With expertise evolving daily, pet mother and father are looking for new and higher methods to maintain their pets protected, together with discovering methods to have 24/7 entry to their pets’ places. Some pet house owners have thought-about utilizing an AirTag on their pet’s collar, however is that protected?
We spoke with two pet specialists who warn in opposition to utilizing AirTags for this objective and provide up some different choices as an alternative. Here is the whole lot to know.
What’s an AirTag?
Apple AirTags have been created to assist maintain observe of private gadgets through the use of a “safe Bluetooth sign that may be detected by close by units within the Discover My community,” based on Apple.
The small units, costing $29 per tag, are sometimes used on suitcases, purses, backpacks and keychains. Apple’s web site does not point out utilizing AirTags on pets, for good purpose.
Learn extra: Greatest Apple AirTag Equipment of 2025
Why you should not use an AirTag to trace your pet
Though AirTags might appear to be a handy and comparatively low cost solution to maintain observe of your furry buddies, specialists advise in opposition to it.
If AirTags are connected to a pet’s collar, there’s an opportunity it may result in a medical emergency, mentioned Dr. Shannon Vawter, medical director and veterinarian at Thrive Pet Healthcare Wedgewood in Nashville, Tennessee.
“There is a battery in there, and if the canine or cat ingests this — which there’s a number of articles and stories in our veterinary magazines the place individuals have cited that this has occurred — then we now have to do a surgical procedure referred to as a gastronomy or an enterotomy and go fish that tag out,” Vawter mentioned, including that the battery is harmful as a result of if it begins “to corrode or open up with that acid inside, it’s going to burn a gap proper via their GI tract.”
Vawter mentioned the emergency surgical procedure to take away the AirTag may vary in worth between $2,000 and $5,000, including that canines usually tend to chew or eat an AirTag, however that cats is also susceptible to doing so.
Monitoring limitations are one more reason specialists warning in opposition to them.
“An AirTag has very restricted monitoring capabilities and accuracy in rural areas, the precise place that you simply’re prone to want it essentially the most,” mentioned Maleki Burke, founding father of Snootiful Hound, an organization that created escape-proof harnesses for sighthounds. As a result of AirTags rely on close by Apple units, Burke mentioned that in case your pet is misplaced in a rural space, the situation is probably not correct or obtainable.
“That is particularly problematic if you happen to’re making an attempt to trace a canine that has wandered distant from populated areas,” he mentioned.
Professional recommendation: Higher methods to trace your pet
Each Vawter and Burke suggest that the primary line of motion to maintain your pet protected is to get them microchipped. A microchip is a small, everlasting chip that is equal to the scale of a grain of rice and is embedded into the pet. In response to Pawlicy Advisor, a pet insurance coverage market, microchips for canines value between $25 to $60. In case you undertake your pet from a shelter, it could be chipped beforehand. In that case, the shelter would offer you the microchip identification quantity throughout the adoption course of.
“Any pet can get a microchip at any age, and it isn’t a lot larger than a vaccine needle,” Vawter mentioned. “We do it on a regular basis with distraction, like giving them some cheese or just a little little bit of peanut butter, they usually do not even know they get it.”
When somebody finds a misplaced pet and brings it to an animal shelter or a veterinary workplace, the pet is scanned for a microchip. Microchips comprise details about the pet and the proprietor’s private info to allow them to be reunited shortly. If you’ll want to replace your pet’s microchip info, go to the American Animal Hospital Affiliation’s microchip registry lookup. Enter your pet’s microchip ID to seek out the place it’s enrolled, then request to replace all obligatory info.
The microchip is nice for somebody who finds your pet, however you should still wish to pair it with a tool that may actively observe them. That is the place a GPS collar can turn out to be useful.
“For example your canine will get unfastened, the possibilities are, within the brief time period, they don’t seem to be going to go too far,” mentioned Burke, who personally makes use of the GPS tracker Tractive for his canine. “When you’ve got a GPS on them and you may observe them, you will get them again in minutes.”
Like many GPS collars, Tractive requires a month-to-month subscription. The fundamental plan is $13 a month or $8 a month if you happen to join a year-long subscription.
Vawter additionally recommends a GPS tracker over an AirTag as a result of they’re sometimes flat and constructed into the collar, somewhat than dangling off the collar.
“They’re very giant, in order that they’d be troublesome to eat or chunk into,” she mentioned. “The opposite factor is, they’re counting on satellites, not individuals’s telephones or Bluetooth. The one damaging a few GPS — and that is why I nonetheless desire a microchip — is the GPS has a battery, and it is short-lived.”
Vawter added that in case your pet retains escaping, speak along with your veterinarian to seek out the basis explanation for why it is taking place within the first place.
The underside line
AirTags are nice in your keys and different private belongings, however there are safer and extra foolproof methods to trace your pets.
“Be certain your canine is microchipped,” Burke mentioned. “But in addition, if you happen to’re frightened about your canine escaping, simply get a GPS. The peace of thoughts is price its weight in gold.”
