Cat Owners.... to collar or not to collar?

whitewash

whitewash

Fishy Fingers
Suspended / Banned
Messages
5,307
Edit My Images
Yes
right...

i have a 6month old neutered male kitten who has also been mircochipped.


Hes only just started going out and after disappearing off at 7pm last night and not reappearing until 2am we got a bit worried about him being outside after he went for a wander round the neighbourhood.

so today i put a rather fetching reflective collar on him, but he really isnt keen, and keeps trying to scratch at it and stuff, cant say im particularly keen on it either.


so do i really need a collar on him, its only purpose is for ID (and the fact its reflective so he can be seen in the dark) which is superceeded by his microchip.


what do the cat owners think?
 
Ours kept managing to get the collar caught in her mouth, or her front leg stuck through it when we tried to get her to wear one. In the end we left her without.
However, she's pretty much a house cat (her choice, not ours) and only really potters round in our garden on occasion so I don't see it as an issue.
 
Ours wear collars that release easily if pulled / caught etc. Well worth it.
 
gus607 said:
Ours wear collars that release easily if pulled / caught etc. Well worth it.
Click to expand...

Have to agree - our moggy has always had a collar with the gadget on it for opening the cat flaps, but we ensured it had an elastic section in it that would enable it to be pulled off should it get caught - cats don't like anything at first, but always get used to it - persevere, it won't bother them after a week or two...
 
More folk can read the tag on teh collar than the chip ;)

He will try and scratch off teh collar as it is a new feeling, just leave it on nd he will become used to is very quickly, unless he learns that scratching at it gets it taken off, of course he'll learn that faster than anything else.
 
Our 11 yo tortoiseshell has been wearing a collar (with bell & I.D) since she was 9 months old, and was chipped when six months old. :thumbs:

tbh, the bell, or any other trinkets, on the collar is a good thing. It prevents her catching birds and critters as they hear her coming and, you don't end up with 'presents' at the doorstep or worse, on the settee :gag:
 
no collars here, they're both outside cats, we live in the country, don't see the point.
 
I collar my cat with a bell for the sake of the birds.
 
I have a ten year old moggy, spends all day and some nights out, comes home when he feels like it, no collar nor microchipped. Tried the collars and he kept coming home without them so gave up. Currently have 2 dogs, bith are microchipped and wear collars when away from home.
 
4 cats - none are chipped and none have collars. They come and go as they please. Lost two cats (hung themselves) with collars so I just don't bother. I live in the sticks and they're always in the trees and bushes. They're aged 15,14,13 & 13 and still very active. Tried the ones that pop open if caught and they just loose them.

3 dogs as well by the way - all wear collars and are chipped.
 
Our little Minx is chipped and also has a quick release collar with name tag. She lost about six of them when we first got her so i bought a job lot of tags and collars from eBay. I am sure you can guess the rest; not one lost since and that's two and a half years ago!
 
We used to have 3 cats, which mainly lived outside. They had collars/bells. Sure, they hated them at first, but they got used to it ;) They'll get bored of fighting them eventually. As long as it's tight enough for them not to be able to get it off, but then not so tight it's causing obvious discomfort lol
 
Many years ago, I worked in a vets, and saw several cases of cats with injuries from collars [even those with elastic sections in them] that had got caught up on something. On that basis, none of my cats were ever collared, though later ones were microchipped.

Having said that, injuries are probably still quite rare and the ability for someone to trace you if needs be, and to carry a bell to protect the local critters is no bad thing. I have no doubt that modern collars are better at releasing should they get hooked up.

...so, my feeling would be that if you can persevere until moggy is used to collar, that is probably best on balance, but dont feel guilty if you can't, just get rid, its quite a fine balance ;)
 
My two don't have collars, but they are indoor cats. They are microchipped though.

My previous indoor cats did have collars, and it took a while to get them used to wearing them. If you do decide to go ahead with the collars, make sure they are the snap open type that will come undone if the cat gets snagged on anything. They are a pain as you will probably go through them at a crazy rate, but it's better than your cat getting strangled or hanged by the collar - even an elasticated one.
 
Ours is collared and the collar did have a bell permanently fixed to it. She was forever scratching at the bell - we thought it was because it was driving her batty - so I managed to take it off. Within 10 minutes, we heard the bell again and discovered that far from driving her mad, she had decided that it was the best toy in the world, EVER and was chasing it round the room! Now got the bell on a clip and when she hears it she knows she's about to be let out.

Reason for the collar? Save the birds! And to have an ID tag (yes, she's chipped but most people can read while few have chip readers and access to the chip database). She was Dad's cat before he couldn't keep her on and was a VERY good (or rather, bad!) birder which we want to cure her of.

One last thing, it's now possible to get cat flaps that respond to the chips, so should you want an automatic flap, the cat doesn't need to wear a collar with a "key" on it.
 
Mine doesn't have a collar, it was one of the conditions on adopting her from the rescue centre.
 
Put a collar on my moggy when he was a kitten, three times he came home without it, so now he has no collar (or knackers, but that's another story :) )

Matt
 
Our two did have collars just to use with the magnets, but after losing them as we too live in the sticks, we decided on a microchip catflap, problem solved :D
 
well last night he managed t start making noises, so i went to have a look, he'd managed to get the collar into his mouth but then it was stuck, so i took it off him, he wont be wearing a collar again, if i hadnt been their he'd have done some serious damage to himself!
 
Izzy is collared with one saying "I am microchipped" in the weaving, and it has one of those snaps that will release the collar if so much pressure on it. Also one of the little tube things with details inside of contact numbers - however, of late she's not really been fussed about going outside.
 
We would never collar our cat as we have taken our vet,s advice on the fact that they could be dangerous for the cat possibly hanging itself.
Our cat is now over 6 yrs old & A very happy little soul.:)
 
Collars that are elasticated are old fashioned and could be dangerous. New quick release collars are much safer & couldn't see a cat harming themselves with one of those fitted.

A few years ago we had a cat killed on the local road & only because she wore a collar did we find out were she was. A young lad saw her lying on the road & moved her on to the grass verge nearby.

Only because she wore a collar with a name tag this lad kindly took the trouble to phone us otherwise we would have never known what had happened to her. She was about two miles from home
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top