Cat Breaking His Collars

[Gizmom]

I'm very new to this website, so I'm sure I'm not doing this right. I've also never been a part of a forum type website. But, I was looking for a popular cat related forum website to possibly get some insight/help on a problem I'm having.
The problem has to do with my cat Gizmo and collars. When I first adopted him back in October of 2016 I didn't know too much about how to properly care for a cat. Of course I knew the basics, but other than that I was clueless. Fortunately, I started researching more and more on topics such as the proper foods to feed your cat and ways to enrich his life as an indoor cat etc., etc. In my opinion, I've made a lot of progress as a cat owner, but of course I still have more to work on. Onto the point of this: A month or so after getting him, I decided to get him a collar for reasons none other than him looking cute with it on. Of course I got a non-breakaway collar which I took off that day after seeing a thread from the collar stuck in his mouth. Then later on I got a green elastic collar (which will come back into the story later) with what seems to be a breakaway buckle. Took that one off that day as well after seeing his discomfort while wearing it. Long story short he didn't get a proper introduction to collars or proper collar training. (He'd never had a collar before that either, seeing as he lived his early life on the streets and in a shelter)
Months later I decide to order him a proper breakaway collar from Etsy. This collar lasted the longest out of them all, that came with a price though. Gizmo was always trying his hardest to break out of the collar, resulting in lots of chewing. After seeing his collar lying about around the apartment several times, as he had broken out of it, I decided to put it back on him and secure the buckle with a small piece of duct tape. This worked for a while. As you can see in the photo, this collar is heavily chewed up and broken on the buckle.
Cut to just a few days ago, I decided to see if he would be able to get used to the green elastic collar with an ID tag attached for at least a week. (Note that he does not like any dangly things on his collar). Reason being: we're going to get him a new expensive leather breakaway collar and a new id tag with cork on the back of it to lesson the dangly noise. (I'd really like him to have an ID tag on him, as it is the most common form of pet identification and would be recognized if he was found outside) I wanted him to be able to get used to collars before we got the new collar so that one wouldn't end up with bite marks as well. But alas, he'd broken the buckle part of the green collar as well making it easier to snap open and get out of. He'd done the same thing with the collar from Etsy, only worse as you see in the photo.
Now, I was just going to put a good bit of tape on the green collar before we got his new collar so maybe he would just say "well, if I can't get out of it I may as well get used to it". But, I'm worried he could get snagged on something and not be able to get free. If anyone can help me with this, please let me know asap!

 

[Kieka]

I know the struggle of the collar. My solution? Beastie Bands with the slip over tag from an online company called Boomerang Tags.

Link used to take his collars off and mess with them all the time. I literally could not keep a collar on him for more than 24 hours. He also hates hanging tags. Since switching to the Beastie Bands I haven't had a single slip or even messing with them. The collars are soft and lightweight. They don't seem to bother him very much at all. If he was to get snagged on something it will stretch enough to slip over his head; a theory I did get to test one time when I was trying to get it off him and he slipped out of it before I could undo the velcro while I was holding it. The one issue is that they do wear out quicker than other collars; they stretch and discolor. So Link gets his replaced about every 6 months. Rocket on the other hand isn't as hard on her collars so hers last 9 months to a year usually.

 

[Gizmom]

Thanks, kieka!

 

[basscat]

Gizmom
Your collar is a little loose. It may not seem so, or, it may not "start out" that way.... but, it's a little too loose if they can wriggle it over their chin and into their mouth.
I too have two collars that the latches look IDENTICAL to yours. I just snugged up the 3rd one a little bit more, and I check it once a week to be sure he's not latched onto it with his claws and stretched it back out.
So far, just a little bit tighter has cured the problem.