If you have a cat who stays outside at night, you probably expect that he wanders around the neighborhood a bit. But a recent project which actually tracks cats’ nighttime travels provided surprising results about how far the cats actually do travel.
The project, run by the Central Tablelands Local Land Services in Australia, affixed GPS trackers to the collars of more than a dozen cats. Cats were then monitored during the night, and their travels were mapped out on local neighborhood maps. The project monitored the cats’ travels from one to as many as ten nights, depending on how the cats handled the trackers and how often their owners decided to leave the GPS in place overnight.
The results were quite surprising. A look at the many maps reveals the fact that cats do travel overnight, and in fact, they cover considerable distances. The maps show that cats cross roads many more times than one would imagine, and that they don’t tend to stay only close to home, as many owners tend to think. This study is eye-opening about cats’ nighttime behavior and the risks that cats may be left when they’re allowed to stay outdoors at night.
