Bell on cats collars. Cruel or not?

chocolatelover93

My cat that I had that passed never wore a collar (until we moved into a town, I got him a flea collar)

The two cats I have now have had a couple of collars (including £5 flea ones!!) that they somehow seem to loose!! Most collars I get them they loose or they will loose the bell or the tag with their name on.

They are both microchipped so that makes me feel better.

My mums cat has a collar with a bell on and he doesn't seem to be bothered at all by it. I think it all depends on the cat, some don't like them, some don't mind

mttylad

Bells are no use for preventing them hunting, they have learnt to stalk mice etc on only 3 paws with the 4th holding the bell.

Pechow

Forget bells, check these out :

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/scrunchies-saving-native-wildlife-cats

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-20/scrunchies-prevent-wildlife-death-study-finds/6337222

happysaz133

Personally mine don't wear collars because they just lose them anyway. But I think bells on collars are quite cruel. It's different if a cat is used to it from a very young age I suppose, but as mine have all been adults, I wouldn't do it. The bell drives me mad and its nowhere near my ear!

My cats only catch mice, no birds, but even then, its very few. They like their food to come to them in a bowl!

Rambosmum

Our cats don't wear collars, all three are chipped. Our very athletic cat hung himself on a tree branch with his supposed 'quick release' collar about 2 hours after we put it on. Luckily I'd been watching him climb the tree and so could rescue him. All the collars went in the bin after that. I don't think bells are cruel, but they are pointless and irritating.

Lilyjade

I've been told that bells teach cats to be better hunters. Also I know how I would feel if I had a bell ringing in my ear every time I moved, so I would never put one on my cats.

calicocat

Interesting thought.

To be honest I had never thought about the bell doing their heads in....but it is a fair point.

Apart from my current ball of asbo-loveliness I haven't had bells on them. However with this one I do..(or have).....and thinking about it, i'm not sure how that happened...?!

She doesn't appear to mind the bell to be fair, and it doesn't stop her hunting for food, as she just doesn't do that. It doesn't seem to have a detrimental effect on the kitchen door opening, or the bag or pouch being opened....:D. It does help me find her when she's ruddy hiding at times though, and let's me know when she's outside so I don't shut the door on her.

If I had a bell shoved around my neck, it would really annoy me though.

Currently, the collar is on the bedroom floor, and has been for around 3 weeks now. She refuses to have it back on....:)

So, I guess we'll see what happens with that. I am thinking about the whole bell thing though now to be honest.....:rotfl:

balletshoes

i must be weird because i really like little tinkly bells, i have an anklechain with a little bell on .

dollywops

Tropez wrote: »

A bell on a cat's collar will just make it a more effective hunter, as it will learn to move without rattling the bell until it is too late for whatever prey it has in its sights.

So that's why Benji is so good at catching mice, and I just thought the mice in our area were deaf!

fierystormcloud

Update: I have taken the bells of my cats collars. They drive me and DH mad to be honest, so I took them off. And yes, I do wonder if it annoys them.

When I jangled the bell in front of them a week after I took the bells off, they both ran. This suggests to me that they are happy they are off, and do NOT want them back on.