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- Verified Buyer
We've had our PetSafe system for 3 yrs. It has worked great! I want to try and debunk any of the negative and positive reviews with this product. I'll keep it easy and relative to what I have done and experienced and believe what most others will experience.The two things I don't like is, one the instructions for training. I don't put my three cats on leashes or harnesses. These are not dogs. Cats are nocturnal hunters. If you lost your cat with this system, it wasn't your cat. Cats are not dogs. Wait! I think I said that, once. They don't hear, "Here, boy!" Who remembers the commercial about herding cats? That answers that issue. I don't let my cats out at night, for very long, and I am training my cats to not hunt birds. With three cats, they've caught two birds in three years. One was hurt too badly to survive; the other flew away when I got a hold of the cat. I leave my cats out most of the day, while I'm home, and they do great with the system. If you're afraid that your cat will get hurt or runaway, keep the cat inside. It'll be safer and save you money.The second is the method and/or instructions for setting the distance. I put it at max. I've tried adjusting per the instructions and it seems it doesn't work properly. I wanted to lower it a bit to allow my cats to come closer to the edge of our property to walk with my wife and I as we stroll through our perennial gardens. They can't get close to the edge and jump over, but can't come closer as we walk. Safety or comfort or both? I'll take both. On my wannabe wanderer male cat, I leave it set to max, 5 flashes. The other two, I have set at 2 flashes and 3 flashes. The collars with the higher settings also are on long-haired cats. The male has still worked through the shock to get off-property a few times. I believe it is due to low battery. I've put him on his own battery schedule and he hasn't left property for quite awhile.Yes, the battery cost is exorbitant. It's almost, if not, criminal. Might as well never let the animals out because it costs too much to replace a simple battery. So, I followed the instructions of a previous post and am now using generic batteries. They work perfectly. Instead of paying $5-$15/battery, I pay less than $2 at an online battery site. These batteries last for about a month of all day use with my aggressive cat and 2-3 months with my others. The batteries I get are Sanyo CR-1/3N.Now, the one issue with this method is that the modified battery casing does not push the spring-loaded contact tab correctly and can break it off. SO, BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN INSTALLING. I slowly pushed, twisted, tweaked and filed the casing; it didn't help. It eventually broke. I have done it to two of the three I have. I have replaced one collar. The other is on one our non-aggressive cats. She'd prefer to just hang around the perimeter of the house and walk near us as we stroll. If it breaks, it's not useless. The spring that is in there can still be used to make contact. THIS IS AN EMERGENCY OR DESPERATE MEASURE ONLY. It will have to be replaced. I have used the latest broken one for months, though. Eventually, the spring will stop flexing. There is no one to blame for this issue except PetSafe. They designed it in a way that is impractical and not cost effective for consumers. I hope this helps.When I bought this collar for my cat, I was very skeptical on whether or not it would work with my PetSafe SDF-100 system I already had installed for my three dogs ---- IT WORKS!!! Yay!On to the training of my cat..........I first attempted to train my cat with this collar to the wireless fence barrier only - no existing fence structure. I used the leash method and my cat would lie down and refuse to walk! Very frustrating! So I purchased a stake and tied him out with just enough length to reach the barrier line...Again...the same result. He would just lie down and refuse to move. I gave up on teaching him to say in the invisible fence......We recently installed a 4 string smooth wire fence around the perimeter of our property, and added "no-climb" horse fencing about 2 feet up from the bottom. I then attached the barrier wire for my PetSafe SDF-100 to the fence. I decided to give it another go with my cat and his collar.To train him with the new fence -- I just put him outside with the collar on...no leash..nothing but the cat receiver....the first few days - he would refuse to even budge from the back porch, and would even claw at the door and at the screened windows wanting back inside. I would leave him out for short sessions (about 15 to 20 minutes at a time) so that he wouldn't get too stressed.Now? My cat LOVES being outside! He no longer uses his litter box (which I LOVE). He holds his "potty" until I get home to let him outside along with my dogs. He lines up next to the dogs and waits for his collar to go outside. He will even meow at the door to be let out or back inside the house. I do have to keep up with the batteries on his collar though, because if I forget to turn the collar on or the batteries are dead - he will jump the fence and escape!Short story?? I don't think this collar works for cats unless you have an existing fence structure to attach it to, and if you have an existing fence - you have to be patient when teaching your cat to be outside. After they learn to be outside.....they will love, love, love it!! I sometimes have to convince my cat to come back inside! You will love it because it will cut down on the litter box use...if not eliminate it completely. So, if you have an existing fence and you have also considered buying one of those expensive self cleaning litter box...buy this INSTEAD..your cat will enjoy getting to be outside for a few hours a day anyways.Hope this helps! =)Love the in-ground cat fence system and this extra collar is exactly the same as the one that comes with the full kit. Only problem was the included battery was blinking red every minute which means "replace battery". So had to get another battery right away in order to use the product. Batteries are a bit pricey so not happy I didn't get at least a month or so out of the included one. :(Have 5 cats, 4 need collars to keep them in the yard - they work GREAT. I have used them now for 2 yrs, just recently had to replace a battery.We have a chain link fence that they were climbing over or under so we put the boundary round the fence. No training needed - just put them on and let them learn - cats are not stupid - they meet the boundary maybe twice and never test it again. They were not scared, just surprised.. jumped, sat down and said "what was that!" I do have to clip the fur on their neck really short for the contacts to actually connect.The collar is almost too big for my smallest cat - the contacts would slip either side of her neck if she was much smaller - she's around 7.5lb.Not sure how we would have got on if we did not have the chain link fence to run the boundary around...Good Product easy to understand and install, Gives quite a shock, I have two cats, One works perfect, the other takes the hit and keeps walking through lineReplacement for a previous collar that failed after being dunked (along with cat) in our backyard pond. Works just as well as the original. Keeps the cat in the backyard and away from the coyotes and cars in our neighbourhood.Second coller for the new Kitten.. Just as good as the first receiver
