If you have ever owned a cat or a dog, then you will understand just how stressful and worrying it can be to even think of your pet going missing. That is why most pet owners choose to take as many precautions as they can to keep their animals safe. That can mean anything from a named collar to getting their vacinations, to, perhaps the most important step, getting your pet microchipped.
There is major misconception that microchips act like a GPS tracker but this is not the case.
In the age of smartphones and Satellite Navigation, we are used to the idea that a little bit of technology can do, if not anything, then certainly almost anything. After all, pretty much any of your devices can tell you where you are at any time, so why can a microchip not function as a GPS tracker?
Microchips are essentially digital serial codes. They are, practically speaking, a modern, safer, and more versatile equivalent to the traditional cat or dog collar. This means that if your pet goes missing and gets taken to a vet, they can scan the microchip and find out where they live and how to contact you.
Microchips have been around for a while and are now so commonplace that the UK has recently passed a law making it a legal requirement for cats to be microchipped, which will come into legislation in 2023.
According to a GOV.UK press release, “99% of people support compulsory microchipping” while “eight out of 10 stray cats coming to Cats Protection’s centres are not microchipped.”
The question still remains, why can you not have an app connected to a microchip that functions as a tracker?
The real problem here is scale.
With present technology, it’s almost impossible–not to mention prohibitively expensive– to build a GPS tracker small enough to go under the skin.
While the tracker itself can be small, it needs a power supply to function and, in practical terms, that means a battery. As a rule, the size of a battery correlates to its power storage capabilities and any battery small enough not to inconvenience your pet would also need to be regularly recharged.
There are options for trackers on the market. While the technology does not yet exist to build either a dog or cat tracker that can go under the skin, there is still a way to get extra peace of mind.