Sunday, March 18, 2012

GPS Reveals Cat’s Three-Mile Nightly Trek

cat track gps

Oxi the cat, of Northamptonshire, England is a regular British Shorthair cat, just like any other. He enjoys cat things like pouncing on toys, jumping on surfaces and staring down passerby from his house in Desborough. But, at night, this little feline becomes an intrepid explorer, ranging as far as three miles from his home.

Oxi’s pet parent, Jacqui Wilford of Desborough said she has been letting Oxi outside at night since she adopted him three years ago, but assumed he really only wandered around the garden at night. But last Christmas, curiosity caused her to get a GPS tracker to see what her feline friend at night.

oxie“…I assumed Oxi might have been a bit of a roamer but I never quite realized just how far he went,” Wilford told the Northamptonshire Telegraph.

You can view Oxi’s trek on the G-Paws Tracker page, and it’s pretty crazy to see. Not only does he wander about suburbs but even crosses over a railway track (via a bridge) and romps through a field a short distance through the house. The GPS tracker clocked Oxi at top speed of about 13 mph during his nightly romp.

Because I’m a huge cat fan, that got me to wondering if such a distance was normal for indoor/outdoor cats. And, apparently, it really isn’t although data is still needed. According to a National Geographic article, most cats tend to stay a little closer to home. Cat Tracker project (which we briefly mentioned a little earlier last year) was referenced in the article and reported that the longest trip out of the more than fifty cats they tracked was less than a mile. 0.8 miles, to be exact.

So what makes Oxi such an explorer? Who knows. All I can say is, safe travels little kitty!

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