cat collars and bells cruel?

stewball

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Nothing cruel about it at all. Mine are indoor cats and have bells and not disturbed at all. Has he stopped catching birds!
 

kimmiejo

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Well it's been several day and nothing in the house yet :clap: So maybe it is helping got the collar last Saturday so we will see. ;) My daughter worked at a shelter for several years and has 2 of her own cats and has studied them to understand them better so she suggested the bells on a breakaway collar. So far so good.
 

tomb

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We have an indoor cat with some Bengal in her ancestry. The collar has a bell (well it did, until she got out of it, now she has a harness and that will shortly get a bell. 

The bell is not installed to save birds - she is (for now) and indoor cat. 

We are exploring the possibility of an invisible fence in the back yard though it will have to be set to a large field width as if we set it for a narrow width close in to the wire, she'd jump over or through it and be gone then not come back through it. It needs to trigger a couple of feet away. 

(And if anyone asks, I can say I put one around my neck and waked through the fence... its a funky sensation but did no damage....and my skin is likly more sensitive than a cat's skin with fur.)

The bell we have on our cat is for her protection and that of the humans, including an elderly person. She likes to sleep on the stairs (and the house is multi-level so the stairs are used frequently), she likes to race down the stairs, passing you, then stop in your path on a stair. She likes to sneak into the kitchen when you are at the sink or the stove and lie right behind your foot with you being unknowing. 

She has been stood on several times when not collared both in the kitchen and on the stairs at night. These could easily have injured or crippled her. I stood on her tail in the dark. There is a big risk to her and to the older fellow in the home. 

She has two speeds of locomotion: A fast jog or a full tilt sprint with cornering like a rally car with the back end going wide and claws skittering on the hardwood.... so the bell does make enough sound to let you know she has entered the kitchen or has just passed you on the stairs. It won't solve the 'quietly lying on the stairs at night' scenario, but a partial solution is better than no solution. Getting stood on apparently isn't enough of a dis-incentive as she repeats the lurking behaviours and some attempts at vocal or percussive adjustment (a smack on the bum) are also (unsurprisingly) not effective. 

So, to save her health and other folks health, she wears a bell. 

As to why it is hard to train cats: I've heard it said a dog's ability to connect a consequence to a prior event is on the order of seconds - rewards or punishments must be instant. For cats, it is faster than that to the point where the cat has almost not chance to connect a punishment to an action it just executed. So the corporal punishment strategy is ineffective. Food based training appears to be the best for cats (treats rewarding good behaviours). Or so I understand. 
 

malt

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Mama wears a collar with a tag on it because even though she's a primarily inside cat, I do let her out for romps outside sometimes and just in case she gets lost I want people to be able to contact me. She's chipped as well but I'm always worried whoever finds her mightn't think to check, plus she has a habit of sprinting out past me when I open the door (luckily she comes when I call). I also live near the people who abandoned her and if they see her again, I want them to know she's with someone who loves her and looks after her like she deserves. 

I've never had a chance to find out how she'd handle a bell because I can't stand the sound! I took it off her collar before I even got out of the pet shop carpark. I absolutely cannot stand constant, jingly, irritating noises like that. Personally I wouldnt want to subject my pets to a bell collar because their sense of hearing is so much better than ours. 

As far as I can tell Mama's not much of a hunter anyway, unlike my other 2 cats (inside-outside half-ferals who live with my mum and hunt semi-regularly). But to be honest I don't really mind any of my cats hunting - especially as most of their victims seem to be  mice and rats. And foreign/pest birds, but only one native bird over the last 12 years. So imo they do the native birds more favours than harm by killing competitors and predators. 

But as for bells, I'm not going to make a judgement on whether it could be considered unkind or cruel. All I know is I could never put one on my cat becase it would drive me crazy within a week. 
 

pangurban

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Our two have collars with bells. I also made sure the bells make different sounds so we could tell who was where, especially at night when I get up to check on the children or some other thing. (Dark colored cat in the dark who likes to be underfoot = asking for disaster!) Their bells aren't super jingly, but they do lightly tinkle. I find the sound soothing and quite like it.
 

sherrymyra

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I have a breakaway collar with a bell for Izzy.  I like to know where she is.  She is an indoor cat.   It also does keep her from being stepped if I hear her coming.  She doesn't seem to even notice it and it certainly isn't noisy enough to bother me.  
 

