Cat Collar with bell

Silvertabby

Haven't bothered with bell collars since putting one on our kitten. She shook her head, and the noise of the bell frightened her so much she did a complete backwards flip!

She's an old lady now, but she never was much of a hunter.

pinkteapot

Well done for collaring your cat. I'm a cat lover but also a bird lover and bells do significantly reduce the number of birds killed by cats.

Re the dangers of collars you read about, the most important way to keep your cat safe is to correctly fit the collar. Most are far too loose. Once on, you should only just be able to get two fingers under the collar. Unless your cat is very short-haired, their collar will look tight - but that's how it's meant to look. When correctly fitted it's very unlikely the cat will get their leg or jaw stuck in it.

Collars are also good if kitty wanders off - quicker for people to identify where they should be via the tag than by taking them to a vet to be scanned.

sheramber

An elastic collar is snagged on something and is stretched out as the cat tries to pull away. The cat tries to paw the collar off and its paw gets caught in the gap. The collar has been pawed off teh snag but the paw is caught.

silverwhistle

Lilyjade wrote: »

Apparently bells can make cats better hunters, as they learn to move without the bell making a noise!

Also can you imagine how you would feel if a bell rang near your ears every time you moved, and cats have much better hearing than us.

Put one on each rear leg. You can hear the local morris men coming from a considerable distance...

Lilyjade

KxMx wrote: »

Bit of a contradiction there, you say Cats learn to hunt without ringing the bell, but that it rings every time they move!

If a cat is unduly distressed with a belled collar then of course the owner shouldn't persist.

But the majority of cats are not bothered by them, and it's a sensible option for cats who go outside, to help protect wildlife.

No one has claimed a 100% success rate either.

Yes I know it sounds odd, but there are reports that it's while they hunt that they move more slowly and carefully to avoid the bell sounding. When they are playing, ambling around, snoozing, stretching etc they won't be concentrating on the bell being silent.

Cats are funny little things and all different. One of my friends cats hunts everything she can (and she has a never ending source of cat food considering she is a domestic pet cat living at cat sanctuary with loads of free roaming ferals). One of her other cats never hunts, but after playing with a feathered flying toy, he went out and caught himself a bird, returned home and placed it on the feathered toy. He wanted the toy to start moving again. Toy was banned and no more dead birds caught by him!

I hate the thought of cats catching and killing anything so anything that works, without hurting the kitty is good news.

GwylimT

martinthebandit wrote: »

https://www.woodenart.org.uk/bespoke-outdoor-cat-run-cat-enclosure-cat-pen-bespokecatrun-woodenart

You could always do wildlife a favour

Our cats only outside access is via a cat proofed garden to the side of the property or a cat run to the back of the property accesse via a walkway from the utility room window. She regularly catches birds, mice, frogs and bats.