With a GPS collar, cat Milou can never get lost again

When the front door is locked, Lotje immediately jumps out of the shoulder-high bushes next to the house. The search is still on for Milou. Hanane Ramdani (39) looks at the Google Maps-esque map on her iPhone and turns right onto the sidewalk. She passes five front yards before turning right again into a residential area in Zwolle-Zuid. “I suspect she’s under the slide,” she says. But Milou is nowhere to be seen at the drab playground with only a swing, slide and seesaw.

The satellite function on the map should provide a solution. After another look at her phone, Ramdani sticks her index finger with pink nail polish to the left: “It’s that way.” The icon representing Milou leads to an alley that runs between backyards. ‘Miloutje’, Ramdani shouts apparently at random. Then a soft, meowing answer sounds and the black and white striped Milou squeezes under a fence. “There she is!” Ramdani shouts. Her cat has been found again.

Ramdani has been following her European Shorthair cats, Lotje and Milou, with a GPS device since September last year. She started it after her youngest cat, who Ramdani usually calls ‘our Milou’, went missing for two months. ‘When I was called by the animal ambulance I thought she was dead, but she turned out to be 80 kilometers away in Emmen.’

To prevent the cats from disappearing again, Ramdani purchased a collar with GPS function for each cat. Since then, she checks the companion app on her phone a few times a day where the cats are. “It has saved me several times,” she says. ‘Since that disappearance, I got stressed out not knowing where they were. Now I just walk to them if they are not in by evening. I can even call them.’

The GPS collar made its appearance a few years ago among outdoor cat owners, who probably want to prevent their cat from going missing. After all, this is not a rarity in cats. In 2021, more than 40 thousand cats were reported missing, reports Amivedi Foundation, which is committed to missing pets. And unlike the chip that can only identify a cat once it has been found, the GPS collar works preventively.

Parenting Styles

The increasingly close relationship with our pets is the main explanation for the use of GPS collars, thinks cat behaviorist Maggie Ruitenberg. ‘I grew up on a farm and we saw the cat as a mousetrap that went out of its way. Today, more and more people consider the cat as part of the family. Once that happens, you’ll also start to worry about your cat’s well-being. So I understand that people then buy such a GPS device.’

Pet owners, like parents, have different parenting styles, Ruitenberg says. ‘Where one owner is very level-headed and does not have to know everything, there are also pet owners who are overprotective. Just like with children. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because those people often take very good care of their cat. But you have to find a middle ground. It can also be nice for a cat to have a go every now and then.’

For Tessa van der Hulst (26) from Dronten, the collar with GPS tracker is not only a reassurance, but also a way to get to know her cat Puck better. ‘I now know what his favorite spot is, namely the park around the corner from us. And on the days when it rains, he hardly comes out. He’s a fair-weather cat, I always say.’

It is difficult to say whether the arrival of the GPS collar is also good news for cats, says Maarten Reesink, lecturer in human-animal relations at the University of Amsterdam. ‘It is possible that owners with a GPS tracker dare to take their cat outside faster,’ he says. At the same time, some GPS devices have a function whereby the cat owner receives a signal when the cat leaves a certain area. And that could limit the freedom of the cat again, Reesink thinks.

Also, the collar to which the tracker is attached can be risky for the cat, they say at the professional association for veterinarians. ‘Cats can get stuck on something with their collars and injure themselves,’ explains spokesperson Ashley Paas. ‘Owners must therefore check whether the straps are stretchy or have a clasp that can break easily.’

In any case, the GPS collar offers a solution for science. ‘It has yielded very interesting insights into the cat’s behaviour,’ says Reesink. This can be clearly seen in the BBC documentary The Secret Life of the Cat, where all cats in a British village are tracked for a month. To the surprise of the scientists, they all turned out to have their own routines and fixed routes, which they closely coordinate with each other.

Collar of 50 euros

To track your cat yourself, you must be willing to make an investment. In addition to the collars at 50 euros each, Ramdani pays 140 euros annually for the app. In addition, she has insured the collars for 4 euros each, per month. Reesink is not surprised. ‘Pet owners also pay thousands of euros for operations for their animal.’

Because of our prosperity and the increased animal love, everything that is technologically possible for humans will eventually also become available for animals, Reesink believes. “I remember when my friends first had a baby monitor. A GPS collar is actually exactly the same.’

At home at the kitchen table in Zwolle, Ramdani shows on her phone where her cats have been that day. A kind of spider web of lines is visible. “It’s funny to see how active they are, but I’m not an overprotective mom. The cats are not on the Christmas card, so to speak.’

For Ramdani, the GPS collars are mostly useful gadgets that she can afford. The same goes for the futuristic cat drinking fountain that is on the windowsill and that most resembles a salad spinner. “They seem to drink more from it,” Ramdani says. “It prevents kidney stones.”