These days wearable tech isn’t only for us humans, pets have their share of the market too. GPS or activity trackers are actually super useful and can make our everyday life so much easier! Easier for us and more secure for our beloved pets. To date we have tried two different types of pet tech, Tabcat for cats and Whistle for dogs, they both work in a different ways and serve a different purpose.
Tabcat RRP: £69.99
Tabcat is a tracking device which works on RF technology for accurate, energy efficient tracking (one battery will last up to 12 months). It comes as a standalone unit; one transceiver plus two homing tags with plastic protectors, which you can attach to just about anything you want, your cat included 🙂 There is an option to purchase additional tags as the device can track up to four subjects on one unit. The homing tags are super lightweight (only 6 grams) so your cat shouldn’t even notice it.
In general I really like the idea of Tabcat but its 122 meter distance isn’t far enough for us. I know cats are territorial creatures but as it ended up ours wonder much further so I am still losing track of them. I think Tabcat would be ideal if you cats like to hide and you struggle with finding them around the house or nearby garden.
Whistle RRP: $79.95
Whistle offers two options, GPS tracker or an activity monitor. We tested the activity monitor version and I have to admit, I totally love it.
Whistle’s Activity Monitor is a health tracker for your dog. It attaches to any collar and measures your dog’s activities, giving you a new perspective on the day-to-day behaviour and long-term trends.
The device is app based and it can be highly personalised. In addition to tracking the activities or sleep duration of your dog, you can also track food or medication; all the data comes in the form of graphs so it’s super easy to track the progress and if you want there is a Whistle community you can join too.
The Whistle itself is a round disk 1.5” in diameter, it might be a bit big for very small dogs but for Bunk is just perfect. It comes with a collar attachment and a USB charger. The battery last around 7 days, which isn’t bad. It takes about 1 hour to fully recharge it and the device provides a clear green light indicator when it is fully charged.
I am not able to fault it in any way. Even in the UK climate with all its tons of rain it still works well and is still performing as intended so its waterproof feature is spot on. If you fancy a kind of Fitbit for your pet, I think Whistle might just be just the way to go.
Have you ever used any wearable tech for your pet?
Can you recommend something new we haven’t tried so far?
Sounds like a great idea, I am tempted to get one for my cats
What a great tracking device. Cats are independent and never tell us where they are going so tabcat is a great way of keeping an eye on them.
Oh wow what a fabulous idea - I need to get Yoda something like this! H x
oh my gosh this is such a brilliant invention! I never knew that something like this existed. The Tabcat is a fantastic idea. The amount of times we have thought that the cat has gone missing and the neighbours have heard us shouting for hours and told us that he’s been asleep in their garden and just ignoring us!