Could GPS Keep Tabs On Your Pets?

An anonymous reader writes "Google Latitude has already made headlines for allowing phone users to locate their friends, and there are countless other iPhone and Android phone apps already designed to transmit your location — but could pets be the next big thing in GPS tracking? A number of device manufacturers are marketing GPS technology as a futuristic tool for tracking your cat or dog, and even discovering exactly where they've been. These devices are sold under a number of names and brands, including Sportdog, LoCATor, RoamEO, Petcell, Zoombak and Pettrack."

Track pets = track people?

[syousef]

My first thought was "Cool, pets don't have privacy issues so tracking them shouldn't be a problem. Would be great if they're lost". Then I thought about celebrities and their pets - how for some celebrities who think their pet is an accessory tracking their pet isn't that different to tracking them. Unfortunately its not limited to celebrities either.

Perhaps what you need is a GPS system that only switches on if the owner activates it remotely (or fails to respond to an alarm that requires you to tell it not to activate).

Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

If you love your dog or cat, keep it on a leash outdoors. Being able to track it down when it's road kill, or frozen to death and chewed up by a snowblower, isn't being a good owner.

Just off the top of my head, my dogs and I have come across:

• a small dog that was frozen to death against a fence; 2 days after, the kids who owned it asked me if I had seen it - I had to lie to them and say I hadn't;
• lots of cats frozen to death in snowbanks, where they crawl to try to get out of the wind;
• cats with their guts all over the place because passing cars ran over them;
• stray dogs that are hungry and scared;
• cats with their backs broken;
• lots of "have you seen this cat" posters (there are 2 different ones up right now on a single street);

GPS doesn't "fix" any of this. Letting your pets wander around is no more "humane" than letting a toddler run around. Putting a cat on a leash is no less practical than putting a dog on a leash; the only difference is that, if both a cat and a dog are picked up by the pound, the cat is a lot more likely to be put down (here, half of all dogs put up for adoption find homes compared to only 10% of all cats).

Also, your neighbours aren't exactly thrilled with your cats running around, killing birds, digging up gardens and flowers, and howling at all hours of the night. Or your dogs running around chasing people.

Put a leash on it. It's cheaper than a GPS, and it can save your pets' life.

Re:Are they

[masonc]

>they're both probably going to be equally inaccurate and in the same direction

No, they will be randomly inaccurate. However, if you have lost your beloved pet, 60 ft is close enough to tell you where it is.

Re:Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

Thanks. We wouldn't put a GPS on a 5-year-old kid and let them run loose in the streets, thinking "It's okay now, they have GPS!" GPS won't keep someone from putting your kitten in a plastic bag and smashing it repeatedly against a metal fence until its' back is broken (some sick f*** did that in Verdun 2 years ago). It won't stop them from pouring gasoline on it and setting it on fire [thedenverchannel.com]. It won't stop them from torturing the cat and dumping it in a bag in the river [capitalnews9.com].

There are a lot of sick people out there who delight in torturing animals - particularly cats [state.ny.us].

Buster's Law was named after an 18-month-old tabby cat that had been doused with kerosene and burned to death by a Schenectady teen in 1997. Prior to this bill becoming law, animal cruelty resulted in misdemeanor penalties, if any charges were imposed at all.

Tedisco noted that since the 1997 arrest that inspired the creation of Buster's Law, the perpetrator who abused the cat has been imprisoned for various crimes, including attempted rape, sexual abuse and unlawful imprisonment of a 12-year-old girl.

"People who abuse animals are on a fast track to one day harming or killing people. It is critical that state government take every measure possible to halt such an escalating pattern of abuse," Tedisco stated.

FBI reports show that animal cruelty is an offense that often leads to other, more serious crimes against humans. According to the Humane Society of the United States, a 1997 survey of the largest shelters for battered women in the United States found that 85 percent of women and 63 percent of children entering shelters discussed incidents of pet abuse in their families. Notorious serial killers Ted Bundy, David Berkowitz and Jeffrey Dahmer all had histories of abusing animals.

A GPS doesn't keep animals away from harm - a leash does. Walking your pet also strengthens the bond between it and you. GPS won't do that, either.

Re:Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

I'm not a pet owner, but I thought cats were _supposed_ to be let out on their own (at least that's what cat owners tell me), because otherwise they go crazy and tear up furniture or start eating the children..

So instead of tearing up the furniture, they go out and kill birds and squirrels, dig up gardens and shit on your tomatoes, spray cars and motorcycles and front porches (cat spray really stinks, and once they mark a place, they and other cats will keep coming back), spend their nights howling at each other and fighting, and getting pregnant and having more cats that nobody wants.

Both cats and dogs can be handled with a leash. Too many cat owners are too lazy. They get a cat because, compared to a dog, a cat is a lot less work. You don't have to walk it several times a day. You don't have to poop-and-scoop, just get a litter box. You can ignore it for weeks on end, as long as you put down food and water.

