On 23.04.2019 we were informed that the companies Swiss Tracking Solution AG and HergTech AG, the manufacturer and distributor of Petpointer filed for bankruptcy.

Although this company had a name similar to ours it is NOT us. We are of course petTracer 🙂 and not Petpointer.

Although there now is one less competitor on the market it still hurts to see that a Swiss startup company has gone into liquidation. Even though we were competitors we both shared a common goal: to provide a solution for you to be able to locate your cat(s) reliably, quickly and easily.

We are the only Swiss startup company that offers a GPS collar for cats which also allows owners to locate their cats at places without GPS reception (thanks to the integrated radio search technology). We continue to offer a high-quality product which was developed and produced in Switzerland.

Many cat owners who have purchased a Petpointer with a subscription now own a useless product and have no chance of receiving a refund. We have therefore decided to offer former Petpointer customers a discount when purchasing a petTracer.

Please contact us through our contact form if you are interested: contact form

What our customers say

My cat Luna has epilepsy and needs medication in the morning and evening. Best for her is to take it always at the same time of the day. Unfortunately, this is not always possible as she is very happy being outside. Since Luna has been wearing the petTracer GPS cat collar I can locate her very easily and just need to walk to the shown position and call her. She then walks home with me.

Thanks to the petTracer GPS cat collar, the regular intake of her tablets is under control.
T. W. with Luna and Baghira

Kind regards
Alan & Claudio

This month we successfully completed our first production and we are now dedicating ourselves to the post-processing and improvements for the next production.

Unfortunately, the procurement of electronics for the upcoming production has been extremely time-consuming and costly. Although we are not a big market player in electronics shopping, we still get into the (negative) sides of “just in time” productions.

Anyone who is interested in what a “just in time” production is and why there are currently big supply bottlenecks can read about it in this article: EPS News.

However, there is nothing to worry about for our cat friends. In the last seven years we have already solved many more difficult tasks and we will overcome this problem too.

What our customers say

” Yesterday, for the first time, one of our cats didn’t come home, so I went looking for her. I found her under a staircase in front of a cellar entrance. Some dogs must have scared her. The petTracer GPS Cat Collar works wonderfully and we were very lucky that our cat was wearing the collar. “Great product, keep it up.”

Thank very much Mr. J. for your kind words and the permission to publish the picture of Batman on our websites.

If you would like to share your success story with us then please sent it to us together with a picture of your cat: info@pettracer.com.

Collar too big?

Here is a tip in case your cat’s collar is too big.

The collar has a minimum circumference of 21.5 cm. It should never be “pulled together” over its natural size with the adjustment band. Otherwise excessive and permanent pressure is exerted on the safety buckle. The safety buckle will then open too quickly and easily.

If your cat has a relatively thin neck then it is better to “reduce” the radius of the collar. Use thick neoprene or foam tape. These are often used for sealing or isolation purposes and are available online or at hardware stores. The tape is attached to the inside of the collar. The thicker the band, the smaller the circumference of the collar becomes.

This method has proven to work very well.

Online Shop

If you would like to purchase a petTracer GPS Cat Collar, you can do so here: petTracer Online Shop or contact us via contact form.

Kind regards,
Alan & Claudio

As mentioned in our last newsletter we did migrate to a new newsletter software. As is often the case when changing over from one system to another, not everything worked perfectly and some of you did not receive our latest emails. Therefore, we created another update to ensure everyone is fully up to date with the latest news of petTracer.

What our customers say

We received a lot of customer feedback and would like to share this with our community. The first one we chose to share was from Mrs. K. She sent us her favorite picture of “Maxi”, her Bengal cat and had the following to say:

“So many Bengal owners keep their cats in the house or in an outer cage, fearing that they will get stolen. I find this very inappropriate for this type of cat.” Thanks to your GPS cat collar, owners of Bengal cats may now be persuaded to let their animals out. Congratulations on developing the petTracer cat collar, I really like it. I already owned another similar product but wasn’t fully convinced by it.”

Thank you very much Mrs. K. for your kind words and the permission to publish your favorite picture of Maxi.

Radio Locating

The petTracer GPS Cat Collar works with radio transmissions. This allows owners to find their cats in locations where no GPS signal can be received. This is, after the very short battery life, the second largest problem of all traditional GPS tracker products. A cat does not have to be monitored every minute. It is perfectly alright if there are times when one does not know where a cat is as long she reappears again at home. Only in about 1% of all cases is it an emergency and then the cat must be found as soon as possible. Even if trapped in a garage without GPS reception.

Although we are still working on the radio locating software, the hardware is already able to do this. We have a few customers who had already made use of this function and managed to find their cats again. But how does it work? The key is the “mobile HomeStation”. Most Smartphones can be used as a (WLAN) hotspot. You can find various instructions on the Internet, how this can be done. Both for Android devices as well as for other smartphones such as iPhones.

Power bank

Once the HomeStation is configured with the hotspot (WLan), connect it to a power bank (external battery with USB port). Now you can move around freely with the HomeStation and go searching for your cat. The data will now be forwarded via the mobile network to the petTracer server.

True, this is a bit more technical and the reason why we are working on a more user-friendly software solution. Nevertheless, the petTracer collar is currently the only GPS cat collar that allows you to locate your cat in places with no GPS signal reception.

We would like to take this opportunity to once again thank all our customers for your trust in us and your support. A big thank you also to all those who recommend our product to others.

If you would like to purchase a petTracer GPS Cat Collar, you can do so here: petTracer Online Shop or contact us via the contact form.

We are looking forward to numerous, further stories and pictures of happy cat owners.

