Cat Collars????

Fridaycat

Many years ago, in the days before microchipping, and before I knew better, I used to put collars on my cats, but will not even consider doing so now! None of my 5 have ever had a collar and the eldest is 13, so it's at least that long ago since other cats of mine have worn them.

OK, there is a slight risk that your cat may be knocked down by a car and you are not informed if it has passed away. But this risk should be slight - any more than that and I would question why you would let your cat outside in the first place :eek:

The risks of your cat injuring themselves by wearing a collar are much greater - as others have said, they can get stuck in trees, get legs tangled up, and there is even a greater danger of theft.

Why? One of my first cats, Charlie, (RIP ) had a collar with his name & address inside a little tube thingy attached to the collar. He went missing for a couple of days, and at the time I lived on a housing estate. We walked around the area and heard meowing coming from a garage. We knocked on the owner's house to ask if we could look, and lo and behold, there was Charlie locked in the garage. The house/garage owner pretended to know nothing about it, but at some point in the conversation (I can't remember the exact words), he referred to Charlie by name. There was no way he would have known that if he had not undone the barrel thing and looked at his name.

adrenalin

mine didnt have collars but do now as one went missing and found out was 95%a cat that was hit by a car only cause i put posters up around village. Id known same day if was collared, other wise i dont like them at all but would rather get my cat back that wonder and feel ill through worry and have put up posters etc, shame cant be tagged some how aprt from inner chips haha

Mine was chipped and was usless as someone buried the cat id rather of it been taken to vet as rang everywhere in vein. Think id rather risk em being injured than go through that again not knowing. My area wasnt even a busy area it is cul de sac and where she was hit wasnt main road. She was smart too and aware i dont see how she would be hit she was only 2 but been out since a few months old.

aloise

The kids can probley catch the cat by his collar. Stopped putting them on mine for that reason. Little b******s were catching him and hurting him. If he is micro chipped he has a good chance of being found if he gets lost.

UKTigerlily

I always used to use collars until Oscar (RIP) got his caught around his lower jaw. Luckily the ex was there as I couldn't free him. Would never use one now & Oscar's Sister is still with me 9.5yrs later

gettingready

All mine have collars apart from Fred - as Fred always manages to get his tangled between his jaws.. for that reason he does not have one - he is just dumb.

The are all chipped too BUT if they do wander off/get lost I can not assume/expect someone will take them to vets to scan for a chip so that is why they have collars.

Nod_Off

If you do feel that your cat has to wear a collar, think about using one of the quick release ones.

A couple of months back, I was out with my dogs and saw a cat lying on the street at the side of my house. As I got closer, the cat tried to move away but kept staggering and falling over. I thought he had been hit by a car as we live on a busy road so put the dogs in the house and went out with a towel. The poor thing had the whole of his front leg caught in his collar I have no idea how long he was there but 4 people walked past him while I was approaching the house and did nothing :mad: I got his collar off and thought I would phone the owner to let them know but he didn't even have a collar tag. Hope the owner wasn't too ticked off at her cat coming home without his collar but knowing how many dogs get walked off lead around here, they were lucky he came home at all .

gettingready

That happened to one of mine too, no idea how he managed to do it but as you said above - his front leg went through the collar and he was hopping about, readjusted the collar (was too loose) and no problems since.

balletshoes

my cat does have a collar, and he does wear it. Its a quick release one, and its been off loads (and retrieved - the cat will even take it off himself and play with it, then bring it to me lol). I have no idea how he gets it off himself in the house!

I would only use quick release - and to be honest, if your cats collars are constantly going missing for whatever reason OP, I just wouldn't bother putting collars on the kitty.