Cat collar

[fromdespairto]

I've previously only had indoor cats but our new kitten is going to be an outdoor cat hopefully. With this in mind I bought her a collar today. She now seems to be in a royal huff, not eating and hiding under things. Should I take it off or persevere?

I'm mindful she is getting dressed this week too so I don't know if this combination will make her hate me forever!

None of my cats have worn collars. They are microchipped. Even quick release collars can pose a risk.

My cats don't have collars but have microchips. I thought collars might be a hanging/choking risk

Is she chipped? You could get that done when she is getting spayed

They are. And entrapment. And getting a leg caught through them and ending up with a leg injury so bad they need amputation.

She is chipped. I thought a collar would be needed too so people would easily access our contact details?

Who would need to contact you though? If (I hope it never happens) your cat is injured and taken to a vet then they would scan for chip.

Mine are all collared. They are chipped but I know there’s no guarantee they’d be scanned if eg hit by a car (esp if killed. There was a petition last year asking for council scanning to be made compulsory but nothing happened)

However in my case the main reason for the collar is to have a fucking great bell on it to minimise the slaughter of small animals & birds

My cat is chipped but wears a collar too - for 2 reasons, she has a habit to wind round our feet and so her bell means we hear her and don’t risk tripping and also the collar has a hi-vis strip so she’s easier to spot by cars if she happens to try crossing the road. They really do quick release, she loses one pretty much on a weekly basis

My cat had a quick release one but still came in with it around her neck and with her front leg through it

So after her all day protest I relented and took the collar off. She has came out of her hiding place, gave me a scowl and is now eating. I have to say I admire her determination to be in a huff.

Holmcat has lost 3 quick release collars in 4 months so we've given up...!

A collar with two bells on it can stop her hunting successfully. Cats take a lot of wildlife. Mine mostly always have collars and they do get used to them, but one is a Houdini for getting them off.

@Pywife2

Same here

2 cats are very sedate & civilised, don’t go far, don’t kill anything, & never lose collars.

Killer cat though has quite a wide range & has lost several collars, though we’ve had 2 back thanks to phone number on tag. His kill rate drops rapidly though when he’s belled!

Mine is chipped and has a collar with a tag saying ‘Allergies. Do not feed -after neighbours repeatedly gave him milk which gave him blood fill diarrhoea-despite us telling him not to give him milk. He also has a tag with our phone number and the two clink together nicely so it stops his killing of birds. It took him a few days to get used to it but within a week he was fine. We replaced it 3 times in his first year as he came home without it.

Tried my 2 with the quick release collars but the crafty pair tag team and help each other take them off within minutes , so gave up on that pretty quickly , they are microchipped.

Our cat ended up with her front leg though it and it rubbing her skin raw. Current cat (microchipped) doesn't have one and never will.

All of our cats wore collars with no problems. Fatty and Snorg did for a while but it caused matts. Cheddar has one though.

It's currently off as the new tag is too jingly abs was completely freaking her out!

Lapdance they are all different in character, one of ours is a complete psycho. The other two aren't such good hunters but they're the ones who keep their collars on!

We did have one cat who got her foot through the collar and we were away for a couple of days so we didn't notice immediately. She has one now with no bother though.

Collars are never a good idea. Even the quick release ones can cause injury. Another big danger is that people tend to ignore cats with collars that appear to be in trouble as they think 'they have owners - they will deal with it'. So a stray/lost cat with a collar needs to be in a much worse state than one without a collar before someone will try to help it.