Does your indoor cat wear a collar?

[tico]

Just curious. Sophie wears one -- just in case she ever escapes, and plus it's cute!

But she's much happier au naturel, and its nicer when you're stroking her.

So I'm interested - do you keep a collar on your indoor kitty?

 

[railntrailcwgrl]

All the time! Storm's a door dasher and has already made one escape (pre-collar) luckily hubby ran after her and tackled her before she could get too far. I went to the country store the next day and ordered her tags!

 

[fisheater]

My kitty is an indoor kitty and does not wear a collar. I was very insistent on getting him micro chipped though.

 

[northernglow]

Never. All of my cats are microchipped indoor cats, and the possibility of escaping is pretty small because if they get out of the door, they'll end up in a hallway. And the windows are of course kitty-proof.

 

[dusty's mom]

Always, and with a name tag and my cell number. Microchips are great, but they are invisible. Never know when a kitty may bolt, though my indoor cat isn't interested in being outside yet.

 

[tamarae]

Mine both wear collars all the time, one with a bell and one without.. hehe

They don't have tags though now, since they're older they dont try to escape. The sofa life is too great I guess.

 

[Winchester]

No collars here. Why? Because many years ago when Hydrox was very young, he always wore a collar. One night, in the middle of the night, he hopped up in bed and he was wheezing terribly. I knew something was wrong, but didn't know what happened. I felt all the way around his collar and there was plenty of space the whole way around. I didn't know what else to do, so we called the vet.

First thing the vet asked was, did he have a collar on. I said yes, he always wore a collar. She told me to run my hand around the collar. I had already done that; there was nothing wrong. She told me to take the collar off. I removed his collar and he left out this huge wheeze of air. And after that he was fine.

I don't know what was wrong with his collar. We examined it very carefully and there were no threads, no loose areas, nothing to fall off. It was fine. But we never put that collar back on him again.

And since then, none of our cats has worn a collar while they were inside the house. If they go for walks outside (which is rare, since they're so much older now), they have collars and leashes. But not inside.

I've also read about cats with collars who got into closets and strangled because their collars got caught on things. I'm too paranoid.

 

[kai bengals]

We never use collars. They have their place, to ID a cat if he/she is prone to escape, but our cats just don't make those attempts.
For us the possible safety hazards of collars outweighs the identification benefit.

 

[fisheater]

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

For us the possible safety hazards of collars outweighs the identification benefit.

I agree completely.

 

[kailie]

All of my cats are indoors and none wear collars. None of them are "door dashers". I can remember an incident my Mom had with a cat of her's where he was trying to get the collar off while she was at work one day, he got it up into his mouth but couldn't get it off. He scratched/pawed/chewed at it all day and when Mom got hom his mouth AND paws were all bloody. It was HEART breaking.

 

[strange_wings]

I had a couple cats that used to, and one was a door dasher back then. I stopped bothering with collars, though, because I do not like how they can bend or thin the fur under them.

Now I have a DLH that I'm definitely not putting a collar on (it would damage his fur) and just too many in general to worry about it. No one door darts.

 

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

For us the possible safety hazards of collars outweighs the identification benefit.

Same here, we do have collars with their microchip tags on it if they are going to the vet etc, just in case they do get out, but scanning for a microchip is the norm here so I am not that worried about it

I have been in the vets office when someone came in with their cat injured after getting stuck on their breakaway collar, no way I would risk mine wearing collars while unattended

 

[missymotus]

Originally Posted by Kai Bengals

For us the possible safety hazards of collars outweighs the identification benefit.

Agree, my cats don't and will never wear collars.

I used to be pro-collar, but changed my opinion over the years.

 

[okie89]

I used to keep a safety collar on all my kitties... then I came home one day and found my kitty caught in the rug.

Thought I'd give it another try, and she got caught on the blinds, the other kitty got his mouth caught in the collar, no matter how tight I got it...

So... I decided not to. They all freeze when they see the outside world anyway!!!

Okie

 

[mews2much]

My cats have never worn collars either and never will.
It is not worth the risk of them getting hurt.
I agree with Nial.

 

[mrblanche]

Actually, Flambe has a collar from the shelter, and we leave it on because he has shown himself willing to dash outside. We've had a couple of scares from Sterling (one this week), so we've put his collar on him in hopes that if he dashes out, at least he'll be able to be identified and brought back.

 

[farleyv]

No none of mine wear collars. No one is a door hugger. I worry about them getting caught on something, they have a real tree for a cat tree. I know there are breakaway ones, but I just don't trust anything around their necks. Oh yeah, they are all inside with a very secure outdoor run.

 

[david's steph]

Yes, all 3 of the indoor little ones wear a collar with ID tag…I'm TERRIFIED they will get lost if there is an emergency in my house (like a fire, and I have no time but to carry them outside free), or if they accidentally pop out a screen, or if a tree limb crashes through a window in a bad storm (I have a HUGE oak tree in my backyard, around 150-200 yrs. old), at least with a collar, they have SOME kind of chance of coming home again...but I DO worry about them, hurting themselves on the darn things!! I keep the collar very LOOSE though, I am paranoid about it being too tight..thankfully I've not had a problem with the collars in 2 of the babies in over 10 yrs...

 

[tico]

Good arguments for both sides of the issue...

It's really safety outside vs. safety inside. Whichever seems more important based on each individual cat.

My childhood cat wore a collar her whole life. We eventually took it off her as she aged. After years of wearing it, the fur completely disappeared! She looked a little like a bobble head with a furless ring around her neck. (She didn't mind

She was delighted to lose the collar haha!)

 

[mystik spiral]

I voted for used to but no longer. I kept Holland's collar from the shelter on her for about a year after I adopted her, with her name and my cell phone number on the tag. It WAS a safety collar, but still... she is by no means a "door dasher", and she has NEVER made any attempt to get outside. Like other posters have stated, in her case, I feel safer having her without a collar.

She is microchipped, and I guess I figure that in the extraordinarily rare event she might ever get out, I believe someone who would be able to even catch her in the first place (she's afraid of people) would be just as likely to take her somewhere to check the microchip as they would to call a number on her tag.