What are your thought's on..........

[filardimarg-9]

Collar's.......I bought one for Bella but as yet haven't put it on her. It is an all elastic collar.

Marg.

[booktigger]

If you are going to use a collar, please make sure it is a safety collar, not elastic

[Ruth B]

They have their place, and well fitted they can be a good way of showing that the cat isn't a stray. You do need to make sure that the clip is a proper quick release one so if they get it caught it will just unfasten, purely elastic collars aren't good enough and can actually be harmful to a cat. I've seen pictures of injuries caused when the cat managed to get one of the front paws through the collar and it rubbed the poor animal raw under the armpit. The location also meant that it was a very difficult wound to get to heal properly. A proper fast release collar wouldn't let that type of injury happen.

I will however admit that I stopped using collars when I got the Ragdoll, I just couldn't ruin his ruff by putting a collar line around it. Where a collar fits, even when properly fitted, there will develope a parting in the fur, his fur was so luxurious i couldn't do that to him. He was therefore the first cat I had microchipped, in an era when microchipping was still rare, I just hoped that his looks would mean that someone did think to check for a chip. Now a days all of mine are chipped and the collars are consigned to history and fortunately checking for chips is almost routine when it comes to possible strays.

[MarySkater]

There may be reasons for collars, eg a cat which needs a special diet but is allowed to free-roam; the owner may want to put a "please don't feed" tab on a collar, to warn "helpful" people that they are not doing it any favours if they offer it food. There was a time when selective cat flaps needed the cat to wear a collar with a coded magnetic key. But nowadays microchips can replace collars for most purposes, and I wouldn't put a collar on a cat.

[Lilith]

Personally I hate them because I don't like to see something as free as a cat trussed up with a strip of velvet or plastic round its neck 24/7 but I definitely agree that a roaming cat should wear one to proclaim it's an owned pet and not a stray, and I agree with the safety collars too.

When my cats roamed they wore collars but I always took the bells off after Emily tried on her first one. She was so scared by the bell that she ran under the bed and messed herself. She did look very sweet in a pink collar, being a ginger, but I was glad to take their collars off when I secured the garden - and my old tomcat actually had a bald ring; his fur never grew back.

I once thought to make my own collars using ribbon sewn together in a tube and lined with elastic ... my Tess modelled the first; she was a beautiful dark tortie tux and the collar was a fetching turquoise with a brown leopard print, very effective. With one contemptuous kick of a back paw, Tess sent the thing over her ear and ended up wearing it like a shower cap. Thus ended our experience with elasticated collars.

So, pros and cons really.

How's the lass doing after her dental? Pleased to be home I bet

[bobbys girl]

I did try collars on Purdy and Gracie but they kept coming back without them. I still occasionally find one when I'm digging in the garden.

Just the thought of trying to put one on Willow makes the blood run cold.

Don't bother these days.

[filardimarg-9]

Thanks for the advice, I will bin the collar, I don't want Bella to have a "parting" round her neck, I never thought of that happening & it would because she is long furred.

She is doing really well after her op, I have only seen 1 tooth as I don't want to annoy or hurt her but it is a lovely clean tooth, she is still on pain/anti inflammatory meds till tomorrow night but it is so easy to give them to her, my only regret so far is she still prefers to stay up stairs, shall I just leave her to it or start to move her food gradually down stairs, so she has to come down at times? She is such an easy little cat, loves to be groomed, eats anything I give her, has a great temperament, I couldn't of asked for a better puss.

Marg.

[Lilith]

I'd let her decide. Emily was very subdued after parting with her kittens and then spaying (too soon in my opinion but the CP were in charge of her) and lay on the bed for weeks ... then she enjoyed a toy mouse to play with ... then she took to galloping into the bathroom and 'tobogganing' on the bathmat and soon she was as adventurous as anyone. Bella has the rest of her life ahead with you - and it's very true about how curious cats are - too damn curious imo! She'll start to explore soon enough

So glad she's recovering well - yes, if she's to be a housecat for a while yet she won't need a collar just now, if ever. Depends on the area you live in too; this is a very built-up area and my cats were known to be ferals ... grumbles about calling out the RSPCA to shoot them from some neighbours, so I needed to make it plain that they were now owned. If, as others have said, a cat's microchipped and lives in a friendlier, more rural area, there may not be a need for a collar even if it roams.

Fusses to Bella

[Marla]

I sell cat collars, so I don't usually get involved in discussions like this. But I've decided to post my point of view this time.

Because we advertise on Cat Chat's rehoming pages, we get a lot of calls from people who think we're a rescue. You wouldn't believe the number of calls we get from people who say that a "stray" has shown up at their house or they adopted a stray a few years ago, but now they're moving and can't take it with them. I ask if they've checked for a microchip and often they say "What's that?" Very rarely can I convince someone to get a cat checked for a chip. Plus then they need a pet carrier and transport, and not everyone has those. One person asked me if it would be ok to wrap the cat in a towel and take in on a bus - I'm not joking.

Rescues are usually too busy to come out to check for a chip. One person I spoke with called the RSPCA who sent an inspector out, but he refused to check for a chip because the cat looked healthy! Rescues are full, so sometimes the cat just gets left behind. That could be someone's lost cat!

I've had 5 cats, 3 of which were long-haired, and only one of them got a flattened area of fur from his collar. But I wasn't worried about how he looked. If one of my cats gets lost, I want to make sure that anyone finding them can call me. In my opinion, a quick-release cat collar with my phone number on it plus a microchip as backup is the best way of doing that.

[Judy Barnett]

Georgia wouldn't have a collar on from day one. We bought her three and she just ripped them off. Yowlee on the other hand felt naked without one and would stand perfectly still while any new collar was being adjusted. They were both microchipped anyway, but my stepdaughter has her dog microchipped with a collar stating this which I think is a good idea.

[Kay]

my neighbour has a new black cat, a teenager, who loves climbing my trees - they are not huge and keeps him away from the road, but I am a bit concerned that he could get his collar caught on a branch if he fell

I don't know if it's a quick release one, so am wondering if I should say something

[bobbys girl]

Better safe than sorry Kay! I'm sure a caring owner would understand.

[Rosella]

We currently have 7 cats. I've had differing success with getting them to wear collars and currently only 3 wear Ancol reflective breakaway collars (all older gals oddly)

The 2 newbies (girl and boy aged almost 1 year) just kick them off, 1 boy developed a rash around his neck from a different brand about 6 years ago (quite sensitive skin) and 1 ..... well .... sooner you than me try putting a collar on our bucking bronco (groucho)

ALL ARE MICROCHIPPED. I wouldn't dream of not microchipping our gorgeous crew in case they got lost or had an accident whilst out of the house.

[Aruna]

I think the Cons outway the Pros when it comes to collars. Yes something like "Please don't feed" or just your adress to return the cat safely are really great to have and give so much sense of security! I lost my Black Cat Oliver once and after searching for 6 days, it turned out that one of my neighbours had her (not direct neighbours, but close to me). 6 days of nosleep and panic and all could have been avoided with a simple collar that said that he wasn't a stray cat and that we lived together! But in the end, cats are free-minded and I think they should be free. A collar on such a beautiful animal...I don't know I think I couldn't do it in the end. I would keep on thinking about somebody putting a collar on my neck...

[mr_frisky]

If the cat will wear one, they soon get used to it.

Some of my cats have been able to wear collars, and I used to selotape a Loc8tor Plus tag onto it, so I could always track them when they went out. The collar came off at night.