Let's talk about collars...are safety ones ok?

[LeftMyRidingCropInTheMortuary]

Hi, Kenzo's mummy here again.

In preparation for her going out for the first time, I've fitted her with a collar with a disc with my mobile no on it. It's a "safety" collar from Pets at Home with a clip that comes undone, apparently, if she gets it caught on something.

The cat home though said they are against collars.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!!

We're also against collars. Even the snap off ones can cause injury, although they are certainly not as bad as the others.

My friend's cat had a snap-off one (I had talked her out of the other kind). He was involved in a road accident and somehow got clipped by a car. The vet thinks that the car pulled him by his collar for a short distance before the collar snapped off. He had bad injuries and it was touch and go (although he has now made a full recovery). The vet said that had it been a normal collar he would have been dead, but had he had no collar at all he would probably have been unscathed.

We had a kitten collar for Bailey, with a snap on bit. Despite fitting it carefully, he somehow managed to trap his mouth in it and get distressed about it.

I've seen horrifc injuries from non-safety collars, but only from safety ones if they're not fitted properly ie too loose- they need to be quite snug to snap properly.

Personally I feel there can be some pro's to properly fitted snap collars - depending on the sort of cat you have and the area they're likely to roam in. Obviously they should all be microchipped either way.

I'm in the wouldn't ever put a collar on a cat camp. I have visions of an adventurous cat climbing a tree, getting its collar caught on a branch and the collar not releasing. It doesn't bear thinking about & it's not worth the risk IMO.

I don't like them and won't use them. The safety ones will snap before they choke, but they can still do themselves a fair bit of damage before that point. And the weight and strength of the cat effects it too, and yet they aren't made to accomodate that.
As to the id tag, the small chance of a missing cat not being checked for a microchip, versus the likely risk of injury means it's a no brainer for me.

Thanks all.

I suppose I just thought it was easier (more likely!) for someone to telephone a number on a collar than take it to a vet etc to get scanned for a chip. Also - some people don't know about chips?

Just the other week, I telephoned a number on a collar of a dog I found in the street - it had escaped from its garden nearby.

She's wearing it fine at the moment in the house. I wondered about keeping it on the first few times she goes out in case she gets lost but then removing it.

So many thinks to think of when getting a puss! One doesn't realise!

The problem is that we have a magnetic cat flap. Not only do we need collars to hang the magnets on, the snap off ones won't fit through the magnet loops.

Anyone: In that case you would do well to swap your cat flap for one that works on microchips, such as Sureflap.

I asked my vet what she thought about collars when I first had my cat, she said that she has seen some horrible collar injuries, although they are rare.

She has 3 cats herself and that was enough for me not to use them (can't actually imagine trying to get a collar on my feisty cat though)

I have got a microchip cat flap, so don't really need a collar.

My cat lost about 5 snap collars in about 2 months. The reason I keep buying them is when she has a collar on she doesn't bring me rat / mice / bird presents from outside.
It's a quandary what to do!!!

We are getting our cat microchipped in a fortnight when we have him spayed at the same time. And then we will be investing in a microchip activated cat flap. Hope they work.

We dont use them, he used to have a snap off but his leg got caught in it, and it hooked over his front canine. Luckily he made it home and I sorted it but no more collars after that.

I use a collar, but only so I have something to fit their Loca8tor trackers onto. I modify them by bending the plastic snap bits right in, then file them down, so the collar snaps off at the smallest amount of pressure. The elastic ones are the Devil's work, yet still often also sold as "safety collars".

Our cat has a snap off collar, as does his mate from down the road. Last week we found mate's collar on the hall floor and our cats under my daughter's pillow... They get them off when they are playing! (some people get drunk and naked, I suspect our cats do the same when we are out!)

Always had cars who had collars until our 8 year old came home with half his ear ripped off and his collar half on/off. £250 vet bill later he's ok and been collar free ever since!

I bought safety collars (with little bells) for my two when their killing sprees started.
On the second day of wear the girl cat crawled under the sofa growling. I put my hand under to see if she was ok and she scratch me - (she is usually the most gentle cat imaginable). I moved the sofa and saw that in her attempt to remove the collar she had managed to get her front paw stuck in the collar and the collar over her bottom jaw and wedged in her mouth. The collar didn't release. I struggled to get it off.
I am so relieved it happened at home because had it happened outside she would not have been able to walk home - and I dread to think what could have happened to her.
The collars went into the bin immediately.

We had the safety ones for our cat and she lost about 4 of them ( we assume she got stuck and they released and then they were lost) before we gave up! Get a microchip, much safer!

She is microchipped but my thought is that not everyone is going to take her to a vet or rescue centre to get her scanned.

TCN on here reckons a collar stops a lost cat getting fed/rescued because people assume it's owned.

I think mine is the only one around here with no collar so all the other owners must think I'm terribly negligent.

Thanks, Fluffy, that's something else I never thought of!

Maybe a cat with no collar will raise more alarm bells.
But...see my separate thread re putting GPS on the cat!