Kind Regards,
Alan & Claudio

We are back with an update about the petTracer GPS Cat Collar. Since our last newsletter intense and exciting months have passed. We were amazed at the number of enquiries regarding the whereabouts of our newsletter. We were aware of having many readers on our list but we did not realize it was so popular. That’s a very nice acknowledgement.

Delivery of Indiegogo clients and pre-sales 2017

At the end of May, the final delivery of the petTracer SET took place, which we had sold through Indiegogo and our pre-sale. In the meantime we have already sold and delivered countless more and still continue to do so.
The plentiful positive feedback shows us that we were able to successfully implement our concept of the petTracer GPS Cat Collar. We’ve definitely come up with a solution that will give cat lovers the best possible support to find their cats again or simply know where they love to go and roam about.

Continuous updates and improvements to the petTracer web portal

With a lot of feedback from our registered customers we were able to continuously improve the web portal to the specific needs of our users. With our IT experts we were able to develop a stable solution and can proudly look upon a high system availability. So far there has been no “server downtime” and attempts of hackers have successfully been prevented.

Website – Redesign

Over the past few weeks we have redesigned our corporate website and updated it with the latest information about the petTracer GPS Cat Collar. We have also linked the new website: www.pettracer.com to our web shop. With the integration of a payment service provider we can now also accept credit card payments.

Handelszeitung

Due to the ongoing implementation and migration of our new company website and newsletter software we were not able to tell everyone we know about yet another newspaper article appearing in the “Handelszeitung”. This is a Swiss national commercial newspaper targeting readers interested in economics, trading and commerce. Even though the article is only available in German you can still have a look if you want. The article was written by Sira Huwiler. The photo was taken by Herbert Zimmermann. We think both did a great job. Especially taking pictures of cats together with people can be very difficult. Thank you very much!

Big Thank you!

We would like to thank our customers, some of whom have been with us for many years, and wish them all much joy and safety with the petTracer GPS Cat Collar. Of course, we look forward to every referral and to even more petTracer customers.

Kind regards,
Claudio & Alan

Delivery

Nearly done! We have already delivered several hundred petTracer GPS Cat Collars. Since there are so many of them, delivery will take place throughout the whole of this and probably part of the next week.

For sets that are shipped abroad, a little more time is needed. This is due to customs clearing and the extra paper work needed. But we are confident that this will not take much longer.

We are looking forward to many happy cats and cat owners.

Kind regards,
Alan & Claudio

Impressions of Manufacturing

We got together with our manufacturer last week and are there again this week. We have now received all the necessary materials from our sub contractors. There was also a delay with the programming and test unit. Not everything worked according to plan from the beginning. This is an apparatus with about 10 devices and its own customized software. Pretty complicated but necessary. The issues have now been solved and it is fully working. The first 50 units (HomeStation & GPS cat collars) where programmed while we were there. Here are some impressions:

petTracer – GPS Cat Collar and HomeStation prints and cases

petTracer – GPS Cat Collar prints in test unit

petTracer – HomeStation prints in test unit

The assembly of the HomeStations was completed this week. We had no issues and everything went according to plan. So this is very good news and we can cross 50% off from our final production list!

An unexpected problem arose whilst programming and testing the collar prints in mass production. We did a lot of testing beforehand to prevent something like this from happening in the big production series but it seems there can never be enough testing! Our technical engineer has analyzed the problem and has now come up with a solution which will be implemented this week. In the end it wasn’t too bad. However, whenever something like this happens the whole production line has to stop until the problem is resolved.

Delivery Address

We would like to get the shipping documents ready for printing and it is very important to make sure that we have your correct shipping address by Monday 29.01.2018.

Indiegogo
For Indiegogo backers please update your address directly in your Indiegogo profile. Here is a short description of how to proceed: Update Indiegogo address

Pre-Sale
For all pre sale customers please let us know via contact form if your shipping address has changed in the meantime. Please mention your transaction ID in the subject / message section: contact form

If your address hasn’t changed you DO NOT have to do anything.

Power Adapter

We have good news for all non Swiss & EU customers. We have managed to purchase power adapters suitable for your country (CH/EU/USA/ASIA). So you will be able to use your sets straight away without having to go and buy a plug adapter.

Kind regards,
Alan & Claudio

Christmas is just round the corner! Although there were some delivery delays from our subcontractors, we have now received all the material. All in all this amounts to more than 500 kg including packaging! Luckily our manufacturer has enough storage space.

The final steps are to solder the rechargeable batteries to the collar, programming and testing the electronics and gluing together the cases. The HomeStation must be programmed, tested and put into the case as well. Once the production lineup is done, we will only need a few minutes per petTracer SET to complete these steps.

We are now getting everything ready and immediately after the new year we will start with the final work. Delivery will definitely take place in January.

We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.Thank you very much for the incredible support and trust we have received this year!

Kind regards,
Alan & Claudio

Newspaper Article

Santa Claus has unexpectedly featured us in a newspaper article in the “Zofinger Tagblatt”. Thank you for the tangerine and your kind words. That was a very nice surprise.

The article is also available online (only available in German): Zofinger Tagblatt

Production

The production is going full blast. The electronics of the HomeStation have already been produced and are currently being built into the cases. The production of the collar electronics will be completed in the next few days. Unfortunately, not all suppliers have been able to keep their delivery promise resulting in small delays. We are doing everything possible so that the shipping can take place in December.

Here are some pictures of the different parts that have already arrived:

We have been actively involved ourselves in the production. Among other things, we have assembled the radio antennas by hand. On the first day we were able to produce around 450 pieces after several hours of work. After three more evenings we were happy to have finished ;).

Next week we will be visiting our manufacturer again and help him in order to complete the production, do the packing and finally send the petTracer Set’s to you.

Wishing you all a good week.

Kind regards,
Alan & Claudio