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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

Collar or no collar?

31 replies

Stickycurrantbun · 09/07/2023 10:32

I have two 20 week old kittens who haven't been outside yet and am nervous about when they eventually do get let out. Do people use collars these days or are they too risky for injuries/getting caught? They have been microchipped.

OP posts:
EversoDetermined · 09/07/2023 10:35

Too risky, even the quick release sort.

Clarich007 · 09/07/2023 11:19

Kittens are so mad and active though arent they? I wouldn't risk it. Chipping and neutering are the most important things I think.
Enjoy your kittens 😻

Original poster
Stickycurrantbun · 09/07/2023 14:15

Thanks for the replies. I didn't want to risk people seeing them without collars and thinking they didn't have a home and try to adopt them if they see them outside (as that used to happen in the past!), but happier to keep them collar free if that's the norm these days. Keeping them indoors for another couple of months anyway. Just dreading the day when they venture outside! Will take it in baby steps and just in the garden at first.

OP posts:
Original poster
Stickycurrantbun · 09/07/2023 14:16

They are also neutered and vaccinated etc Smile

OP posts:
OnTheBoardwalk · 09/07/2023 14:20

@Stickycurrantbun I know exactly what you mean, a couple of months older but I’m the same with my cats

they don’t like wearing collars and I can understand why. I'm also worried that if they go out without them someone could catnap them (they’d soon let them go though)

I put collars on just for the hour or so they go out each day then take them off. I still worry about them. Think I’ll stop them having to wear them once they get bit more established in the area

good luck at keeping them in the garden

InvincibleInvisibility · 09/07/2023 14:25

Mine wears a collar as I don't want people to think he's a stray (like 50% of the cats here).

He used to have a tracker but the collar fell off too many times so we gave up.

We take the collar off at night cos he sleeps inside so he wears it 12 hours a day. Its a fast release one and comes off quite easily - Ive found it in our garden at least 3 times (so its fallen off about 6 times in 10 months...)

Original poster
Stickycurrantbun · 09/07/2023 14:54

I hadn't thought of using a collar temporarily, that is one compromise to consider. I've also considered trackers, but that necessitates a collar.

OP posts:
Jomummy1013 · 09/07/2023 17:30

Mine wear collars and I've not had an issue. They wear the quick release ones. X

InvincibleInvisibility · 09/07/2023 19:49

We got a tracker cos we lost him for 36 hours. Was awful (DC were devastated).

He lost the first tracker after 10 days (we knew where it was but absolutely couldn't get to it). Got 2nd tracker through insurance. He lost it again several weeks later. The neighbour gave it back (knew exactly where it was in their garden). Lost it again a couple of months later in an inaccessible place again....

It was useful because after losing him we were all reassured and knew where he was. It also allowed us to see where he goes (cats have a clear routine and he always went to the same places).

So now, although he no longer has a tracker, we know which direction he goes in at which time and shake the dreamies/call him in the right place 🤣

Fortunately he hated being lost and doesn't go far anymore... (🤞)

thecatneuterer · 12/07/2023 00:54

Here's an extract from an article I recently wrote for our local paper on the subject:

Collars tend to be used to signal that a cat is owned and not a stray. Sometimes they will include a message such as ‘don’t feed me’ if the cat is on a special diet or is just a greedy ‘six dinner Sid’. Sometimes they have a bell to warn wildlife. These advantages should though be carefully weighed against the very definite risks posed by collars. The only collars that should ever be used are the safety ones that pull apart easily to avoid choking, getting caught on branches etc and collar injuries. Our clinic still sees many horrific collar injuries where a cat has got its leg caught in the collar. Even safety collars can fail and spot-on flea treatments can fuse the plastic of the safety mechanism causing them to jam. As long as your cat is microchipped there is really very little point in using collars, and they can be counterproductive. If your cat becomes lost wearing a collar it will be ignored for much longer, and will have to be in a much worse condition before anyone tries to help it, than a cat without a collar.

