GPS collar for cat - have you ever heard of anything worse?

The original suggestion to buy cheap GPS trackers for sale came to us from a hunting party. They said they didn't feel comfortable paying close to a thousand euros to see where the dog was moving.

Well, we don't have dogs or other experimental animals in the VALCO laboratories, so we had to find another way to test the equipment. Luckily, our faithful mouse catcher, Misse the cat, just happened to whisper through the basement doorway and got to be a guinea pig for our project.

Set-up was a breeze. In the morning, the device was plugged into the charger and in the evening, on a shopping trip to the prepaid market. A free app was installed on the phone to show Missen's journeys.

At first, the charger cable was a pain in the ass to keep in place. It's a bit like the one on Apple's laptops, kind of like a magnetic flip-flop. After a few days of use, the cord started to work better as the springs loosened.

The charged device was unscrewed and the SIM card, which had first been activated on the phone, was installed. Screws tightened, Misse in lap and collar on neck. It stays on well and looks very stylish, and the nails don't scar too badly either.

Before the tracker, Misse's nocturnal adventures were a mystery to us and there were many moments of sorrow when little Misse was not home in time from her trips.

A few times we have had to fetch Misse from the care of a rescue centre (€100 per time), when many people in the city no longer understand that even here in a sparsely populated area, the cat is a useful animal and not an ornament.

Proof of this is the six rats that Misse-online.fi brought home in September to feed the workers at the Valco laboratory. The highly trained scientists working in our laboratory are aware of the rats' ability to reproduce and we think Misse should be given a medal on behalf of the city.

Too bad Misse can't fly, she could also keep the car clean of the droppings of the ever-flying seagulls...

A few weeks later

At the time of writing, Misse has now been wearing a patch for several weeks and has had to get used to its existence, as it is no longer taken out for the night.

The GPS device has provided good information about where Misse has been wandering and the flashing lights on her neck indicate to oncoming drivers that one of the most important members of our laboratory is not running wild and is not lost from her colleagues.

The example photo above shows Misse on a shopping trip one night.

If, despite the tracker, someone takes possession of the Missen without permission, the tracker around its neck must be returned to its owner or else be guilty of trespassing on laboratory property, or more generally, theft (RL 28:1).

Another advantage of the GPS is that the data it transmits makes it easy to see where and when the Misse was stolen. A pity for the rickshaw driver who misses out on easy petrol money.

As the device is actively tracking the cat's movements, it is plugged into the charger pretty much every day, just in case. At least 24 hours of active tracking, but if you just want to check the location of the Missen, a couple of weeks on standby seems to be enough.

However, the best thing about the pan is its entertainment feature. It's fun to follow Missen's travels. It's much more entertaining to watch the trail drawn by the software in the coffee room than watching a hawk or reality TV.

GPS trackers on sale now until November 2017 Valco -online store.

Thank you:

• Price (here's a bit of a cow in the ditch)
• Ease of
• Size
• No licence fees and no running costs

 We complained:

• Charger cord (initially a shoe)
• Chinese software (takes a while to learn the logic, will probably make my own)
• Battery life (the battery could be bigger, although 24 hours is fine for continuous use)