Cat taxi

There was a news story from England doing the rounds the other week about a cat, Sergeant Podge, who leaves his home every evening and appears the next morning over a mile away, in the same place. He waits for his "Mom" to drive over and collect him, which she does without fail, and then takes him back home.
Luckily Mom was tipped off about his whereabouts, but my "pet finder" would have saved her some searching!

Check it out here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/dorset/7092301.stm

Neighborly inspiration

I met my neighbor last night as he was out looking for his cat. He said "I think she's been going further recently, I saw her up the street the other day." As we stood and talked the cat would come close, then run off again, repeating the pattern over again. I left him to scan the bushes with his flashlight, thinking he would almost certainly buy my cat-sized pet tracker. He could locate his cat when he needed to AND know for sure how far she roamed.

It also made me think about including a flashlight functionality... not sure how this would work, but it would be great if you could turn it on from your mobile device, illuminating the pet so you could spot them in the dark (and making them visible to traffic.)

Batteries

I was thinking today that I should power the pet component of my device with a rechargeable battery.
One of the biggest complaints of consumers that use the other pet-tracking devices on the market is that the batteries run down quickly. Using a rechargeable battery could help keep the cost down maybe, if not with the life of the battery.
Perhaps for version 2 I can plan for a dynamo - using the activity of the pet to power the battery!

I like the sound of this company: http://www.greenbatteries.com/