Cat totally freaked out over wearing a collar

pmv

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So I tried to get all three of my cats to wear collars so they could use an RFID-enabled smart feeder, allowing me to keep the overweight cats on a restricted diet while my other cat can continue to have free access to food as he is used to.

Two of my cats are ~10 months and they took to the collars just fine - they wear them with no trouble.

My seven-year-old cat Reggie, though, is a different story. The first time I tried to put a collar on him a few days ago it was a little too loose, and he did end up in a legitimately scary situation - he managed to slip the collar under his chin, but got it caught inside his mouth. It took me several minutes to free him as he panicked and hid. I'm not sure if he ever wore a collar with any of his previous owners, or if that was his first experience with one.

I tried again today (with the collar not quite as loose, but still I could easily fit two fingers into the collar), and while he initially seemed okay, he then started to sprint around the house and then began hiding. He went and hid under the bed for a bit and even pooped under the bed rather than come out to use the litter box. I took the collar off him (he had it on for maybe 2 hours) and he's spent the whole rest of the evening hiding under a bed, albeit a different one.

I certainly didn't expect him to react this badly to having a collar. Any thoughts on whether I should continue to try, or would that just traumatize him worse? Is this sort of thing at all normal?
 

Maurey

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Do you know Reggie's history? It's possible he has prior trauma relating to having something around his neck. Some cats will also just really not like having something around their neck, or, perhaps, he's sore in the area. Does he let you touch his neck without protest?

Most RFID feeders can be programmed to open to a cat's microchip -- would you be able to use that, instead?
 

kat003

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My cat hates collars and anything on her, I've been trying to take baby steps with her and it's helped a lot.
 

sivyaleah

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I agree using a feeder which recognizes a microchip may be the best solution here.

Some cats really dislike collars and if they haven't worn them since they were a kitten, all the more likely. We stopped putting them on our cats since they are both chipped and indoor only and fairly trustworthy about when we come and go in the house. But I'm sure my younger one wouldn't have liked it even if we started her wearing one when she came to us. She dislike being restricted in any way possible plus she has allergies and I'd rather she can scratch where she's itchy instead of trying to rip off a collar doing so.

It also occurs to me it could be the type of collar you're using. Is it a break-away? Material? Are you sure it's the right fit?

Last you can do try desensitizing of the collar by giving treats near the collar. After a couple of days, move the collar over the cats body but not on the neck. Keep dispensing treats as you slowly get the cat used to the collar being nearby. Eventually you can work up to putting the collar around the neck, not fastened, and of course still give plenty of treats. While this could take some time the goal is to get the cat used to the collar so that it doesn't react to it - last step would be slipping the collar on for short amounts of time and build up the length it's kept on until hopefully, Reggie doesn't freak out by wearing it.
 

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Excellent suggestion from sivyaleah sivyaleah Maurey Maurey and kat003 kat003 ! Getting a collar caught is extremely traumatic, I would think. Make sure you use only safety/breakaway collars on cats. And since he had this terrible experience, I would suggest waiting awhile before making the gradual reintroduction to the collar. Two finger clearance is recommended - no more, no less.
 

kghia

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My kitten's collar also got caught on her chin...the collar I used was a breakaway collar but go figure, it did NOT breakaway. She was acting strange and I heard some strange thumping noises coming from her safe room (this was a few days after we adopted her) and the poor thing was thrashing about trying to get the darn thing off. Thankfully she did not hurt herself and I was able to get the collar of of her within a few seconds of realizing what was wrong. So if you do get another collar, make sure you play with the breakaway closure a bit before you put it on your cat. For a cat who can't tolerate collars, I agree that if your sole purpose is to use the feeder, having a microchip implanted is probably the best option. The same kitten can tolerate a collar, but not the dangling sound of the tag...
 

