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The litter tray

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

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Original poster

Do your black cats wear collars?

56 replies

Catatlast · 08/10/2021 08:41

We're about to start letting our 2 black cats outside. We've never had collars on cats before but these ones are completely black so I'm wondering if a reflective collar would be a good idea so cars have a chance of seeing them?
We're planning on keeping them in at night but even late afternoon it's dark.

OP posts:

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Want2beme · 08/10/2021 16:31

No collar on this chap. I'm his, he's not mine, so he's in charge and I won't push my luck

Fluffycloudland77 · 08/10/2021 18:47

They need to be as soon as it’s dark, right now it’s too dark to see a cat outside.

I have an electric car and so far animals are more aware of it than humans. One woman’s dog pulled her back when she walked out in front of me, you need to worry when your dogs more aware than you are. I nearly ran 4 people over in the first 3 months.

ThirdElephant · 08/10/2021 18:52

Yes. Reflective collars with a bell.

jamfirstcreamsecond · 08/10/2021 23:25

We have a reflective collar but the catch is so loose, she shrugs it off very easily. I then bought a rather snazzy led pink collar. She looks ridiculous and regularly terrifies the neighbours as all they can see is this hovering pink halo moving 6ft in the air. But, you can't miss her. Also v handy when I can't see her and I want her to come in. Quite often she's safe in the garden having a chill but may as well be invisible after dark.

Allergictoironing · 09/10/2021 08:37

as all they can see is this hovering pink halo moving 6ft in the air.

So she's a big girl is she? Or can fly...

ThirdElephant · 09/10/2021 08:48

@Allergictoironing

as all they can see is this hovering pink halo moving 6ft in the air.

So she's a big girl is she? Or can fly...

A climber, presumably? We regularly find our cat on the roof.

Babdoc · 09/10/2021 08:55

I have had several black cats over the past forty years. None has worn a collar and none has ever been run over. Despite living 300 yards from a busy dual carriageway. They all preferred to go out through the back garden to the barley fields beyond, where they conducted mass murder among the field mice.

AnnaMagnani · 09/10/2021 10:08

None of mine have, the only one run over was black and white and in the daytime.

My mass murderer is a white cat, Silkycat who is black as night has barely had a fly since she was a kitten.

violetbunny · 09/10/2021 10:10

Ours aren't black but they have reflective collars for this reason. I only use collars with a decent breakaway fastening for safety reasons.

jamfirstcreamsecond · 09/10/2021 10:47

@Allergictoironing

as all they can see is this hovering pink halo moving 6ft in the air.

So she's a big girl is she? Or can fly...

Haha, rather disappointingly, she can’t fly. Instead she walks along the fence so it appears that she hovers.

NotMyCat · 09/10/2021 11:02

This was how mine spent 5hrs the other day while I was working. The snoring was ridiculous

BertieBotts · 09/10/2021 11:11

This was my lovely black cat, Bernard Black. Didn't put a collar on him but he did unfortunately get hit by a car, he was only about 5 :( this was several years ago now. So something reflective is probably a good idea.

TheCategoryIs · 09/10/2021 11:13

This is a bit of a dilemma. Collars are not a good idea in the main.

What is your set up in terms of nearby roads? I guess I’d kind of think if it’s risky enough to be wondering about a collar, they probably shouldn’t be out after dark. But I KNOW that is easier said than done.

Toddlerteaplease · 09/10/2021 12:00

Cheddar is not black. But completely invisible in the dark. She has a reflective collar.

ThirdElephant · 09/10/2021 12:14

@TheCategoryIs

This is a bit of a dilemma. Collars are not a good idea in the main.

Particularly difficult to keep them in in winter, when I leave the house when it's dark and return when it's dark!

Mine always have breakaway collars, regardless of colour, because we had a favourite cat taken to the vet and euthanised by someone who'd decided he was a stray because he didn't have a collar on. This was in the days before microchipping, but I'm aware that microchips do sometimes migrate in a cat and might not be picked up on, so I don't rely on that for purposes of flagging up that they're not strays. A collar is an instant indicator- 'I have a home!'

Madwife123 · 09/10/2021 16:04

Once you’ve seen a collar injury you will never use them ever again. I’ve seen cats lose their lives to collars.

ThirdElephant · 09/10/2021 18:12

@Madwife123

Once you’ve seen a collar injury you will never use them ever again. I’ve seen cats lose their lives to collars.

You just use a breakaway collar. Mine has divested herself of hundreds of pounds worth of the bloody things over the years so they clearly work.

Not using any collar because using the wrong sort is dangerous seems like throwing the baby out with the bathwater to me.

Splashinginpuddles15 · 09/10/2021 18:46

Yes , neon green . Hopefully makes him a little more visible.

Madwife123 · 09/10/2021 21:10

@ThirdElephant In my experience breakaway collars are either so stiff to be dangerous or so easy to breakaway that you need a new one each time the cat leaves the house. Although to be fair it’s been a long time since I’ve used collars as my cats are all indoors so they may have moved on since then.

joangray38 · 09/10/2021 21:16

My beloved old tuxedo cat would allow me to put his collar on, would look at me pityingly and then unbuckle it with his front paw and drop it at my feet. He won that battle , and every argument we had!

SalsaLove · 09/10/2021 21:18

My girl only goes in our back garden. I have recently seen a couple of adolescent cats on the street wearing collars, in broad daylight

SalsaLove · 09/10/2021 21:19

@NotMyCat

This was how mine spent 5hrs the other day while I was working. The snoring was ridiculous

Awwww bless. Snoring is so…cute until they do it when you’re trying to sleep and your DH is also snoring. 🙄

ShakespearesSisters · 09/10/2021 21:43

Mine does, its blue and with reflective bits and a bell. I like to think it gives the wildlife a fighting chance. I would hate to see his kill rate without it. Luckily its mainly mice he catches.
I started off with an adjustable quick release collar but after a couple of days of him spinning it round when he scratched it was getting tighter and tighter. I'm so relieved I was around to notice or he would have chocked himself. The new one has a buckle but is fully elastic. On tight enough that I can get a few finger underneath. But it can be pulled over his head like a hairband so it isn't too tight to escape from. He has escaped from about 6 of them in a year.

violetbunny · 09/10/2021 22:08

We have tracking devices as well on their collars. The breakaway function definitely works as Boycat comes home without his collar about once a month. But it's pretty easy to locate the collar again with the tracking device.

TheBalletcats · 09/10/2021 22:15

@helpfulperson & @YetAnotherSpartacus

You need to talk to the human(s) owned by Warwick University’s Campus Cat - Rolf has wee hi-vis jackets in multiple colours for when he’s at work…

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