Beastie Band cat collars? General advise about collars?

yellowdog

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Two of my indoor cats escaped through a window screen this past weekend  (my one cat rips the screens and then goes out - he comes back in through the same screen that's now ripped).  Anyway, one came back and one didn't.  Neither one had collars nor are they micro-chipped.  I decided that if I ever found the missing cat that I would get them both collared and chipped.  I don't trust collars though.  I remembered that years ago I had a cat that I had to feed through it's stomach with a feeding tube.  The vet had me buy a small harness (to fit the cat) and on the back/neck of the harness is the ring where you can attach the leash.  Well, that is where the feeding tube was secured - from his stomach through the ring at which there was a device that closed and opened the feeding tube for feeding also preventing the tube from falling out of the ring.  He loved it!  anyway, why not use a harness and attach the ID tags to that ring rather than a collar!  the harness is much more likely NOT to come off and it does not restrict their neck.  Also, you would be prepared to attach a leash and take the cat out for a walk if you wanted!  By the way, the missing cat DID show up in my neighbors yard meowing when I called his name.  I have now talked myself into finding harnesses to fit the cats - which I will keep on them at all times providing of course that they will tolerate them.  If not, then I will definitely micro-chip the cats at least.
 

mazie

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Katy wears a collar that is a "break away" style but only because she does like to go outside.  I like the fact that any collars I have her wear are "reflective", God forbid she be outside after dark, and since she does like to go out, I like her to be distinguishable from the other black "ferals" in the neighborhood.  I always tell my neighbors that if you see a black  cat with a collar, green color  in particular, that is not a feral but my cat. 
 
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catpack

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Y yellowdog While a harness is great for use walking cats, it is not suggested for use on cats that are outside unsupervised as the harness is much more likely to get hung on an object and the cat wouldn't be able to free itself. This could be potentially catastrophic.

This is why breakaway collars were invented. My cats are indoors-only, but I much prefer the Beastie Bands as they will slide off in the event they get hung/caught on something.
 

yellowdog

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Yes, but my cats are NOT outdoor cats - I do not willingly let them out.  I gave up on the breakaway and every other collar because EVERY day when I got home from work, the collar was no longer on the cat.  He has it off within hours of me putting it on him.  He has "escaped" my house three times.  He slices through the screen with his claws and jumps out the window.  I no longer can open my windows any more than about 2-3 inches because he tries to squeeze through the window.  I sat and watched him one day in amazement... he first tried squeezing through head first - that did not work; he then got on his back and tried to wiggle through but he is a little too large for that to work.  He then stood on his hind legs and reached out over his head and (I kid you not) ran his paws around the whole window frame looking for any possible way out.  The cat is very intelligent and I worry he will find a way out!  I am slowly replacing my windows with double hung so I can let more air in through the top but now am concerned because I caught him hanging from the top window that was down trying to hoist himself up so he could get out!  I removed him from the window and shut it.  If and when he gets out again, he most likely will have long since removed his collar, which makes a collar totally useless in his case.  At least with the harness, he will not choke himself if it gets caught on something and it is something I can attach his ID tags to. And as you mentioned, the harness will be great for walking him or at least getting him out of the house supervised.  (I am Not talking about a harness that wraps around the neck - this is strictly the kind that goes down around and down the chest around the front legs and then buckled on the back (I use the larger version for my yellow lab who pulls). 
 

yellowdog

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P.S.  I am not familiar with Beastie Bands - I will try and locate them and see if they might work on him.
 

yellowdog

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Okay, I couldn't find these Beastie Bands at any pet store I'm familiar with.  I went to their website and found only ONE place in the whole state of MN that carries them and they're 65 miles away from Mpls.(where I live)!!    Maybe I can find them on Ebay or Amazon.... why are they so hard to come by!?
 

catpack

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Okay, I couldn't find these Beastie Bands at any pet store I'm familiar with.  I went to their website and found only ONE place in the whole state of MN that carries them and they're 65 miles away from Mpls.(where I live)!!    Maybe I can find them on Ebay or Amazon.... why are they so hard to come by!?
They mostly sell online. Check out http://RobbinsPetCare.com
 
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crazy4strays

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I will check that link out. I've put off buying anymore, because they're just way too expensive on Amazon. 
 

sargon

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Unless it is expensive to ship and prime, most stuff will probably cost a little more on Amazon and Ebay, because they both take a pretty big cut (generally 15%).   Robbins is reasonable on shipping  ($2.86) (mostly because they actually will allow you to use usps first class as an option, which a lot of places won't, because they are locked into fedex or ups).

