Advice for new cat collar

[lindsay_314]

Hello all,
I adopted my beautiful kitty two weeks ago (can't seem to figure out how to post a pic) and things have been going pretty well so far! She is about one-and-a-half years old, tuxedo kitty, pretty even keel and calm, thinks human hands should be petting her instead of doing anything else She had a litter of kittens when the shelter picked her up as a stray, but she was spayed a few weeks before I adopted her. We seem to be a pretty good personality match and she seems to be mostly out of the "crazy kitten stage." But last night, things changed a bit:

I had bought a reflective breakaway collar with a bell for my kitty to wear, but she couldn't stand the sound of the bell. So, yesterday I was able to remove the bell and attach her ID tag. She is microchipped but I would like her to wear ID in case she gets out since she is an indoor cat and very friendly.

Well...she is calm and she let me put on the collar...and it was like something was chasing her. She could barely sit still, and when she did, she was crouched down under things. Otherwise, she would zoom around at top speed around the apartment, sometimes with her fave catnip mouse, sometimes pouncing at nothing. She usually does this for a bit each day, but never quite this erratic and definitely not for almost 2 hours straight! I finally gave up and removed the collar before bed; she was a bit more hyper this morning than usual, but when I arrived home from work today she seemed back to her usual calmer self. I would like her to wear the collar, but I'm not sure what to do as she seemed so irritated and overstimulated. Any advice? Please help a new kitty mama!

 

[daftcat75]

How does she react with just the collar on? No bell or tag. Even that would identify her as a pet vs. a stray or a feral. After she's used to wearing the collar for some time (weeks? months?), you can try adding the tag again.

Also maybe give her more than a few hours to get used to it even if you lose a little sleep. I think she'll get used to it if you let her.

 

[ladytimedramon]

For my kitty the tags are too big. They make one that slides on to a collar. It doesn't hang down. Search on Amazon for "slide on id tag" and something like this will come up

 

[jcat]

For my kitty the tags are too big. They make one that slides on to a collar. It doesn't hang down. Search on Amazon for "slide on id tag" and something like this will come up

View attachment 353269

The slide-on tags are well worth the somewhat higher cost. Mowgli removed and destroyed every collar we tried until I found Beastie Bands, which he accepted from day one.