ImInACage · 12/07/2023 01:02

Round here we don't seem to have a choice, there are too many people who see a cat without a collar and immediately take to the local Facebook group claiming that they've found a lost pet and asking for someone to come round with a trap and scanner, or they take it to a vet, completely stressing the cat out and pissing off the owners. Our cat lost his "do not feed" collar recently and despite having lived here for six years and been well known throughout our neighbourhood, some do gooder kept him in for three days, whilst loudly and repeatedly talking about what a good deed they were doing, all over said Facebook group. Once I'd seen the posts, I had to go and demand him back. He's on a special diet as he has a bit of a sensitive tum and she cost me hundreds in vets fees because he was vomiting her food up for days afterwards and ended up severely dehydrated. She was furious with me for letting him go outside, despite he fact that he always has done and normally pops home every hour or so.

ImInACage · 12/07/2023 01:04

I should add that his "rescuer" lives in the next road and well within his several years long established territory.

FormerlyPathologicallyHappy · 12/07/2023 07:06

It’s a no from me but my Bengal got his front leg caught in a snap release and he was very strong but couldn’t free himself.

CountryCatLady · 12/07/2023 09:40

I wouldn't. I had one on my cat when he was a kitten, still indoors. Came home from work one day to find it at the bottom of the stairs still fastened, luckily he had slipped it with no injury, but put me off in case he got caught on anything and didn't release.

Abput 15 years ago had another cat who would wear a collar, reflective one and a bell one because where we lived. Cou try road with no lights and fast cars, he was a huge ter. He just kept coming home without them. Don't know if he was taking them off himself or getting caught in things...

The idea of finding my cat has hung (hanged??) Himself on a branch or shrub or something is enough to put me off collars.

CountryCatLady · 12/07/2023 09:41

Should have said the one he slipped as a kitten was a quick release one. Yet it hadn't released.

YetMoreNewBeginnings · 12/07/2023 09:44

Mine wear a quick release collar. She loses them often, but without one she gets carted off to the vets and/or fed food that makes her have the worst stomach.

I had a choice between making her a miserable house cat (she had to stay in after an op and was properly miserable) or take the risk and let her out.

BarrelOfOtters · 12/07/2023 09:48

No collar, when they were kittens we put quick release ones on them and they just lost them all the time - we'd find them undone in the back lane. I think they just popped their paws in and popped them off.

Original poster
Stickycurrantbun · 13/07/2023 22:33

Thank you all for the replies. I can see the pros and cons.

thecatneuterer thanks for sharing the article content you wrote. Very insightful. I'm erring on the side of not using a collar.

ImInACage I'm sorry someone stole your cat for 3 days and then had a go at you! Some people!

OP posts:
OnTheBoardwalk · 13/07/2023 23:36

I've stopped putting a collar on mine for the hour or so they re out each day on the back of this thread

i do think it was worth it, but quite tight with a quick release collar, for the first couple of weeks whilst they were out first time but won’t risk it now

iloveeverykindofcat · 14/07/2023 05:33

My 2 have collars with a quick release, because they wear GPS trackers. Zara has triggered the quick release on hers a few times, probably getting it caught on something whilst jumping down off a wall. Neither of them mind at all.

mondaytosunday · 14/07/2023 07:13

I have collars on mine. They regularly lose them and I get a call about once a month saying they've been found and put on the gatepost for me to collect. I use them as with tags snd a bell the jungle so hope it will earn and prey.

Daisyhillsareblooming · 14/07/2023 07:17

My 6 month old kitten hung himself from a tree wearing an expensive quick release collar . I still can’t forgive myself about this he was absolutely gorgeous 😔

Original poster
Stickycurrantbun · 14/07/2023 12:58

Daisyhillsareblooming · 14/07/2023 07:17

My 6 month old kitten hung himself from a tree wearing an expensive quick release collar . I still can’t forgive myself about this he was absolutely gorgeous 😔

I'm so sorry this happened to you. Please don't blame yourself. You used the collar with good intentions, as many do, myself included in the past. 💔

OP posts:
Daisyhillsareblooming · 14/07/2023 13:06

I couldn’t believe it , worse part he had struggled to get it off and got his leg caught . I can bare to think about it several years later . His name was Monty .**

Collar or no collar?
ArcticBells · 14/07/2023 13:41

My cats have always worn collars with a small disc with my address/ number - a felt collar with an elastic insert.