tarasgirl06

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My kitten's collar also got caught on her chin...the collar I used was a breakaway collar but go figure, it did NOT breakaway. She was acting strange and I heard some strange thumping noises coming from her safe room (this was a few days after we adopted her) and the poor thing was thrashing about trying to get the darn thing off. Thankfully she did not hurt herself and I was able to get the collar of of her within a few seconds of realizing what was wrong. So if you do get another collar, make sure you play with the breakaway closure a bit before you put it on your cat. For a cat who can't tolerate collars, I agree that if your sole purpose is to use the feeder, having a microchip implanted is probably the best option. The same kitten can tolerate a collar, but not the dangling sound of the tag...
VERY glad your kitten is safe and that there was no lasting damage (beyond trauma)! :hearthrob: 😸:hearthrob::yess:
 

daftcat75

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I agree with the others that the microchip is the best option here especially because he doesn't wear a collar. If he should get out, the chip will help others bring him back home to you.

If a microchip isn't an option, for whatever reason, you can desensitize your cat to the collar by putting it on him for short periods of supervised time. You might even want to pair it with feeding time. E.g., prepare his feeder, walk him and his collar to a quiet place away from the others. Put down his food and put on his collar while he's interested in eating. Hopefully he'll be more interested in eating than freaked out by the collar. You can take the collar off of him after he's finished eating. Or if he doesn't freak out, you can leave it on him a little longer. If you can't pair it with feeding, then just slowly work with him on it. Put the collar on him, put down a treat immediately and hope he goes for the treat before he freaks out. If you still have his attention, put down another treat. Give him praise and pets. Then take the collar off him. Slowly, over weeks or months, you can work on getting him to wear his collar for longer periods of time until it's old hat and doesn't bother him anymore.
 
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pmv

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Thanks, all, for the advice!

In terms of microchips - the feeder I have requires collar tags, it doesn't have a microchip reader. The good news is that it's not an absolute requirement that Reggie wear a collar. He's the one who is maintaining a fine weight being free-fed (it's my 10-month-olds who are getting rather chubby, to the point they can't keep up with hygiene effectively).

The feeder can operate in "default-open" mode, where instead of opening the feeder if a cat is allotted more food, it can close the feeder if the cat exceeds its limit, so having the other two collared and tagged is sufficient. That also means if the other cats did manage to get out of one of their collars - or have it break away - they might overeat but they wouldn't go hungry until I noticed.

It would be nice if Reggie could eventually accept a collar - it means I can use the feeding station to monitor his daily eating habits, something that isn't easy to do anymore with multiple cats - but I can start helping the other cats without immediately solving Reggie's fear of collars.

In terms of his history - I don't know if he's ever had any experiences with a collar or any trauma regarding his neck before; I can ask my sister-in-law, as she and her first husband were Reggie's original owners.
 

tarasgirl06

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Thanks, all, for the advice!

In terms of microchips - the feeder I have requires collar tags, it doesn't have a microchip reader. The good news is that it's not an absolute requirement that Reggie wear a collar. He's the one who is maintaining a fine weight being free-fed (it's my 10-month-olds who are getting rather chubby, to the point they can't keep up with hygiene effectively).

The feeder can operate in "default-open" mode, where instead of opening the feeder if a cat is allotted more food, it can close the feeder if the cat exceeds its limit, so having the other two collared and tagged is sufficient. That also means if the other cats did manage to get out of one of their collars - or have it break away - they might overeat but they wouldn't go hungry until I noticed.

It would be nice if Reggie could eventually accept a collar - it means I can use the feeding station to monitor his daily eating habits, something that isn't easy to do anymore with multiple cats - but I can start helping the other cats without immediately solving Reggie's fear of collars.

In terms of his history - I don't know if he's ever had any experiences with a collar or any trauma regarding his neck before; I can ask my sister-in-law, as she and her first husband were Reggie's original owners.
I like having a breakaway collar with ID tag for my cats, because they never go out, but if anything catastrophic (!) happened and they did, people here in the neighborhood would see the collar and be better able to get them home than they would if they had to catch the cat and take him or her to the vet for a scan. Having both a chip and an ID tag and collar is a good option, too.
 
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