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Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Original poster

Should cats wear collars?

55 replies

PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 19:06

So we moved a while back and one of the new neighbours a few doors down is a lovely lady but a cat feeder, she calls any cats over and constantly feeds them then takes them in, shes famous for it
I preempted this by taking my kitties over to meet her before they started going out and made up a vague problem that requires special food only, she was vv sympathetic and promised never to feed them if she remembers look like.
Ened up at pets at home today and saw collars that say not feed so got a few and stuck them on the cats.
Its worked she saw my two, read the collar and tshked them out her garden,good times!!

Dp has come back and is horrified , apparently you can't put them on cats anymore and I'm the worst person since

Are they really bad? They are fitted properly and easy release.

OP posts:
Original poster
PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 19:07

Offending collar, cats are not fussed by them at all btw

Should cats wear collars?
OP posts:
snowgirl1 · 30/04/2019 19:08

Easy release collars are okay, I think. We have to have one with a bell on our cat to try to prevent her catching birds :-(

Baloonphobia · 30/04/2019 19:10

Ours wears a collar. It's not that easy to release either as he always loses those. He's 7 and has never had any issues. He's indoor/outdoor and a prolific hunter.

Original poster
PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 19:12

Oh my goodness! The amount of errors and missing words in that post... apologies
Blush

OP posts:
agnurse · 30/04/2019 19:16

He looks to be a nice boy! As long as the collar is not bothering him, it should be fine. I do agree that it should be easy release because a cat could potentially strangle in a collar if it gets caught on something.

At our local shelter they always put collars on the cats, plastic ones that can be cut off when they get adopted. The collars have the cat's ID number and are colour-coded - blue for males and red for females.

SqueakyPig · 30/04/2019 19:17

Collars on cats is fine! All four of mine have collars on and the only issue I have is the amount of money I spend replacing them when the lose them Smile

I think it’s just generally considered best to use quick release collars are they’re safer in terms of if your cat gets stuck on something it just snaps open and releases your cat.

MaybeitsMaybelline · 30/04/2019 19:20

My cats wore these. They also lost them every few weeks they were such an easy release. I think they are pretty safe and nothing to worry about.

Original poster
PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 19:41

Excellent to hear im not the only cruella on the block.
I brought 6 of them ready for if they lose them. Star

OP posts:
kitkat463 · 30/04/2019 19:47

I don't use them as they can get caught, even the quick release ones. My girl had a quick release collar on, was hit by a car and we found the collar later, ripped apart opposite the still intact safety catch. £4000, orthopaedic surgey and 6 months later she s fine but... Vet said the broken claws and scraped paws were because the collar got caught on the underside of car and she was dragged along and dug her claws in to try to stop herself Sad. We don't use collars now!!!

madcatladyforever · 30/04/2019 19:50

Easy release ones are fine, I once came home to find my cat Shadow lying on the doorstep, I thought he had had an accident but his back legs were stuck in his collar and he couldn't move. He'd been trying to get it off.
I have all my cats chipped now so they don't need collars.

Iwantacookie · 30/04/2019 19:58

Mine do but I've got an amazing hunter who despite the bells do bring back presents for me Hmm
Although the other one makes up for that by bringing me slugs and butterflies.

DramaAlpaca · 30/04/2019 20:00

I would never, ever put a collar on a cat. They are potentially dangerous, even the quick release ones.

Minkies11 · 30/04/2019 20:02

There are different types of quick release collars - some are so stiff I can barely pull them apart. However both mine wear them with reflective colouring and tag. I just file the clips slightly until I'm happy with the release. Bulk buy on ebay and they are really cheap. Wouldn't let mine out without them.

Baloonphobia · 30/04/2019 20:04

Mine has a tag with my phone number on it. I hope that if he ever got hit by a car someone would ring me and I could go get him.

Lamentations · 30/04/2019 20:13

Mine have stretchy ones with bells because they are sadists. They've been fine for over a year. I'm keeping them on.

BarrytheFatcat · 30/04/2019 20:15

My 2 hated them, Wouldn't wear them.

dementedpixie · 30/04/2019 20:17

I don't use them.

Baloonphobia · 30/04/2019 20:37

Bells didn't knock a step out of our serial killer. He just got more skilled. They did however drive us totally mad when he was running around, jingling at night.

CrumpetandSausage · 30/04/2019 21:01

One cat is still wearing the original collar the cat sanctuary gave us when we got her c18mths ago. The other one has been through multiple collars in the same period and we’ve given up replacing them. She just manages to get out of them.

Original poster
PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 21:04

I took the bells off before I put them in the cats, the older ones runs round the house like a and thing and the idea of adding a bell to the thudding is unthinkable

OP posts:
Original poster
PristineCondition · 30/04/2019 21:04

On not in 😂

OP posts:
Bisset · 30/04/2019 21:07

I was working from home one day.

Came into the lounge to see cat with lower jaw stuck in (quick relapease) collar. Covered in blood.

God knows what would have happened if I’d been in the office that day.

None of my cats has worn a collar since (we have 6)

Bisset · 30/04/2019 21:08

Oh... and we checked them regularly to make sure they weren’t too tight or loose...

Contraceptionismyfriend · 30/04/2019 21:13

I'm not rushing to get a new one after our cat came back a few weeks ago with a big chunk out of his cheek and no collar.
I assume he got caught somewhere managed to get himself out.

He's never brought anything home so I'm not to worried about alerting birds.

Peachy85 · 30/04/2019 21:14

My first cat disappeared for a few days and when a neighbour found him he'd tried to get out of his collar by sticking his paw though and climb through it of that makes sense...

He'd loosened it enough to get his whole front leg through and ended up with a serious injury under his armpit which had started to go septic...

He was fine in the end but our cats have never had collars since x