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Wearable health-monitoring devices, like smart rings, smartwatches, and fitness trackers, help people stay on top of key wellness markers. By providing data on steps, heart rate, sleep, and more, these gadgets allow people to better understand their health, along with the opportunity to improve it with lifestyle shifts.

But why should humans have all the fun? Enter: smart collars for your cat. In addition to featuring live and historical GPS location tracking that will help any helicopter cat parent rest easy, the Fi Mini and Tractive Smart Cat Tracker monitor your furry friend's movement and sleep. The collars also have alerts for health pattern changes, like if your pet is moving less or sleeping more than average, which can function as early warning signs of potential health issues.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

For months, I tested these trackers on my cat Basil, analyzing each device's location accuracy, sleep- and activity-tracking capabilities, and metrics summaries. I also considered practical factors, like ease of use, product size, and battery life.

If you have a cat that also goes outdoors, these health and GPS trackers are much more reliable and holistic than something like an AirTag, because they ping off the same towers as your cell, providing a more accurate location. They'll also notify you if your cat gets out of the premarked “safe zone.” Although Basil is an indoor-only cat, the location features would be super helpful if he did get out: I'd be alerted on my phone right away, and I'd be able to follow his location on the map to find him more easily. (But because he didn't, in fact, escape during my test run with these trackers, I wasn't able to check these features firsthand.)

Ultimately, each smart tracker had its own strong suits. The best model for you and your cat depends on your priorities.

In This Guide

Best Location Accuracy and App CapabilityTractive Smart Cat Tracker

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$50 $24 (52% off) Amazon

Best Battery Life, Charging, and SizeFi Mini

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$209 Fi (Cat) (12-month)

Best Location Accuracy and App Capability

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Courtesy of Tractive

Photograph: Molly Higgins

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Tractive

Smart Cat Tracker

$50 $24 (52% off) Amazon

$49 $25 (49% off) Walmart

$49 $25 (49% off) Chewy

$49 Tractive

WIRED/TIRED

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WIRED

- Low cost

- GPS tracking

- Virtual fencing

- Tracks pets’ trends, and alerts when something is amiss

TIRED

- Need paid plan to use

- Live tracking drains battery when outside of Wi-Fi zone

- Super quiet alert sound

If tracking location and health metrics for your cat are your top priorities, Tractive (also called the Tractive Cat Mini) is the better option for you. Its historical heat maps display the areas your cat frequents, which is especially helpful for people with indoor-outdoor cats who roam large swaths of land.

However, both Tractive and Fi Mini rely on GPS for location tracking, just as a phone does. This means if the signal is weak—a common issue in rural areas, among others—you may not know the precise location of your cat. According to online reviewers on Reddit and Amazon, Tractive's location tracking is less accurate in areas with thick vegetation. One bonus for Fi users with an Apple Watch: You can add the Fi app to your watch to monitor your pet’s location, activity, and enter “Lost Mode” without needing a phone, which is especially helpful if your cat's escaped while you're not by your phone.

When setting up each app, you can designate specific mapped areas as safe or danger zones, and then it notifies you when the pet enters or exits these zones.

Unfortunately, with both trackers, my apartment was too small to create a virtual fence around the perimeter, forcing me to expand it to an area outside my apartment. That means if Basil got out but stayed generally nearby, I wouldn't get an alert.

The Fi's danger zone alerts were glitchy during my testing. On three occasions, I got notifications that Basil had left the safe zone (aka my home and surrounding area). Each time, after I rushed home or raced to check my pet camera, I found him sleeping soundly on the living room couch. Other users have reported similar false alerts and location inaccuracy with the Fi.

In the Tractive app, after you create a profile, you'll get personalized daily activity goals for your cat based on the stats of others of similar age and weight. The app assigned Basil 120 to 230 minutes of daily activity, and then later reported he was consistently more active than 70 percent of similar cats. I felt peace of mind knowing I'm keeping him on the move in my small apartment.

Tractive app via Molly Higgins

Through the Tractive app, you can see dai

Smart Cat Collars: Which Is Best for Health and GPS Tracking? | WIRED