I sell the collars as well and you can check my selection and  prices out in the marketplace forum, if you're curious.
 

Dacatchair

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I live with 2 active Savannah cats, F6 and F7, the type that are only very distantly related to Servals... so they are regular sized and not especially athletic...

The past month they have both had daytime access to about 1/3 of an acre which is surrounded by a cat proof fence and contains a small orchard and a lot of wild over grown areas as well. And they are only out if I am home. I have been slow to allow them out in this area, and at first it was only on a leash I was holding, then wearing a walking jacket dragging a leash and retractable leash handle, then dragging a leash with no handle, then just wearing a walking jacket, then just wearing bright pink Beastie Band collars and a lightweight bluetooth tracking device...

I have followed them around , figuring any spots they might use to escape, and it seems to be keeping them in. It is such a large area they both seem totally happy to stay in the fenced area, and as far as I have seen, neither of them has even tried to climb the fence higher than a foot off the ground. So while escape is possible, at this point it seems unlikely... The fence is also reinforced with a low power electric fence wire that runs along the perimeter of the inside about 4 feet up.

I don't really like the colour bright pink, but if they ever got out, it makes them a lot easier to see. And in most situations these collars seem like they are very unlikely to get caught on anything in a way the cats could not easily free themselves. They are very lightweight and soft and stretchy...

But both cats climb around the fruit tress like kids on monkey bars, and sometimes they get up a branch where they get a bit stuck, and their descent is not well planned or controlled. So the other day I got paranoid, and began letting them out in the yard with no collars and no tracker... I live on an island with no predators that normally bother cats, and one lightly used road surrounded by a couple miles of forest. One of my cats has enough experience being walked on a leash he knows his way home from a mile away, he is totally paranoid of the road, and has decided he prefers staying in the yard. However he also aspires to climb 100 foot tall trees, and there is a forest full of them here. So it is possible he could get stuck up one, or injured coming down after a foolish adventure. But my younger cat has only been out of the yard on a leash a couple times, he can get lost on the enclosed back porch, forgetting it has a small opening to the enclosed front porch, and he is curious and will move towards machinery sounds. And he tends to be over confident, until he realizes he is in over his head, and then he totally panics. So if he got out he would be at high risk. Both cats are microchipped and it is a small enough community everyone knows everyone's cats... and our local SPCA never kills cats. I understand that freak accidents are always possible in any situation, but want to choose what is safest for my cats... So Beastie Band collar or no collar? And maybe it should be a collar and tracker for the one who is a bit of a ditz, but not the other who is mostly more responsible and cautious?
IMG_3435.JPG
 

tarasgirl06

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I live with 2 active Savannah cats, F6 and F7, the type that are only very distantly related to Servals... so they are regular sized and not especially athletic...

The past month they have both had daytime access to about 1/3 of an acre which is surrounded by a cat proof fence and contains a small orchard and a lot of wild over grown areas as well. And they are only out if I am home. I have been slow to allow them out in this area, and at first it was only on a leash I was holding, then wearing a walking jacket dragging a leash and retractable leash handle, then dragging a leash with no handle, then just wearing a walking jacket, then just wearing bright pink Beastie Band collars and a lightweight bluetooth tracking device...

I have followed them around , figuring any spots they might use to escape, and it seems to be keeping them in. It is such a large area they both seem totally happy to stay in the fenced area, and as far as I have seen, neither of them has even tried to climb the fence higher than a foot off the ground. So while escape is possible, at this point it seems unlikely... The fence is also reinforced with a low power electric fence wire that runs along the perimeter of the inside about 4 feet up.

I don't really like the colour bright pink, but if they ever got out, it makes them a lot easier to see. And in most situations these collars seem like they are very unlikely to get caught on anything in a way the cats could not easily free themselves. They are very lightweight and soft and stretchy...

