February 17, 2005

• If you want to put a collar on your cat, make sure that it is either elastic, or has a quick-release snap. Check with your vet or a local pet store for recommendations.
• I suggest a break-away collar. It might get lost, but won't strangle your cat. (I tried this on my cat, who thankfully is indoor-only, and he nearly broke his neck trying to get at that bell. He's got a bell fixation.)
• The only time we tried to put a collar on our cat, within the day she had her front-paws stuck between the collar and her neck. I tell you, it's not a joyfull thing to do, trying to get a terrified cat unstuck. My mother bore the scars for several weeks.
• i have 2 cats and each has a slightly different sounding bell. the collars are break-aways, and they aren't allowed outside in any case. neither have had any problems with the collar/bell combo; although it took the smaller one a few days to adjust to it. the bells are great cause i can hear them coming, and i can identify each cat by the sound of her bell. just make sure the collar isnt too tight, and that it will come off with enough pressure.
• I'd suggest a breakaway collar, too. But as awful as the rat incident was, keep in mind that your puss is keeping an unseen population in check. I had no idea how many tree rats there were in my yard until my cat passed on to the great litterbox in the sky. "The mice will play," indeed...
• have you considered keeping kitty inside?
• I thought about it Sidedish, but basically I'm too lazy. We have a huge yard, perfect place for cats, not many in the neighborhood, not on or near a busy road - and with the two dogs & sometimes kids & visitors going in & out all day, it seemed like a better idea to let the cats become indoor/outdoor and get used to it rather than them inevitably escaping one day and being terrified. I am wondering, though, why they don't catch the mice in the kitchen cabinets instead of concentrating their efforts of death on the outdoor population.
• Cats hunt. what can you do? You have to admire, however, their willingness to always give half to the house.
• If you're going to let your cats roam outside, be sure to put some kind of ID tag on the collar, in addition to the bell.
• Any collar works, as long as it's tight enough so it won't get snagged on things, but without choking them. My cat is indoor/outdoor, and dumb as a stump. If he hasn't hung himself, it would be very hard to a smarter cat to do so. I think break away collars play on people's fears. How does one's cat hang itself anyway? Oh, and I totally second the ID... especially the one your vet gives you when they've completed their rabies' shots. That way if your cat ever gets out, the Vets info is on it, and they can give the caller your Phone Number (this happened to me last week, when my mom accidentally let the cat out the front door.... he usually only goes out through the back, so got sorely confused). Additionally, on the unfortunate chance the cat ends up completely lost or bites/attacks someone who is trying to help... the rabies tag lets the authorities know that he/she is rabies free, so they don't have to destroy the animal (or put in in with others who haven't been tested yet).
• Cats can hang themselves if, for instance, they are in a tree, or on a fence and jump/fall and the collar snags on something which leaves them hanging by the neck until they slowly strangle. A very awful way to go that can be very easily prevented by a six buck collar that has a breakaway device that causes the collar to break rather than the cat hanging and dying.
• We have 3 indoor cats, all collared (breakaways), all IDed, all with shots tags. All 3 have bells, although only the little one is clumsy enough to make noise with it. If kitty is still growing, be sure to check her collar regularly and loosen it to be sure she's not rubbing herself raw (this will happen long before she chokes). One of ours was still growing more than we realized when we collared her and ended up with a raw spot where it rubbed her. She was collar-free for a while until the little raw spot healed. I still haven't gotten over the kitty-mommy guilt, though.
• About the ID thing: Having your vet put in a microchip's the best thing. That way your cat can be identified even without the collar. Most shelters routinely scan any cat or dog brought in.
• (Most shelters here in Britain anyway)
• All shelters, and most vets in the US do, too Pallas. A wonderful invention, isn't it? Some people think it's creepy, but it's saved more than a few lost kitties from being labeled as stray & being adopted out...or worse.
• While you are at it, you can get your own chip, too - in case you get lost. But seriously, get the kitty a chip & then a bell, and if & when your cat figures out the breakaway collar thing, you can rest easier.
• The cats were ok with the bells, but they really made me nervous, tingting tingting, so I took them off. But they never catched much, anyway.
• We belled one of our cats once. It did reduce the number of animals the cat killed - for a while. After practicing for a year or so, he learned to stalk with such uncanny smoothness that the bell didn't sound, except for a single *tink* when he made his final pounce. Often, that wasn't sufficient warning to his prey. I know all this because I used to watch him do it - the bell had been someone else's idea.
• Cats are amazing, aren't they? My Gizmo likes to jump from the bathroom floor to the top of the shower door. One morning, we woke up to Polly sitting on top of the bedroom door. Gizmo, however, isn't stealthy at all, and will stalk Polly or us and not recognize the fact that when we see him, it's over.
• I tried putting a collar on my cat, he reacted to badly I swore I would never do it again. Now he's got a girlfriend, also collarless. The only time I let them outside I watch them like a hawk. My last cat died after (I think) he drank radiator fluid. Ever since I've been paranoid about letting them out of my sight outdoors. As far as the bell thing goes, cats are predators, I feel it kind of deprives them of a right to hunt that is part of their nature. Not saying I don't feel bad about whatever animals they might catch, but depending on the animal success rates on kills are usually pretty low for urban cats.
• Bell, no bell, the kitties will still kill things. The cat we had as kids ended up with a bell and no front claws because she kept ruining the carpet on the stairs and bringing home birds. After the bell was put on, she seemed disgusted - and then discovered that she could sit perfectly still under the feeder and just wait for the birds to come to her. As she got older she stopped going after birds, but was an expert at moles. We would often find her in the yard where the dirt was sandy, listening for a mole to come trotting by, then she'd stab one paw through the dirt on either side of it and pull it out. She always politely left us half a mole on the front steps to let us know she was doing her job. She would often disappear into the woods for several days at a time. We don't know what she ate in there, but she certainly wasn't going hungry. My two kitties now both have collars. My cat Petey has no bell; his fell off when he was very young, and we never replaced it, so by the time he was ready for a new collar the bell sound was firmly established in his head as the noise his brother made - it freaked him out. He could hear the bell but couldn't see his brother. It made him so nervous his collars always get de-belled before we put them on him. We never let them outside unless they are on a cat leash. Busy road right next to us, and I keep seeing "Lost Cat" signs all over the neighborhood. I don't have them tagged with anything other than our names and phone numbers, but I keep thinking about the ID chips.
• I've also known a few belled cats who adapted their hunting style like Lagged2Death describes. Crafty little buggers. Just to share a happy ID chip story, last summer a really nice cat was hanging around our house. She didn't have a collar but was in good shape and desperate to get inside, so we figured she was AWOL from her owner. Fortunately we live across the alley from a terrific lady who does animal rescue. She took the cat to a vet, and voila, ID chip. Less than 24 hours later very happy kitty was reunited with very happy owner. Choked me up, it did.
• And here's the update, in case anyone was wondering. Just the other day I got two nice breakaway collars with little bells on them, neon pink and yellow and orange, (okay, hideous actually) and put them on the cats. Within 24 hours they discovered how to take them off. I never saw them do it and I don't know how they managed it, but they just left them lying on the floor, or on the dog's bed, or in the bathtub. After a day or two of this, I got tired of putting them back on and gave up. Anyone want two barely used belled breakaway cat collars?