Cat collars yes or no?

[LiveLifeToTheFull2]

Do you have collars on your cats?
Yes or no?
I'm undecided whether to put them on our 6 month old kittens before we let them outside 🥴
Pros - People can recognise that they have a home and are loved
Cons - Worried about them getting hooked up

I would get the easy quick release ones if I was to go for collars but I'm not actually sure if they work and are indeed safe because they are quick release?

No. They are dangerous and how would you like to go round with something tied round your neck 24/7?

I also use Tractives. My cats have never been bothered by wearing them and it gives me peace of mind. I am ND and I don't think I would be able to think about anything else if I didn't know where my cats were.

whats tracactives? is it as it appears to be a tracking device? i shall google

No. I wouldn't want a collar and bell around my neck and I reckon my cat wouldn't either. Plus they can get into accidents.

Yes, it is a gps tracker so you can see where they are and where they have been. Also has a radar tracker for when they are close by. We used it to find our cat that had got trapped places in the house!
It also measures their steps and sleep which is interesting!

Ive had a google it looks great, a bit bulky.. do you cats mind the size? i only ask as i have a ginger tom who likes to roam. he can be gone days and weeks, at christmas he wandered off for 5 weeks, i was at the point of cancelling his pet plans etc and he wandered in as if nothing had happened. we've given up worryabout him when we dont see him, he always returns relatively clean and fed but im curious where he actually gets too.

I've never put collars on my cats since I found one of mine hog tied and helpless on my doorstep. Thank God I wasn't working that day.it was a quick release collar and he'd put his front and back feet under the collar in an attempt to get it off.
My cats are chipped.

My cats are Maine coons so on the larger side but they’re not bothered by them. I take them off when they come in though so don’t get 24 hr stats. Our previous moggy also wore one after going missing and didn’t seem to object.

I always used to put collars on my cats, until on got caught round his jaw. Fortunately it happened while we were at home, but could have led to a nasty injury if he'd been left.
Cats are notorious for getting into predicaments, and putting a band around their windpipe...well it ain't worth the risk.

I have a black cat who
Crosses the road every day so had to put a reflective collar on him - easy release ... so far he's managed a week max with the collar ... on the whole I really don't like collars for cats though

We have collars on our house cats, because we have 3 lilac point Siamese who all look the same, and 2 Havana browns who are also identical 🤦‍♀️

Our older cats who go outside don't have collars, although we are letting the eldest lilac out a bit with a Tractive tracker.

It gives me peace of mind - we are on quite a busy road and I need to know that she is staying well away.

I'm still very anxious the whole time she is outside, but she totally loves going out so I'm trying to calm down a bit.

1/4 of mine does, a reflective one with my name, number and a tracker on her. The day she went to the supermarket across 2 busy roads was the day that sealed her fate. She appears completely unbothered by it and I am a lot less worried about her wandering ways.

Yes to collars. People like to imagine cats without collars are strays, so they take them to the vet/animal shelter or start feeding them themselves, perhaps unofficially adopt them. And you can put a tag on with your number, or a 'do not feed me' warning to over-friendly neighbours.

Plus the cat behind me is collarless and murders a lot of birds. Not all cats do, none of mine have ever been caught red-handed, but some are hunters. Putting a bell on the cat would give the birds fair warning to fly off.

Get one with reflective areas so your cat is more visible in the dark, perhaps less like to be a road casualty.

The brand I hear recommended as safest and most reliable are Rogz.

our older cat is seriously fluffy and so fur just gets wrapped/matted around the collar, so no he doesn't have one.

he is now getting old, and a bit bony. He likes to sit outside and refuses to use the cat flap that he used for 10 ten years. he is very friendly and I am sure someone is going to take him thinking he is a stray.

he is microchipped. He is always close to our house, so I might put a sign in our window.

young cat is a monkey, gets into everything. he woudl get himself strangled

Big No! I found a cat hanging in my apple tree by it's collar...it was a release one.. but hadn't worked..😪

My cat has any collar off in about 10 seconds. Had him 12 years with no collar and no bother. He is chipped of course and we have a chip reading flap so I know it's still there.

No for me, due to danger.

We have always put quick release collars on our cats and have never had a problem with them - except that they sometimes lose them. We used collars so they could wear an ID disk and subsequently a tracker (the type that is now called TabCat).

Most of our cats now have an enclosed garden and don't roam, so no collar needed. But the oldest one still roams and wears a collar & tracker.

They are all microchipped.

Never, ever, ever put a collar on a cat. I found a cat once that had died a horrible death after getting stuck going through a hedge. Cats don't try to back-up, they just keep pushing.

On another occasion a friend had seen a cat that had got its front leg right through the collar and it took us 6 weeks to catch him. We eventually got him to go in the trap using fresh prawns as bait, (this was after using sardines, tuna and a variety of tasty and smelly cat treats). We probably spent £20-£30 just trying to trap him. The collar had cut right through the skin and into the muscle. The injury went right round his leg except for about an inch at the top. It took a 3 hour operation and several hundred pounds to fix him, (this is why we never had any money). He was lucky but others either die from their wounds or have their legs amputated.

There is no benefit to a collar on a cat. The fixed, or even elasticated, ones are killers and the snap-off style do just that. It is now a legal requirement to have all cats microchipped anyway so if they go missing for any reason and are found a vet will easily reunite you, but always make sure you keep the details up to date because some companies only keep them on file for a certain number of years.

If your cat does go missing put posters on lamp-posts, and on notice boards in local shops and vets. Also use your local what-app and facebook groups.

If your kitten hasn't been outside yet you could try it as a housecat. Many cats like to just be indoors and at least you know it is safe. If they don't show any interest in going out I wouldn't push it.