But both cats climb around the fruit tress like kids on monkey bars, and sometimes they get up a branch where they get a bit stuck, and their descent is not well planned or controlled. So the other day I got paranoid, and began letting them out in the yard with no collars and no tracker... I live on an island with no predators that normally bother cats, and one lightly used road surrounded by a couple miles of forest. One of my cats has enough experience being walked on a leash he knows his way home from a mile away, he is totally paranoid of the road, and has decided he prefers staying in the yard. However he also aspires to climb 100 foot tall trees, and there is a forest full of them here. So it is possible he could get stuck up one, or injured coming down after a foolish adventure. But my younger cat has only been out of the yard on a leash a couple times, he can get lost on the enclosed back porch, forgetting it has a small opening to the enclosed front porch, and he is curious and will move towards machinery sounds. And he tends to be over confident, until he realizes he is in over his head, and then he totally panics. So if he got out he would be at high risk. Both cats are microchipped and it is a small enough community everyone knows everyone's cats... and our local SPCA never kills cats. I understand that freak accidents are always possible in any situation, but want to choose what is safest for my cats... So Beastie Band collar or no collar? And maybe it should be a collar and tracker for the one who is a bit of a ditz, but not the other who is mostly more responsible and cautious?View attachment 341427
D Dacatchair Your cats are gorgeous! Sounds like they have a very interesting environment and a very caring human. Personally, my cats ALWAYS wear collars and ID tags, though they are indoor-only cats. Even in our last location where we had a hectare of land, a catio for the indoor crew and a cat-fenced barn compound for the "barnies", I made sure each cat always had a collar with tag on.
One note of caution: the electric charge can be lethal. My dad wired an electric charge around our fishpond and a racoon was electrocuted by it. Needless to say, he disconnected the charge right away. (All the remaining fish were undoubtedly claimed by other racoons. We never got more fish, as it would have been senseless and cruel.) For the same reason, we disconnected the charge around our chicken yard on the hectare of land; our chickens did really well until they were attacked by unknown canids, and all but four of them were killed by these predators, after which the survivors were adopted by a neighbor and added to her flock before we moved. I would NEVER employ an electric charge around any living beings, period.
 

Dacatchair

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Thanks for your reply... I understand your concerns about the dangers of electric fencing. There is a lot of different types and with different strengths and there is also differences in whether they have a pulsing current or constant. I have done a lot of research and using a low impedance (pulsing type) .07 joule charger on a wire to keep cats from climbing a fence is entirely safe, though unpleasant to touch if they were climbing the fence... just like bees, cats can learn to avoid them. But an encounter with a low powered electric fence wire is in my opinion much much less unpleasant than either a bee sting- or what a naive cat accidently getting out is likely to experience. This is kind of off topic of the potential dangers of a collar... though I would be happy to discuss how I built my 1/3 of an acre cat enclosure and reasons I chose to reinforce it with an electric fence wire ... maybe in another thread?
 
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Dacatchair

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My explanation was kind of long, so just to clarify, I am asking how much risk is there that a Beastie Band collar could be dangerous if it got snagged on a accidental slide or fall from a 15 foot high fruit tree branch? We have more control over indoor environments, and it is probably easier to remove things indoors that might snag... These collars seem stretchy enough maybe this is a very unlikely problem?
 

tarasgirl06

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My explanation was kind of long, so just to clarify, I am asking how much risk is there that a Beastie Band collar could be dangerous if it got snagged on a accidental slide or fall from a 15 foot high fruit tree branch? We have more control over indoor environments, and it is probably easier to remove things indoors that might snag... These collars seem stretchy enough maybe this is a very unlikely problem?
AH. I don't have/have never bought those, so I can't claim to have that information. But personally, I only use breakaway collars. And thanks for the reply -- sounds like you've definitely researched it well. I would NEVER want a cat to get out, either, for all of the reasons.
 

Dacatchair

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I wish Beastie Bands would make some youtube videos showing how much they stretch! I only have 2 collars and don't want to wreck one experimenting! I am pretty sure it would be a freak accident if they got snagged and they seem like a cat could always easily slip free... ? I do like having the Bluetooth trackers as it makes it easy and quick to know my cats are still in the yard, without getting a visual every time... And I also suspect the bright pink collars and the Bluetooth tracker that flashes every minute might help alert birds. I just don't like the idea that an accident could maybe ? happen....
 

tarasgirl06

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I wish Beastie Bands would make some youtube videos showing how much they stretch! I only have 2 collars and don't want to wreck one experimenting! I am pretty sure it would be a freak accident if they got snagged and they seem like a cat could always easily slip free... ? I do like having the Bluetooth trackers as it makes it easy and quick to know my cats are still in the yard, without getting a visual every time... And I also suspect the bright pink collars and the Bluetooth tracker that flashes every minute might help alert birds. I just don't like the idea that an accident could maybe ? happen....
That's why I won't let one happen. Breakaway collars are a "must" for all of us and for peace of mind. For those who let their cats outdoors, a microchip would also be mandatory.
 

Dacatchair

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Well... it seems the risk of accidents can be reduced, but they can't all be prevented. I wonder if a light stretchy beastie band collar with a break away catch would be an improvement over both?
 
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