Does your indoor cat wear a collar?

[silva_unt]

I voted Sometimes. She has two collars. One with a tag and I only put it on her when I know maitenance for my apt. will be coming into my place while I'm away. The other is this really cute brown and orange argyle design with a bell that is put on when we're "dressing up" for guests

. But the majority of the time... no collar, I think she looks cuter, natural wild kitty, without it.

 

[lisar]

No collars. When we go to the vet we put them on, but I only buy the break away ones and so they simply do not stay on.

My cats do not have a microchip because it wasn't popular when I got them back in the 90's. I'll be getting my puppy mirco chipped when she goes under to get spayed. That way its less intrusive. Any future pets will be micro chipped. I've thought about chipping the two cats, but one they aren't door dashers and two they are senior and I do not wish to stress them out.

 

[icklemiss21]

Microchipping doesnt really stress out an animal, its not really any different than a vaccine but with a slightly bigger needle. I have microchipped 6 week old puppies and kittens up to senior cats and only remember a few even making a noise.

I had my seniors done a while back as a just in case, all shelters and vets here scan for a chip so it really is the norm to check a stray for one, and if people call the shelter saying they found a cat but are keeping it unless we have a lost report we ask them to bring it to one of our vets and have it scanned just to make sure it isnt owned.

Something else I have found about collars, because most indoor only cats do not wear them, people are more likely to keep your cat if they find it because they disagree with you letting it out and decide the cat has a bad owner so mine have collars that say they are indoor only and lost on the collar (not the tag)

 

[goldenkitty45]

I"ve been showing cats (HHP and purebred) for more then 25 yrs now. NONE of my cats wear collars - even if they are not shown. I've never had a cat run away and they have no desire to go outside.

Long time ago I heard a few judges remark about the "collar marks" on the necks of HHP's and that it was a sign the cat went outside. CFA was very strong in opposing people to let their cats outside - they stressed the reasons why it was a lot safer inside. So they knew that when they saw collar marks the cat was allowed outside.

Even if you have it loose on the neck, if its left on all the time, you will have a ring form. I know a lot of people don't show cats, but IMO it kinda detracts from the look of the cat to see a collar cutting into the fur and messing it up. My first cat was indoor-outdoor and he wore a collar and it left the collar mark. When I started showing him, I took the collar off, he became an inside only cat and it took a year or so to get rid of the mark.

For me, I don't like the idea of collars at all on a cat. And none of the cats are microchipped either (I won't do it for other reasons).

 

[icklemiss21]

Loose collars can actually be more dangerous as there is more space and things are more likely to get stuck in it

 

[stormowner]

Yep, well, my sisters cat does. But this is only because he is a slightly more aggressive cat and we want poor Storm to know when his brother might attack

 

[mystik spiral]

Originally Posted by StormOwner

Yep, well, my sisters cat does. But this is only because he is a slightly more aggressive cat and we want poor Storm to know when his brother might attack

When I first started leaving Holland's collar off, I couldn't hear her "jingling"... she used to startle me ALL the time when I would turn around and *poof* there was a black kitty there.

 

[pookie-poo]

My girls don't wear collars around the house normally (Lola got a collar caught on her lower jaw once....and once is enough to teach me!) If we have a tornado warning, I take them into the basement and immediately put their figure 8 harnesses (with ID tags) on them, in case they need to go in their carriers and evacuate. I put the harnesses on so that I can leash them for control, once we get to a destination. Obviously, the harnesses & ID tags are for identification, if needed. I did once have a gas leak at my house, and had to evacuate without carriers. The harness/leashes were Godsends!

 

[bob'smom]

All of mine have collars with names and my cell phone # of the breakaway style. Fera is a door dasher, and she's the one who always seems to get out of her collar the most. I took the bells off because I couldn't deal with the jingling. And my cats are microchipped as well.

