Protected by woof-fi Kit to keep tabbies
A MISSING moggie who was found 15 years after vanishing has highlighted the value of pet-tracking technologies.
Frail feline Winston was discovered 35 miles from home, long after owner Janet Barnes had given up hope of ever seeing him again.
The black cat disappeared in Carlyon Bay, Cornwall, in 2002 – six months after Janet moved home with her new husband, Peter.
He made headlines just before Christmas after being found staggering across a road in Launceston, 35 miles away, and handed in at a vets’ surgery – where his microchip was used to trace his owners.
Janet, 56, adopted Winston at a year old from an RSPCA rescue centre, where he had been microchipped.
She said: “The microchip saved his life – otherwise he’d have been euthanised, he looked so bad.”
Here’s our round-up of kit to help save you the agony of a pet going missing: Microchipping, local vets, from £10 If your cat or dog vanishes, it’s crucial you’ve already had them microchipped. In a minor procedure carried out by a vet, pets are fitted with a tiny chip under the skin that gives them a unique ID code, and holds their owner’s contact details. Cat rollers, from £40, oscillot.com.au If you’d prefer your cat to never go beyond your garden, try Oscillot – claimed to be the world’s “most unobtrusive cat containment system”. This kit does not use cages, netting or electric currents and instead is made up of rolling paddles that attach to your garden fences. When your cat tries to climb over, the aluminium paddles spin – sending your pet to land safely back in the garden. OUR vet Brian Faulkner, from Petplan, has 16 years of experience and is a freelance working all over the country. Send your questions to Brian at: Petplan, Great West House, Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9DX or via Petplan’s Facebook page facebook.com/ PetplanUK. Pod 2 GPS and wifi pet tracker, petsathome.com, £139 Locate your pet in real time both indoors – using the wifi – and outdoors via GPS. The Pod is attached to your pet’s collar so you can monitor them through an app on your phone, which will send you escape alerts when your pet leaves a pre-set geographical boundary. This gadget works in 175 countries around the world, so can even track your pet if you take it on holiday. I HAVE a threemonthold cat and I am wondering what vaccines do they need. Are they given all at once or spread out months apart? Kippy pet tracker, kippy.eu £49.99 then £4 per month with Vodafone’s V-Pet service fee If your pet runs miles from home, or is even taken abroad, a Kippy bluetooth monitor attached to their collar can show in real time where they are. Using GPS, it updates the Android or iPhone app every four seconds – and lets you set a virtual “geofence” so you get an alert every time your pet leaves your designated area. Also has an activity monitor to track calorie burn and sleep patterns.