Review: Tractive Cat 6 Mini

As the pet tech industry expands rapidly, pet owners are more eager to adopt technology that tracks health metrics, similar to human wearable devices like smart rings, smartwatches, and fitness trackers.

I've been testing smart collars for the better part of the year, previously testing the Fi Mini and Tractive Smart Cat Tracker on 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.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Feline Features

The Tractive Cat 6 Mini cat tracker is available in three colors: black, brown, and lavender. Unlike the previous Fi Mini and Tractive Smart Cat Tracker models I tested, which used an attachment that fits on the cat's existing collar, this device is the collar itself, and the entire thing needs to be taken off the cat to charge on its proprietary magnetic charger. (It takes about three hours to fully charge.) To set it up, all you need to do is download the Tractive app, choose a subscription plan, and set up your pet's profile.

For the 6 Mini model, there is one plan, but you can choose between one-, two-, and five-year contracts. One year is $10 per month, or $120 annually; two years is $7 per month, or $168 annually; and five years is $5 per month, or $300 every five years. The smart collar also has a two-year manufacturer's warranty. All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee as well as family sharing, LTE cellular coverage, 365-day location history, and GPS data export.

The tracker weighs only 1.1 ounces and is suitable for cats weighing 6.6 to 17.6 pounds, to ensure the breakaway collar opens when it should. Basil is 17 pounds, and the Cat 6 Mini fits him well with room to spare. This smart collar fits necks between 7.5 and 9 inches, whereas the previous Tracker Mini model could fit virtually any neck size because it attached to your existing collar.

Tractive claims the collar's charge lasts up to seven days for indoor cats and that it needs to be charged nearly daily if your pet roams outside. When I tested the smart collar on my indoor-only cat Basil, the battery needed to be charged by the fourth day of use.

Because the device itself is the entire collar, I felt like I was taking Basil's collar off more often than I'd like in order to charge—I didn't like that he was collarless while it charged. My anxiety told me that in this brief moment of his nakedness, he would escape. Also, because charge time took several hours, there were a few times I forgot to put it back on him until the next day.

Another gripe I had was that it was very difficult for me to remove the collar and adjust its diameter. I'm physically disabled and have reduced grip strength and fine-motor function. The collar has a simple looped clasp, but the thick material was difficult to slide under the plastic buckle; it often fell too long or too short, and I couldn't take off the collar without pulling it to trigger the breakaway feature, which was stressful for Basil—especially since the collar needed to be charged every four days.

I would've preferred the clasp to open by easily squeezing the top and bottom to release. Again, this would probably not be as big of an issue if I were able-bodied, but it is a potential issue for other pet owners who may have reduced motor function.

Photograph: Molly Higgins

Once you've picked a coverage plan, you'll create your pet's profile, set your home's location so the device enters power-saving mode when at home, and set up a virtual fence so you'll be alerted if the pet leaves the safe area. Using the stats I provided, Tractive compared Basil to cats of similar age and weight to set a personalized daily activity goal and compared his health stats to those of similar cats.

Putting It to the Test

The Tractive app lets you track activity daily (by the hour) and over time, recording minutes to compare your cat's activity and sleep patterns. Each week, the app provides an AI summary of the previous week's activity and health stats. This pretty much always said Basil slept and relaxed a lot, but noted that he is more active than cats of similar age and breed. There's also average activity per day, which was around four hours for Basil, and average calories burned per day, which was helpful for knowing how much Basil should be eating.

Tractive estimates the cat’s daily calories burned by factoring in your pet's biometric info like weight, size, age, and spay/neuter status to create a baseline. The device contains a three-axis accelerometer that “continuously records the orientation and intensity of your cat’s physical movements,” while algorithms filter out minor movements like stretching to try to prevent false stat inflation. When the sensor detects physical acceleration, like running or playing, it logs these as the “active” minutes and converts them into daily activity time.

Screenshot courtesy of Molly Higgins

Sleep metrics break down the data by day and week and classify sleep into night sleep, day sleep, and “calm” time (when a cat is awake but not active). Each day's stats are compared to the average, which helped me track Basil's habits throughout the week. Similarly to how the device tracks activity, the built-in accelerometer motion sensor tracks when the cat is still and translates that into sleep and calm time, respectively, based on micro-movements.

You can opt out of Tractive using your cat's data for their anonymized global database and leaderboard comparison features. The device continuously syncs health metrics to the app via cellular networks, but you can request a full copy of what data has been gathered or request the permanent erasure of your data.

Screenshot courtesy of Molly Higgins

This model's new health metrics for cats include heart and respiratory rates. Basil's resting heart rate was consistently lower than that of cats of similar age and weight. On one day, it was 92 bpm, compared with the normal range of 105 to 168, according to the app. This was a bit alarming to me, and I plan to bring this data up the next time we visit the vet. The app also listed “potential reasons” for the low heart rate, including “fitness and conditioning” and “cold temperatures."

As with the heart rate, the app tracked respiratory rate over time by day and compared it with Basil's historical stats and those of similar cats. His daily average was 20 breaths per minute, which was within the normal range of 15 to 30. This number closely aligned with my personal tests using visual evidence and a timer on my phone.

Screenshot courtesy of Molly Higgins

Live and historical location services weren't as useful for Basil since he's indoor-only. Like the earlier Tractive model, the 6 Mini features a built-in SIM card, similar to what’s on your phone, which uses nearby mobile networks for location updates. You can set up to five virtual fences through the app, which will notify you when your pet enters or leaves these zones. However, similar to the previous model, the default virtual fence was too small around my apartment, so I had to expand it to cover my entire complex. This is concerning because if Basil escapes but stays near my building, I wouldn't receive an alert.

Since my cat is indoor-only, I ran some experiments to track location accuracy. I had my roommates take the collar with them when they left to run errands, and I timed how long it took to receive an alert that Basil had left the “safe zone." I also took the tracker with me along with my phone, and tracked how long it took to receive a notification via Bluetooth.

When I took the tracker outside the safe zone with my phone, I was alerted via a notification on my home screen that Basil had left the “safe zone” almost immediately after exiting it. It provides an approximate location rather than pinpointing the exact spot on the street where he'd be, but it is still more helpful than randomly searching in the event he did get out. If I were to engage it in lost mode, the battery usually dies within four hours, so there is also a bit of a time limit in the event he did escape.

The alerts when the tracker was away from my phone were less precise. I tested it three times—once I was notified within a minute, the next time took about eight minutes, and the last time it took about five and a half minutes to alert after exiting the allotted safe zone. I should note that I get very poor cell phone service near my home, which could affect tracking and notification timing. Tractive also falsely alerted me that Basil had left the “safe zone” about once a week (during one week of testing, it alerted me four times). Each time, he was sitting in my home with the smart collar still on. I noticed it tended to send me false notifications more often when the battery was low or while it was on the charging dock.

Overall, the Tractive Cat 6 Mini provides valuable health insights that I appreciate—I love that I can track averages and detect any changes in Basil's health or habits even earlier. I just wish the battery didn't die so damn fast and that the collar had a universal design that was more accessible.