Vodafone today introduced its V-Pet wearable for domestic pets in UK and Europe.

V-Pet is a location and activity tracker for cats and dogs. It uses GPS and 3G / 4G.

The tracker can send notifications to your smartphone if Marmaduke or Tiger wander outside a designated area.

The device can also be used to monitor your pets' sleeping patterns, to help assess whether they may be resting too much or not enough.

V-Pet is branded by Kippy Vita and costs US$65 retail upfront and US$5 per monthly subscription in the UK. The device can be used at home and abroad if you travel with pets.

Of course, V-Pet is neither the first nor the most advanced pet-wearable. There are dozens already on sale around the world, such as Paw Tracker for locating dogs and PetPace for vets to monitor a cat's health.

One major challenge for V-Pet (and other pet-trackers) will be network connectivity. Cats like to roam between buildings, while dogs love to run around the countryside. GPS struggles to work reliably in urban canyons, and 3G / 4G signals in rural areas can be patchy to non-existent. V-Pet looks good in theory, but the day-to-day practical reality may be somewhat different.