Kat0121

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both of mine wear a collar with a bell. my reason for it is that I have to let the dog out to use the facilities and I need to be able to hear if they are planning to make an escape when I let her in or out, especially at night. Lilith actually did get out one night a few days after I got them and I was beside myself. this was before the collar with the little bell. She darted out with the dog because I didn't hear her behind me and she ran under the truck in the driveway. now I had a black cat out in the dark. she barely knew me, let alone the neighborhood or even her name. I ran in, grabbed a flashlight and a bag of temptations then went back out and looked under the truck where I had seen her run to. nothing. panic sets in. I am now convinced that I am the worst cat mom ever. the road behind the house is very busy and the one in front not much better. I quickly realized that looking for a black cat outside in the dark is like looking for a needle in a haystack with a blindfold on on. I looked all around the house, called her and shook the treats. nothing. she was a stray when the humane society got her so being outside was no big deal to her. she could be anywhere. I cursed myself for not getting the collar with a bell because i'd be able to at least hear her if she was close by. finally, after looking everywhere in my yard and finding nothing, I went back to the driveway and thought maybe she ran back under the truck when she realized I was looking for her.  I looked under it and there was a long, fluffy thing hanging from the rear axle so it was either her or the truck had grown a new accessory. I scooted under it and there she was (presumably all along). I guessed that in the time that I was running around looking for her like a maniac, she had gotten comfortable and her tail dropped down.  I shined the flashlight on her and she looked at me like I was completely insane. I slowly reached up and took her down and brought her inside, The next day I bought 2 collars with bells. They weren't crazy about me putting the collars on but got over it in seconds. the soft jingling sound is not annoying to me, it's reassuring because I know where they are, even in the dark and since the only thing they hunt is a catnip mouse and each other, it's all good. they really don't seem to notice it anymore. 
 

skyefoxx

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I never liked having collars for my cats since they are all indoor it was never really a necessity.  However, I wound up getting one for my new addition because she's a complete ninja!  My newest, Tatum, wears a break away collar with a bell to keep her from stalking the other cats while I'm socializing them.  Plus, out of the 3 that I currently have she's by far the most likely to get out of the house.  She not only is she small and hard to grab but she's also extremely clever when it comes to getting through doors!  The good thing is that it doesn't seem to bother her in the least.  She could easily get it off if she wanted to but she's never ever tried.
 
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kordron

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I was horrified to learn recently of a co-worker who put a collar around her cat with a laser pointer on it. Apparently everywhere the cat goes there is a little red dot in front of it and it keeps trying to get the dot. She thinks it's hilarious. I think it's torturous and suggested she try wearing it for a full day and see how fun it is.
 

sherrymyra

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The laser on the collar I think is torture also.  Some people are morons.  The poor cat.  I don't even know what to say to that.  You must be beside yourself wanting to tell her/him what you really think. 
 

lillypills

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My three cats all wear collars and every now and then bells . none have had prolembs with bells except when they were kittens but no problems now.   2 of them occasionally go out side whilst one of them is always indoors .

From what iv noticed some cats hate the bells wear as others have no problem with them it just depends on the cat .
 

milosmom123

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Milo wears a collar  that came with a bell he wears it all the time only because when he was hyper he would run everywhere and i could not find him its more for his safety than anything he seems to be okay with it plus i plan to get him a harness so he cat go out side with me
 

mrsfpmister

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My cat has a "calming color" every month, so I always write "chipped indoor only" on the top side in case he gets outside. I chipped him but realized that many people won't help a cat unless they think it's a pet not a wild stray (though he's very friendly). I haven't gotten a "real" collar since he wears this one to (hopefully) help with stress issues. Though he does pull it off every once in while :eyeroll:
 

musicalcats

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Felix had a collar and tags when he was young purely for the sake of identifying him if he were to get out. As he got older he became completely uninterested in going outside or even out the apartment door, so I took it off him and he would use a harness when we went to the vet. Friedrich wears his collar and noisy tags for his safety at home and if he were ever to get out. He's not bothered one bit by the jangling of his tags and I find the sound really comforting so I always know where he is.
 

roguethecat

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when Rascal was wearing his bell, the sneaky little thing was able to move so it wouldn't ring, and catch wildlife just fine... now he's without a bell so as not to interfere with his electric kitty-door tag.

Then I put a bell on the Rogue, because well, he was the Rogue and generally up to no good, so I'd like to keep track of him. Still kept stepping on him as he, too, would sneak up and sit still and wait to trip me without a noise
 

Finally, I gave up on his bell since he kept wrestling with the rest of my crowd and loosing his collar. But now he's also big enough not to get overlooked
 
 
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taty caty

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I recently bought a nice collar for my cat and had also a  metal "tag" with his name on one side, and with my details on the other size.

The collar had a bell, but I removed it before putting the collar on my cat because there is no need for it, and it is noisy for me and him. But the tag makes some sound when he moves.

I've put it on, and the poor thing went crazy! :(

He seemed very confused, trying to get it our of his neck by licking his neck, biting the metal tag, rolling and curling.

I had remove it even before taking pictures form him with the collar. He looked soooo nice, but I felt guilty letting him suffer.
 

meowkittymeow

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When I got my two older cats, they were scared and would hide. So we put bell collars on them for the first week so we could find where they were. Once they became comfortable we took them off.  With our newest kitten, she hollers for you if she doesn't see you, so you don't need to find her lol!
 

ab normal

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It's annoying for the cat, their hearing is much more sensitive than yours, and it's right near their ears. Have some empathy for the cats.
 
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