This smart cat collar features GPS location, activity, and sleep tracking, plus all-new heart and respiratory rate monitoring. All products featured on WIRED are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.
Advanced health monitoring with heart and respiratory rates. Weekly AI-powered health summaries. New visual health history timeline.
Battery dies in about four days. Collar clasp and adjustments are tricky. Location data isn’t very granular.
Needs a subscription to use. As the pet tech industry expands rapidly, pet owners are more eager to adopt technology that tracks health metrics, similar to human wearable devices likesmart rings,smartwatches, andfitness trackers. I've been testingsmart collarsfor the better part of the year, previously testing theFi MiniandTractive Smart Cat Trackeron my cat Basil, which monitored his location, movement, and sleep.
The Tractive Cat 6 Mini was released this spring, and I tested it on Basil for a month, comparing how this new-and-improved smart collar made specifically for cats with improved health features, like heart and respiratory rate, stacked up against other models. This new model had surprisingly accurate health and activity stats that helped me understand Basil's routine and baseline a bit more than the previous models I've tested. I think these new health features would be especially helpful for people with aging cats or cats in poor health. (If you have an outdoor cat that roams, I'd go with the Fi Mini because it's more compact with a longer battery life.) I valued the Cat 6 Mini's new AI-powered weekly reports and comparisons to similar cats to know if Basil is healthy.
However, the collar itself died quickly, was a pain to charge, and GPS location accuracy could be hit-or-miss. Whether this smart cat collar is the right fit for you largely depends on your and your cat's needs. The Tractive Cat 6 Mini cat tracker is available in three colors: black, brown, and lavender.
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