises multiple forms of communication (Bluetooth and GSM) and location tracking (A-GPS, GPS, and WiFi) makes it highly accurate, resilient and offers impressive battery life as it reserves the need for high power tracking options (such as GPS) for when you’ve actually lost your dog.“
A few people who bought this Kippy product found connecting the device to be challenging when compared to other Bluetooth trackers.
“The tracker only works if connected via Bluetooth and fails to connect when out of BT range.”
Premium Option – Tabcat V2
The Tabcat tracker is a little different than others on this list. It works with a handset device, which leads the owner to the location of their cat using audio and visual cues. There is no GPS tracking involved with this device, which also means that there is no subscription required; a one-off payment means you will be able to track your cat for years.
This device is a radio frequency tracker that can be used both indoors and outdoors; it can be used to track a cat if it is trapped up a tree, in a shed, or garage. Several people who have previously bought this item have praised its ability to track their cat’s exact location.
“I wasn’t expecting to find this useful in any other way than locating my cat in one of our many neighbours gardens. But… It’s been useful on several occasions locating the cats indoors, something which the GPS trackers can’t do. I’m so glad I wasn’t wooed by the fancy GPS map reports and paid a little more for a much more useful tool that has no subscription and batteries that last months.“
This version of the Tabcat tracker left repeat customers disappointed; some features had been changed and were now worse than the original.
“Having had the original for many years, I now felt time to upgrade. But very disappointed… The old version was certainly better with respect to audio.“
Budget Option – TrackiPet GPS Tracker
The second Tracki product on this list; this one is specifically made to be a pet GPS tracker, while the other can be used on belongings as well. It comes with three different collar adapters and a keyring accessory, which can be used to attach the device securely.
TrackiPet uses GSM, WiFi, and cellular networks to ensure coverage is reliable internationally. The device offers movement and speed alerts, virtual fencing, location history of up to five years, and more.
Positive reviews mentioned the battery life of the product, saying that it lasted several days without losing power.
“After four full days of use, the battery is at 45%. This is quite impressive for such a compact device.“
Unfortunately, as shown by the review below, there were some customers that could not connect the device to the app. When they requested help from customer support, some solutions were not possible for UK customers.
“I couldn’t pair the device with my app. The app told me to call a US number to register.“
Other Trackers to Consider
Top Pick Option – Apple AirTag
Although Apple AirTags are not primarily designed for tracking collars, the tiny device is a great option to consider. It can be attached using a collar tag, almost like an animal’s ID tag, or even as part of the collar itself. The battery life of AirTags can be up to one full year, which means it has one of the better batteries on this list.
The tracking system of Apple AirTags is unique; even if the device is out of reach on the owner’s mobile, it can still ping signals back by using other Apple devices in the area, almost like it piggybacks off of them.
“This is so handy; my cat likes to go awol, and when you enable this feature, anyone who has an iPhone in the area of the location of the lost pet picks up the Bluetooth signal, and it pings the location of your pet to your phone. The person will not have any knowledge of this since Apple have privacy protection built in, and it doesn’t show anything at all. The AirTag just piggybacks the Bluetooth signal and notifies you only.”
Although this method of tracking can be effective, it depends on the number of Apple mobiles, tablets, etc., within a certain distance. More rural or remote areas, like the customer below, will not have much success in having signals returned due to a lack of Apple devices nearby.
“Fab product, but it doesn’t work for me. It won’t track my cats if they’re more than 25 feet away from me. Went into Apple Store, and they explained they’re only accurate for distance in a crowded environment where there are lots of other iPhones. Something to do with signal. As I live in a rural area, they’re not suitable.“
To fit this device onto a cat’s collar, there are several options to consider.
Collars
Tags
Premium Option – Tile Mate Tracker
The Tile tracker is similar to the Apple AirTag; it can be used for pets, but it is more commonly used to keep track of keys, wallets, and other items. Due to this, its range is limited to 250 feet, which might not be enough for some of the more explorative cats. It will, however, be suitable for indoor tracking if your cat likes to find places to hide at home.
“This tile is very useful and somewhat accurate, so I don’t know why there are so many bad reviews. For a Bluetooth tracker, it does a good job and gives me peace of mind.“
Reviewers did comment on the battery Tile trackers have. Although the battery should last up to three years, the more recent versions of this tracking device do not include replaceable batteries. This has caused some irritation from customers like this one:
“I find it pretty disgusting that Tile have chosen to make the battery non-replaceable. Unlike the slim and possibly sticker version, there isn’t a valid design reason not to include this feature as per the previous generation. Instead, they have chosen to cash grab at the expense of the environment.”
Budget Option – Esky Wireless Pet Tracker
The Esky tracker comes with one remote and six receivers, which can be attached to a range of objects, from collars to wallets. Each receiver is a different colour, corresponding to the buttons on the remote, and will release a sound and red light when the linked button is pressed. With six receivers, you could track multiple pets at the same time.
If you frequently lose your cat indoors – maybe it hides in the laundry cupboard or basket at times – then this product is a decent cat tracker. It works by releasing a loud, 80-decibel beep that you can follow to find the lost object or animal, and it is advertised as working within 100 feet.
“Easy to use. Really helpful in finding my cat and keys.“
However, not many reviews specified that they had used this item as a cat tracker. Still, as the product comes with an extended 12-month guarantee, it might be a worthwhile purchase to keep track of your pets, if you do not want to buy a GPS collar, as well as other belongings.
Features to Consider When Buying a GPS Cat Tracker
When buying a cat GPS tracker, there are certain aspects that you should look into before selecting your final purchase. These features are:
Battery Life
As these devices are wireless, the battery life is an important aspect to consider when selecting a device. For instance, if you need a GPS tracker for a cat that often roams outdoors for long periods of time (some cats can be away from home for days at a time), then you should ensure that the battery is long-lasting.
Durability
How durable the product is should also be considered. The device should be waterproof in case your cat runs off into a rainstorm or accidentally jumps into a lake.
Escape Alerts
Also known as creating a “virtual fence” feature, this will allow you to create an area and receive an alert when your cat goes beyond that predefined boundary. If a cat wanders outside of the garden area, this can be a good tool to monitor when it does so.
Health Tracking
There are several parts of a pet’s life that need to be monitored regularly, and their health is a top priority. Some of the best cat GPS trackers offer the chance to check a cat’s activity levels, sleeping patterns, and weight.
Range of Distance
If your cat tends to roam further than your home, then you should look for a device with a wider range. That way, if your cat finds itself out of range, you can still locate your furry friend.
Subscription Plan
The monthly subscription costs are another aspect you might want to check before choosing a cat tracker. Monthly subscription fees can be relatively expensive for some devices, and this is on top of the purchase price.
To Sum Up
There are a lot of choices available when purchasing a cat GPS tracker, which means finding the best one can be difficult. Choosing the best GPS cat tracker UK depends on what features are required due to the cat’s wandering tendencies as well as the surrounding location; if the cat travels far, if the area is rural or urban, etc.
All of these aspects can influence which tracking device is suitable for you and your cat. So, if you find yourself worrying about where your furry friend gets to, then buying a GPS device for tracking their movements might be a good idea.