Pets are a responsibility, and they take work. The GPS is a panacea for people who want to be able to say "I care for my pet" without actually putting out the leg work.

Re:Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

I let them have free run outdoors. Yes, I was on the main road and some got run over

I had to shoot one with my .22 because of injuries sustained against a bigger animal it fought

I think you're proving my point.

Re:Get a leash!

[Anonymous Coward]

I absolutely agree. The cruelty of keeping cats on leashes or indoors is greater than the potential cruelty of having a smaller number of cats run over or attacked by a psycho. They are nocturnal, hunting animals. They come indoors to sleep. If you don't feed them too much they absolutely do eat what they kill, keeping down rats and mice where they are a problem.

We had rats. Now we have a cat, we don't.

If people can't face the idea that their cat might come to harm while it's out, they SHOULDN'T HAVE A CAT. They should get something like a dog which WILL be happy to be taken for walks etc etc. As for the breeding issues - responsible people have their cats neutered. That takes care of a lot of the territorial behaviours (spraying and excessive fighting) too.

Re:Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

They can get catrepellent etc for their garden, for the rest, tough titties for them :P

Why should I have to spend money to pollute my environment just to control YOUR pests?

Why should I have to put up with your cat shitting on my lawn, or spray on my doorstep? Or is it now okay for my dogs to shit on your lawn, and mark their territory on your doorstep?

It's easier for me to just call the city and have them give you a $300 fine, plus $25 day for boarding the cat (minimum 3 days while the rabies tests are done, paperwork processed, etc.,), plus the cost for test to make sure it doesn't have rabies.

Don't like it? As you said, "tough titties for you". Don't want to pay the fines? Get a leash.

Re:Get a leash!

[drinkypoo]

So instead of tearing up the furniture, they go out and kill birds and squirrels,

We have too many birds and squirrels where I live. I can not fucking believe you would defend squirrels, which are a nuisance anywhere but a forest. That's like these idiots who rescue deer that can't survive on their own. I'll rescue them, right into my fucking freezer. People are going hungry and people want to spend money to save the deer, I just can't fathom it.

dig up gardens and shit on your tomatoes,

Our cat has never disturbed the tomatoes, but she did shit on a yellow rose bush on the side of the house which put on a big flower set for the first time that we've seen. If a cat digs up your tomatoes there was probably something else trying to dig up your tomatoes from the underside, and having a cat living in the garden might have prevented that particular occurrence. We have around 1/4 ac. of fenced garden and Evil (the aforementioned cat) spends a lot of time stalking there, but has NEVER disturbed any of our food plants.

spray cars and motorcycles and front porches

Not if they're fixed. Additionally, I've only had dogs piss on my wheels, never cats.

spend their nights howling at each other and fighting, and getting pregnant and having more cats that nobody wants.

The fighting comes from too many cats nobody wants, while the howling and getting pregnant are solved by a cheap vet visit. It is not necessary to pen a cat up to stop it from breeding.

Both cats and dogs can be handled with a leash.

Putting any animal on a leash is wrong. If you can't have an animal without having it on a leash, you shouldn't have an animal. Period, the end, full stop.

They get a cat because, compared to a dog, a cat is a lot less work.

They get a cat because they like cats. Or as in our case, because they need one. Really, we could probably support three or more, and they could live on vermin year-round.

You don't have to poop-and-scoop, just get a litter box.

Evil is an individual and can handle her own shit. She never comes inside, though, because I am allergic to cats.

Pets are a responsibility, and they take work.

So far the work has come down to getting a prefixed cat for free, and putting aloe on a big gash she got on her chest, probably while fighting one of the large rodents we have on the property. It healed up very nicely without any modern medicine.

You are not very smart, and you have a personal crusade against pets. That makes you boring.

Re:Get a leash!

[dissy]

We wouldn't put a GPS on a 5-year-old kid and let them run loose in the streets, thinking "It's okay now, they have GPS!"

I think you waaaaay over estimate most Americans there.

Re:Get a leash!

[tomatensaft]

Same as squrrels, foxes, seagulls and occasionally bears?

Re:Get a leash!

[tomhudson]

They're called domesticated so that we can feel better about how we treat them. So yes, it is for a reason. But cats are still wild beasties. The only reason they don't eat your face when they're mad at you is that they are too small.

I guess you have pretty stupid cats. We had one when we wer a kid that knew how to turn on the water when it wanted a drink, could use the toilet same as a human (which was really funny one night when our mother went into the bathroom w/o turning on the light, and sat down - and the cat ended up in the bowl :-), and would even try to flush it (wasn't able to, though).

We're not the only ones who had cats that were literally toilet-trained. They can learn. Heck, there was one feral cat a few years ago that took a liking to me, to the point that when I was petting it and a neighbor's dog (a little thing) came running over, the cat immediately got up and ran between me and the dog, and wouldn't let it come near. That doesn't sound like a cat that would eat my face. It wasn't being territorial - when I wasn't around, the dog was free to wander over. It probably just sensed, same as most animals do, that I like animals.