Kittens - collar or no collar?

[Geila]

Hey all,
I just adopted three beautiful kittens from our local animal shelter. They are such sweeties - loving, playful and very well-socialized and litter box trained. They were at the shelter a long time because they are all black, and black pets have a much harder time getting adopted, poor things.

They are currently allowed free access to the house, garage and backyard. By far, their favorite place is the backyard. They're in heaven out there, climbing over rocks, onto chairs, stalking each other through the grass and shrubs, etc. I imagine that part of it is from being caged for so long. They get along really well with my dogs too.

My dilemma is whether I should have them wear a collar with a tag. They love to explore and climb everything, and I'm worried that the collar might get caught and they will get hurt. They are 2-3 months old and still learning how to climb and jump. On the other hand, if they wander off, I want them to be able to be identified and returned home.

I realize that many people believe that cats should be kept indoors - I am not one of those people. Growing up our cats always had access to the outdoors and I want these ones to have access as well. They love being outside.

For those of you who have kittens or cats, and specially if you allow them access to the outdoors, do you recommend collar or no collar?

[Float On]

I leave the collar off since my cat is outdoors. I had a cat once that had a collar and got hung up on a fence. I found him while out riding. He'd tried everything he could to get off the fence and was left without a voice.
Even my dog, I only put the collar on when I'm going to take him for a walk.
We do live outside city limits and our county codes are a little more relaxed.

3 black kitties sound so cute. Have you named them yet?

[iris lilies]

No collar. But I hear that breakaway collars are a possibility but I don't know how well they work.

but be sure to chip them. If they end up in an animal,shelter you want them traced to you.

[iris lilies]

Not cats, but--

It annoys me that people do not tag their dogs. Sure a chip is fine but that's the end of the line. A dog with a collar and tag that reads a phone number or address can be quickly returned. If that info is not readily available, it's more time consuming and complex to find contact info.

There are a fair number of dogs on the loose here. Usually you can tell by condition or appearance (breed is non-pit bull) that the dog has a home, but WHERE is that home? Last year I nabbed a Weiner dog on the loose and put out a notice on our neighborhood chat list. I was very surprised to see my neighbor a few doors up walking around the block, apparently looking for something. It was her dog and I didn't even know she HAD a dog.


i say that and I've got a dog who,doesn't even wear a collar, but that is due to his skin problem.

[Geila]

I leave the collar off since my cat is outdoors. I had a cat once that had a collar and got hung up on a fence. I found him while out riding. He'd tried everything he could to get off the fence and was left without a voice.
Even my dog, I only put the collar on when I'm going to take him for a walk.
We do live outside city limits and our county codes are a little more relaxed.

3 black kitties sound so cute. Have you named them yet?

Hi Float,
How terrible for your cat. That's exactly what I'm worried about.

They are named Jenny, Joey and Jimmy. Except that the boys are brothers and they both respond to Joey and they look almost identical! They are black with white mittens and feet, and a bit of white on the tummy and chin. So we call them Bold Joey and Shy Joey :). Jenny was all by herself, crying her little heart out in her cage and I couldn't bear to leave her there. She is all black with big green eyes, and is a fearless little thing. When she first met my dogs, she went right up them, nose to nose, and introduced herself - even to the boxer. In no time, she was playing with them.

They are so much fun. Bold Joey has decided that my little poodle mix is meant to be his new best friend and keeps rubbing himself against him. They are all so sweet.

[Geila]

Not cats, but--

It annoys me that people do not tag their dogs. Sure a chip is fine but that's the end of the line. A dog with a collar and tag that reads a phone number or address can be quickly returned. If that info is not readily available, it's more time consuming and complex to find contact info.

There are a fair number of dogs on the loose here. Usually you can tell by condition or appearance (breed is non-pit bull) that the dog has a home, but WHERE is that home? Last year I nabbed a Weiner dog on the loose and put out a notice on our neighborhood chat list. I was very surprised to see my neighbor a few doors up walking around the block, apparently looking for something. It was her dog and I didn't even know she HAD a dog.


i say that and I've got a dog who,doesn't even wear a collar, but that is due to his skin problem.

Yes, they are all chipped. Our city shelter does an amazing job. When you adopt, the animal is chipped, vaccinated, spayed/neutered, everything.

My concern is that many people would not take the trouble to return an animal to the shelter. But if the animal has a tag, they would likely take the time to keep the animal safe and call the owner.

My previous dog was wild in his youth and several times we got calls from people saying that they had him - our local school and church were some of his destinations. So I always have collars and tags on my dogs just in case.

Regarding the breakaway collars - I'm not sure either how they work. I tried to clip then open at the store and couldn't do it. I have no idea how they work, but they seem hard to open, to me anyway.

[Dhiana]

What about a harness? That's what I used on my cat, it had a D-ring for a tag also.

[Geila]

What about a harness? That's what I used on my cat, it had a D-ring for a tag also.

Hmmm... never thought of that. Would the harness not have the same chocking hazards?

[iris lilies]

My gut instinct is a big NO to the harness.

[Miss Cellane]

The breakaway collars take a certain amount of force to pop open--when a cat is snagged and twisting and pulling to get away, it will open. And you will probably lose both collar and tags when that happens.

A harness might not strangle the cat, but it does offer a lot more room for a cat to get snagged on twigs and branches.

[TVRodriguez]

My concern is that many people would not take the trouble to return an animal to the shelter. But if the animal has a tag, they would likely take the time to keep the animal safe and call the owner.