 

[xineohp]

i put the collars on mercedes and pebbles when i take them to the vet but otherwise, i'm going to keep them off.

both kitties are microchipped but mercedes was somehow able to pushout her first microchip injection a couple days after she got it. the shelter was totally baffled as to how that happend so they just gave her another.

my kitties aren't door dashers, however, mercedes did dash out of the back door to play with the ducks who live in the retention pond behind my house and come up to my back patio for food (i don't even feed them!). durned ducks!

 

[kattiekitty]

When I first got Oscar, I got him a collar, but he hated it andscratched and pawed at it. Then I noticed a bald spot underneath the collar so took it off. He is now just barely growing all the hair back. He is microchipped but microchips depend on the honesty of the person who finds him. So far he doesn't seem too interested in gettin out. I will have to put a collar on him though when we move. We are moving from Ca to Wa so I want one on for safety sake.

 

[icklemiss21]

Collars depend on the honesty of someone who finds them too though, but (at least here) if a cat is microchipped there are other rules the shelters follow if they are picked up, including a longer hold time - which if you are near a kill shelter could save your cats life.

As far as the microchips being pushed out, I have never heard of it being pushed out but if they are not properly inserted they can come back out, the needle is quite long and needs to be completely inserted

 

[taryn]

Attitude and Nuts both do even though if they get out they don 't go far, they will dash under the car if they get out. They haven't door dashed in a few months but I feel more comfortable when they wear them. Both like to look out the screen door at the outside cats so if the door was somehow pushed open(and they are already 10 lbs each) I feel more comfortable knowing if they get out they might get back to me.

I see way too many lost pet no collar signs. My neighbor will take dogs she finds without collars to a rescue and have them put up for adoption. One the owners had to go rescue it(after seeing the lost dog poster.) She told them she almost took it home with her and if she had they never would have seen their dog again. Another was the farmer's dog Daisy who decided to cross the railroad tracks. She is the only dog who we have no problem with not being tied up or fenced( I won't even go into the woman up the street who doesn't even feed her animals much less half-arsed try to keep them contained) since she patrols the farm(she's a working dog, when Paul and Bobby went over to check out the buffalo the farmer had she made sure they weren't hurting him or the cows before going off about her business) and I don't think she has ever crossed the RR tracks and left the property before. If Mitzi finds collar less dogs she has no problem lecturing the owner about it. I will say however that dogs are a lot more important to have collars than cats since they are more likely to get out by someone being careless with a gate) or whatever. After Abby went blind and had arthritis she only wore her collar for walks. She was also microchipped but we knew she wasn't going anywhere.

I do remove their collars for baths and take my time putting them back on. I also know their collars will release if they get caught because they are heavy enough to trigger them. I found Attitude collar less and found hers in the closet. They also don't try to remove their collars or even chew on their tags. You can also get in deep trouble if animal control picks up an animal that is not wearing it's rabies tag(county ordinance.) Doesn't matter if you have one and the animal just isn't wearing it, the animal has to be wearing it at all times or they fine you if they pick up the animal. Another reason they always wear collars, I don't feel like getting fined if they do get out. I also don't want them going to the pound or a rescue with no identification because either way they will be immediately destroyed due to their leukemia(both test before a cat is even placed in a cage) so for me they have to have some form of identification because if they are picked up they will NOT be held. So for mine it's a matter of life or death that they have identification on them. I'm sure ya'll can understand why I make sure they always have their collars on because if they don't and get out they won't be coming home without them.

Taryn

 

[icklemiss21]

In most places and certainly everywhere here, they have to hold an animal for 72 hours, even if it tests positive for something - so the owners always have 3 days after the day they are found to come forward and claim their animal before it goes up for adoption or anything else - even in the high kill shelter.

