Review: Tractive Smart Cat Tracker

We on the WIRED Reviews team often test (and love) smart rings. With these wearable health-monitoring devices, users can track important metrics like activity, health, and sleep, and the data is offloaded to your phone so you can easily review results without needing a cumbersome screen like you would with a smartwatch or fitness tracker.

Within the ever-growing pet tech sphere I cover, many pet-related companies are integrating these health-monitoring features with trackers, popular for locating your pet whether you're near or far. For many years, I slapped an Apple AirTag on my cat's collar for peace of mind, but this had limitations.

A smart collar promises to bring all of the metrics that helicopter pet parents want—GPS-enabled location tracking, sleep and activity tracking, and alerts when activity or sleep patterns change. As I'm beginning my forthcoming guide to smart collars for pets, I first tested the Tractive Smart Cat Tracker (also called Tractive Cat Mini) for a month. Although the battery drains quickly when outside of the home zone, and the cat version doesn't have as many health-tracking features as the dog version (typical), I still found this to be an interesting way to more closely monitor and understand my pet's day-to-day activities and habits.

For the Helicopter Pet Parent

Photograph: Molly Higgins

The Tractive cat tracker I (or rather, my cat Basil) tested is available in three colors and comes with a charger, a black safety release collar, and two clip options. (One is a small plastic bracket, and one is a larger rubber mount; I opted for the latter.) To set up, all you need to do is download the corresponding app and choose a subscription plan before setting up your pet's profile.

There's the Basic Plan, which has GPS location tracking, unlimited live tracking, and activity and sleep monitoring, for $6 per month at $144 billed every two years or $9 per month at $108 billed annually. The Premium Plan adds family sharing, worldwide coverage (2G or LTE cellular coverage from over 500 cell networks), 365-day historical location history, and the ability to export GPS data, for $5 per month at $300 billed every five years, $7 per month at $168 billed every two years, or $10 per month at $120 billed annually.

The tracker weighs only 1 ounce and can be used with any cat above 7 pounds. It needs to be charged on a dock before it can be used, and it takes about two hours to fully charge. (The charger snaps and locks into place, and it's not the easiest to pull off when charging is finished.) The charge lasts about five days if you have an indoor cat, but it needs to be charged nearly daily if your pet roams outside.

Once your pet's profile is made, you'll set your home's location, so that the device will enter power-saving mode when at home, and you'll also set an activity goal to ensure your pet is staying active. Tractive compared Basil to cats of similar age and weight to make a personalized daily activity goal. Through the app, you can also see other users' pets and compare their goals with yours.

I ended up hiking up Basil's activity goal (120 to 230 minutes a day was Basil's assigned default), and the app reported he was consistently more active than 70 percent of similar cats, which gave me peace of mind knowing I'm playing with him enough and keeping him as active as I can in my small Brooklyn apartment. Through the app, you can view activity daily (by the hour) and historically, and it compares active minutes with the individual cat and others. Basil's daily activity averaged 375 minutes a day, and he burned an average of 450 calories a day (a measure that is estimated based on factors like pet type, weight, and size).

Tractive via Molly Higgins

Tractive via Molly Higgins

The sleep feature acts similarly, monitoring sleep duration and breaking it down into categories of night sleep, day sleep, and calm (when your pet is just chillin'). It tracks sleep based on the lack of movement and time of day, so it's a good estimate but not super accurate. Like activity, it compared Basil to similar cats and had helpful information alongside the data of what amount of sleep is normal; he was on the low end of normal for average naps of 43 minutes. I was able to see historically that he sleeps around 14 to 18 hours per day (with about eight of that being during the day), and each day it logs night and day sleep with their calm time, and compares it against the pet's average.

It also shows the sleep phases, meaning the periods of sleep the cat has had in the day so far, throughout the day, with the time. It was interesting to see his sleep patterns, as he often sleeps at night when I do, but gets up around 4:45 am when the feeder goes off and again around 6:15 am when my roommate leaves for work, and is awake for the first few hours of my workday, but generally naps from 12 to 3 pm daily. I love this feature as a tool to know when Basil may be sick because of increased sleep.

At the end of every week, I got a report of Basil's average activity, sleep, and calories burned. There are also health alerts, which notify you if there are any abnormal changes in your pet's usual sleep or activity, which is a very helpful way to detect if something's amiss early on.

Tracking Troubles

Because my cat is indoor only, I wasn't able to make full use of some of the cooler features with live and historical location tracking, although I did take him out in a cat backpack-carrier and had the app monitor my route. The Tractive has a built-in SIM card, like the one on your phone, that uses nearby mobile networks to give location information. It uses colors like a heat map to show the places where your pet roams, including places it frequently returns to. You can also create virtual fences (up to five) through the app, with options to create safe or danger zones—the app will notify you when the pet has entered or exited these zones, and when the battery is low. Unfortunately, the virtual fence was too small around my apartment, so I had to expand it, which means if Basil gets out but stays near my apartment, I won't get alerted.

Like I said, at home, it enters power-saving mode (it uses your home Wi-Fi), but if your pet is lost, the collar flashes a blinking light and makes a noise. This is where most reviewers had complaints about their Tractive collars: If the pet does end up lost, the battery gets drained quickly (within hours) outside of the safe zone, which sort of defeats the purpose of a smart collar used for location tracking. Plus, the beep is extremely quiet, which makes it hard to find based on sound alone (luckily, you have the GPS location in-app).

The Tractive GPS works like it does on a phone, so if the signal isn’t good, you won't know where your pet is. Based on other reviewers, it also doesn't have accurate location tracking in areas with thick vegetation. Plus, the location is general rather than exact, which isn't the most helpful if you're searching for a small cat in a big area.

A Note on Tractive for Dogs

Because I have a cat, I wasn't able to test the Tractive Smart Dog Tracker ($69), which has more comprehensive health features, bark alerts, and lasts up to two weeks on battery-saving mode. Along with the activity and sleep tracking, the dog tracker also monitors heart and respiratory rate, and alerts you if either is elevated. Tractive collects the heart rate when the dog is resting or sleeping, comparing the average baseline to alert when something is amiss. It also monitors barking to better detect signs of separation anxiety. The tracker works with both big and small dogs over 9 pounds, but there are also XL options for dogs over 55 pounds.

Tractive via Molly Higgins

Tractive via Molly Higgins

Overall, the Tractive Smart Cat Tracker made activity and sleep information easy to see and compare trends over time. Although the metrics and location aren't exact, it was fun to keep track of Basil's activity levels and compare against other breeds and historically to keep with his goals. I loved the weekly summary and notifications if things are amiss, so I can go to the vet as early as possible. I could see potential problems with monitoring outdoor pets, but since my cat is indoor, it wasn't the biggest issue for me personally.