To think this is a bit freaky and uncalled for?

[Macbeth8]

About a week ago my gorgeous cat came back and noticed his collar had been snipped. It was weird as it was still round him but definitely cut. I dont think it could have come off by accident as it looked like it had been cut with scissors if that makes sense. (Its a hard rubber flea collar the one on Amazon)

Then yesterday, he strolls in with a brand new blue collar complete with a jingly bell. WTAF?!
Like who would do this?
I try my hardest to keep him in, he sometimes just manages to sneak out and this is when this has happened.

Also, when we first got him I bought a tracker for him. But after awhile it just got filthy and muddy so took it off.
There was a random time he had on his harness and came back without it. 2 days later the harness was "chucked" on our drive?
Find it really odd. I have lived with cats all my life and never encountered tis before. I just dont know if someone is trying to claim him? I am scared to let him out now!!!

That's dangerous for the long line alone. Let alone making them very vulnerable if another cat (or god forbid) fox enters the property.

As others have said ragdolls should be indoor cats they don't have a sense of danger or fear that other cats have so are a risk to themselves.

Absolutely lovely and beautiful cats though!

But this one is easily solved by keeping him in. 😀

Lol that's what I thought!
My brother had a cat visitor and he ended up taking him to the vets because of a damaged leg that didn't seem to get sorted, he ended up letting him in on cold nights and fed him tuna from time to time. I came to visit and we decided to buy him a collar and barrel and wrote a very short note and phone number asking if he had an owner- he did ... he kept visiting but DB didn't take
Him to the vets etc again - he loves that cat lol 😆

*loved

Was his original collar a bit tight-fitting, perhaps?

@WinterDeWinter are you the other person??

<raises one eyebrow, strokes whiskers>

I guess we will never know ...

Someone else has decided that they know better than you.

I love animals, but there are definitely some 'animal people' who are bonkers and will do things like this because they decide that their way is the only way and that you're harming the cat if you do things differently. Pet/wildlife groups on Facebook are full of people like that.

I'm really surprised to hear this about Ragdolls! We adopted ours 8 years ago. He was, before us, a mouser who lived in a shed (we are rural) where he terrorised tiny mammals across a couple of acres. He doesn't go beyond the garden these days, preferring to rough house with our German Shepherd - he's pretty old. Still, I cant imagine him being an inside cat. Anyway, didn't mean to side track...

@RaininginDarling a family member of mine has several ragdolls. They aren't particularly friendly with strangers- no more than your average cat, are highly athletic jumping easily out the garden with a 7ft fence and are prolific murderers of anything that moves! Only one doesn't go out the garden out of choice but he's super neurotic and nothing like a typical rag doll in nature. They'd never actively keep them inside!

Not just us then @liveforsummer - I think our Bob would lose his tiny mind if he was kept inside.

Rag dolls are supposed to be indoor cats because they can be a bit dim and people pinch them.

My Nan has one but she couldn’t keep him indoors either.

I don't have any advice really, people are just odd. But just to say this exact same thing happened with our cat growing up with the collar situation. It was really weird and passive aggressive.

Where's the photo?

Unfortunately, lots of people do this with cats - cats wander and, if they're friendly, they get into people's homes/gardens and do great impressions of being absolutely starving hungry

We had a cat get into our house and eat our cats' biscuits right out of their bowl once - my black cats were useless and just let him, and as the intruder was also black, DH didn't even realise it wasn't one of our cats

That’s very weird. I’d get another tracker and try to work out possible culprits. If he only roams over a small area, I’d be tempted to leaflet nearby houses, not identifying your cat, but saying you’ve had issues and that your cat is now being monitored, etc.

Either someone has mistakenly ‘adopted’ him, or someone is planning to claim him as theirs. Swapping the collar is totally overstepping and worrying.

You would think people wouldn't think he is a stray, but just looking at neighbourhood app tells you most people have no freaking idea...

Most of the "poor obviously lost cat (looking proper lost) spotted at an alley/back garden/top of shed" are chubby, well groomed cats... Doesn't help when they receive 100 comments of "omg the poor kitty, you need to give them home"

Maybe he's pissing someone off and they want to hear him coming.

Could I maybe involve the Police?
He always escapes any chance he gets. We have a cocker spaniel and are always out in garden playing ball with her so its an easy escape for him. With bi'folding doors.
We have just under one acre of land in our back garden and there is a field behind our house. When I had his tracker on it always showed him on the fields which made sense as he is constantly bringing field mice into the garden.
I am going to charge up his tracker again and restart the subscription just incase. Annoying thing is battery diminishes straight away.

He doesnt go out every day! We try our best to keep him in. I would say this week he has only been out once but he loves to explore!!
The other week he was out 2-3 times and thats when the collar incident happened so they cant think hes a stray if they hardly see him?

I should probably point out that we adopted ours from previous owners who immigrated and didn't weirdly commandeer him from a neighbour. I would be very annoyed at someone putting a collar on my cat.

Maybe the neighbour thought the cat needed a collar with a bell because she cares about the mice and birds not being eaten.

That cat is playing you, look at his face.

Oh you mean the dangerous one that cause them to die a painful death?? Surely to god people don't still use these types of collars!! Use a flea treatment and a safety collar!!

Someone's probably trying to educate you not claim him!

Keep him in and if you donlet him out attach a new collar with a note saying he is microchipped and has an owner . Is he insured? Only ask as microchip for legal proof is a not that great but if you pay for insurance for him then easier to prove ownership