I am one of those people. We have LOTS of stray cats in my area. Seriously, way too many. They have become a public nuisance, and the county started letting people bring in stray cats to have them spayed or neutered and then returned to the owner or released into state parks. We did that several times. The strays, who were not vaccinated, were using parts of our yard as their toilets. Our kids, who played in our yard (which is fenced, not that it matters to cats), got hookworms from the cat feces in the yard ($300 in medications to clear that up, not to mention weeks of horrible itching before we could figure out what was going on). We did what we could to deter the cats -- sound alarms, fox urine sprays, motion sensor lights at night -- and they kept coming. So we started to bring them to the county, not knowing which were stray and which were clean and vaccinated. If they had a collar, we could return them to their owners. None of them had collars. If the owner had not chipped them, the county could not return them to the owner and instead released them to designated state parks.

So I say, collar the cats.

[Kestra]

I vote for cheap breakaway collars and tags. I had one cat that constantly was losing or removing his collar. I'd buy them ten at a time and pop one back on him as soon as he came in with it missing.

A collar saved my cat's life:
I had my cats at the vet clinic (not near my home) and I screwed up and didn't check the carrier door. The handle popped off, the carrier hit the ground and the door popped open. Both cats bolted into the night. I managed to retrieve one of them. But the other was a super timid cat and I wasn't able to find her. The next day I came back and posted signs all over the neighbourhood. This was a cat who probably wouldn't even let me catch her in the wild, let alone anyone else, so microchips and tattoos wouldn't do any good. But she was wearing a collar and tag. After a couple weeks I got a call from people who were feeding stray cats and they thought they saw my cat, based on my collar description. Otherwise she'd just be a brown cat - nothing to distinguish her from the strays. I rented a cat trap and they set it up in their yard. This was October/November in Winnipeg, so it was getting cold and snowy. 3 weeks after I lost her the city called and said I had to return my cat trap that day as it was getting too cold to trap cats. An hour later the people with the trap called and told me they thought they had my cat trapped.
Indeed they did.

Without that collar my mostly indoor, really shy cat would have likely frozen to death. With it I got her back. Yes, there's a slight chance of strangulation, but I feel it's minimal with the breakaway collars. And the chance of being unidentifiable without a collar is much higher.

[Teacher Terry]

I am sorry to be blunt but it doesn't really matter. Either the collar will strangle them, a dog or other animal will get them, cat fights, they will get run over by a car, etc.
they are 2 year olds who need to be taken care of.

[Gardnr]

No collar for those very safety reasons. Chip them so you can locate them if they decide to run away from home when they are teenagers:~)

[chrissieq]

I used a breakaway collar for a cat who was always jumping the fence - found the collar more than one on the fence. Now she is jumping fences in kitty heaven! Our current cat, who grew up with her, never leaves the backyard - and if he has managed to get out the front door, cries until we come get him.

[TVRodriguez]

A neighbor of ours made a sort of large caged area in her yard for her cats to play without getting out (and without letting in the many many strays). It's an interesting idea that she seems to feel gives her cats the outdoor time while keeping them safe from the types of things that Teacher Terry mentioned.

[Geila]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! It looks like the advice is about evenly split between no collar and breakaway collar. It's a tough one. There's a danger no matter which way you go.

I'll go and check out the breakaway collars again. This time I'll ask the store staff to show me how they work! :)

[Geila]

A neighbor of ours made a sort of large caged area in her yard for her cats to play without getting out (and without letting in the many many strays). It's an interesting idea that she seems to feel gives her cats the outdoor time while keeping them safe from the types of things that Teacher Terry mentioned.

We have a small yard, so an enclosure would be tough at this point. I've seen them though, they look pretty cool - almost like a 4-season screened porch. So far things are working out pretty well, they play with each other a lot and they enjoy watching the dogs play together. They also come in the house to cuddle and explore.

[pony mom]

When my long ago cat was living mostly outdoors, she had a stretchy collar on all the time. When she became strictly indoor, she went without. Back when flea collars were popular, my dad thought he was doing her a favor by keeping it a bit loose, but she got her lower jaw stuck under it and we had a hard time freeing her.

[Geila]

Went to the pet store and found some stretchy collars that might me a good compromise. They have a good amount of stretch to them.
I tried out the breakaways and I'm not 100% sold. I'll see how these work out for a few weeks.

[pcooley]

I often think that a straight jacket would be more effective than a collar on our cats, particular the young one, who likes to climb around on the window screen at night when we're trying to sleep.

Edited to add: they're strictly indoor cats, though there are some nights I wish they weren't.

[kib]

I use break away collars, and I write their name and my phone number on them with a sharpie. I've lost too many $6 engraved tags. The breakaways will come off sometimes when the cats are even playing with each other, so they definitely will pop in an emergency.

Back in the innocent days when i thought I'd put a harness on Connor and let him run the clothesline, I got him all buckled in, he gave me a very long look, and toppled over, refusing to move. Now he's an indoor cat.

[Geila]

@pcooley: Yes, they are very active at night!:) Picture 3 little black kitties chasing each other all over the family room - so many cool places to climb onto, over, under....

And for some reason, they had decided that their nighttime litter box was a sandbox for playtime. So, they have now been relegated to the garage at night. Just as many cool things to explore, but no keeping us awake and no possible destruction of couch, curtains, and screens. We just made sure that everything was safe, and they've been happy in there. In the morning I sweep out the litter that went flying in the night. I also got them a tall box for night, which is helping.

@kib: You know, I was watching them yesterday climbing under things that seemed impossible for them to fit under - tv stand, couch, behind couch, BBQ GRILL! And I decided I didn't want to take the chance of them getting stuck. They're so young, that they'll try anything right now. Maybe when they're older and more skilled at survival.

So far they have not ventured beyond the yard at all. They play together, eat together, sleep together, and hopefully that will keep them happy staying close by.