I would work to have the same laws instituted where you live, it has saved many animals here

 

[taryn]

Leukemia is contagious(though hard to be transmitted to other cats in a shelter unless they are having direct contact which they shouldn't be allowing anyhow) so they will not hold them. It will be listed on their 'dead list' under PTS but I'd rather not find my cat(s) on a list of dead cats. It also depends on the shelter they would end up at, some test some don't, but all rescues do and none here on the IL side of the river adopt out leukemia positive cats(I think one rescue told me state law forbids it.) There are a few in MO, but I doubt my cats will be crossing the Mississippi river and making it to St. Charles for the only humane society that tries to adopt out FeLV /FIV cats. There are rescues in St. Louis and the surrounding area but as I said I don't see them crossing the river or even managing to reach it.

If I ever get the money I also need them chipped, but I need to get Nuts neutered first.

Taryn

 

[mrblanche]

Ella doesn't, and Punkin doesn't. Sterling didn't, until he scared us last week with a door dash as I was going out the door to work. Flambe does, because he's also a dasher and he's not ours.

 

[nekochan]

Mine are microchipped and also wear collars.

 

[gingersmom]

I answered "always" but it only applies to three of five of my six cats. LOL, not too confusing...

Ginger: always wears her collar, unless I take it off for grooming and give her an occasional break from it

Ferris: same as Ginger

Baby Bonnie: same as above, but her breaks are very short - she's a door dasher!

Max and Penny are both microchipped and will remove any collar put on them - they think collars are beneath them, LOL!

Sissy, being an outdoor only cat, wears her collar 24/7

 

[icklemiss21]

Originally Posted by Taryn

Leukemia is contagious(though hard to be transmitted to other cats in a shelter unless they are having direct contact which they shouldn't be allowing anyhow) so they will not hold them. It will be listed on their 'dead list' under PTS but I'd rather not find my cat(s) on a list of dead cats. It also depends on the shelter they would end up at, some test some don't, but all rescues do and none here on the IL side of the river adopt out leukemia positive cats(I think one rescue told me state law forbids it.) There are a few in MO, but I doubt my cats will be crossing the Mississippi river and making it to St. Charles for the only humane society that tries to adopt out FeLV /FIV cats. There are rescues in St. Louis and the surrounding area but as I said I don't see them crossing the river or even managing to reach it.

If I ever get the money I also need them chipped, but I need to get Nuts neutered first.

Taryn

A lot of shelters here will not adopt them (leukemia cats) out but unless the animal is suffering (hit by care, severe renal failure etc) they can not euthanise it until the advertising hold is done. In my city, the shelters advertise cats online and in the local paper as well as a phone in lost and found service.

If they test, the cat will probably be kept in quarantine as a precaution but they would be in a lot of trouble (a minimum 72 hour hold is law). Most shelters treat for fleas only on intake until the hold is up and then do testing and vaccines / speuter etc.

We do have a few shelters within an hour that do take keukemia cats and two that I know of that will deal with pretty much anything including FIP and FIV

 

[nekochan]

The collars my cats wear are breakaway and they will (and have) come loose if the cats get caught on anything. I feel safer knowing they are wearing collars just in case. Most of them are interested in the doors and I have had a cat get out the door twice when someone held the door open too long. Luckily I was able to grab the cat quickly...
There are feral cats all over around here so if people see a cat running loose they assume it is feral unless it has a collar on. My cats' tags include a line that says "If alone, I'm lost" or "Lost if alone"

Originally Posted by Taryn

eukemia is contagious(though hard to be transmitted to other cats in a shelter unless they are having direct contact which they shouldn't be allowing anyhow) so they will not hold them. It will be listed on their 'dead list' under PTS but I'd rather not find my cat(s) on a list of dead cats. It also depends on the shelter they would end up at, some test some don't, but all rescues do and none here on the IL side of the river adopt out leukemia positive cats(I think one rescue told me state law forbids it.)

Several of the cats-only shelters here are cageless so the cats do have contact with each other. They test all the cats that come in for FIV and FelV and make sure they are healthy before they're allowed in the general population, and some of them also have a separate section in the shelter for FIV positive cats.
I know some of the animal shelters here in Chicago do adopt out FelV positive cats as well.