Bells on collars

Abbafan1972

I bought my cat Jasper a collar yesterday. Once he's had his other lot of jabs on 21st May, I am going to introduce him to the back garden.

Put the collar on him and he had a big problem with the bell on it. He just kept running round the house like he was trying to run away from it, also he began hissing at it and also hissing at me when I tried to touch him (especially the collar), not to mention the Frontline treatment I gave him last night which caused to have a major paddy with me.

In the end I took the bell off and he seems allright with just the collar (although he's been scratching a bit). I don't really want him going outside without a collar at all, plus we have a magnetic catflap, so he'll need to wear the pendant thing.

Do you all cat owners have bells on the collars? My other cat Mia has a bell on hers and she couldn't care less!

Olokia

One of my cats was the same although she didn't like the collar or the bell. The first few times we put it on her, she managed to stretch it and then get it caught between her teeth keeping her mouth wide open which made her panic.

I slowly introduced her to both and now she doesn't care about it at all. I wanted her to have the bell to reduce the number of animals she catches. Although I don't think it is working as there is currently a blackbird in my garden that I need to work up the courage to remove.

My other cat didn't care at all

bagginslover

Both my cats were very nervous babies, and really didn't like bells either-they were fine with the magnet pendants for the cat flap though, so I think it was just the noise they objected to rather than the danglyness (I say were as we have a different flap now-the kitties are still with us )
I just took the bells off, cats will catch things, even with bells on.

rising_from_the_ashes

Personally, I would never put collars on my cats - they love climbing and it's very easy to get a twig or something stuck in the collar.

So, if you're going to use one, please use one of the "breakable" ones so that if they do get stuck on something they can get free.

I did try with my wee one when I 1st let her out (was thinking of the cat lead thing) but she went nuts so gave up!

manda1205

Agree with rising from the ashes^. My vet told me not to get a collar for our kitten, he said that a huge percentage of his cats brought in were because they had caught theyre collars and ripped into their neck.

bagginslover

Our cats only had collars as a neighbours Tom cat would come into our house and bully them, the only way we could stop him was to get a magnetic catflap for them. We actually spoke to his owner and they agreed not to get one for him too, as then he would have been able to get in again. So they had to have collars. When the bully cats owners moved, taking him with them, we swapped back to the old cat flap and took off the collars
They are both microchipped, so don't need collars for identification in case of straying

bacardi66

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Personally, I would never put collars on my cats - they love climbing and it's very easy to get a twig or something stuck in the collar.

So, if you're going to use one, please use one of the "breakable" ones so that if they do get stuck on something they can get free.

I did try with my wee one when I 1st let her out (was thinking of the cat lead thing) but she went nuts so gave up!

I would definitely agree with this - when I was young we had a cat who nearly hung herself wearing a collar and another who got his lower jaw stuck under the collar as he was so distressed by it.

My cats have never worn collars but I had them microchipped in case they were in an accident or got lost. As for wearing bells I remember reading an article that is distressing for a cat and to imagine how annoying it would be if you had to wear a bell round your neck every day of your life! I know its horrible when cats kill birds but cats I know with bells on their collars still manage to hunt successfully!

*doodle*_2

Mine have a collar but I took the bells of because the constant jingle jangle was doing my head in. I wouldn't mind but when I saw my girl stalking a fly without the bell ringing once I realised how utterly pointless they are. I only buy clasp collars so that they ping open when they get caught on a bramble.

Gloomendoom

I put a collar on mine but it drove him mad. He clawed his neck raw trying to get it off. I thought he might get used to it but by the next day it had just vanished.

I didn't really like the idea anyway as he was a bit of a climber. It did mean the magnetic cat flap was a bit of a waste of money though. In the end I set it to out only and he had to knock when he wanted to come in.

My sister has a cat flap that is activated by her cats' microchips. Expensive but very effective.

Olokia

I need collars on both of mine because we bought an expensive catflap that works with RFID tags which is better than magnetic because another cat with a magnetic collar can still get in the house but rfid is unique.

I used collars with a stretchy breakable part to it in case it gets caught on a tree and also its reflective so hopefully a car will be able to see her at night if she is in the way.

I also like having the bell so when she is moving about the house, I know where she is and she doesn't seem to care about it any more.

peachyprice

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

In the end I took the bell off and he seems allright with just the collar (although he's been scratching a bit). I don't really want him going outside without a collar at all, plus we have a magnetic catflap, so he'll need to wear the pendant thing.

Once you attach the magnet the bell will stop ringing anyway as it will stick to the magnet, along with kitchen utensils, cutlery rusty nails etc etc.

One of my girlies drinks from the kitchen sink where the children (who find it too far to reach across to the dishwasher) will leave the odd piece of cultery, consequently poor Sooty often runs around with either a knife, fork, spoon, and even a whisk attached to her magnet until I can catch her.