Scary Collar Experience

I was at my mom's the other day, and she told me about something that happened with her kitty, Rainbow (who we had ever since I was 9 or so, and who will be turning 16 in April. She's in great health, too!)

Rainbow was wearing one of those safety/break-away collars, and she had somehow gotten one of her front paws wedged up underneath it. Well, she managed to at least partially cut off her oxygen, because my mother found her laying very weak and dazed-looking in the living room like this.

She managed to get the collar off and her paw free, and she took her to the bedroom to observe her. At first, she wouldn't eat or drink or really move, but she perked up, and seems to be fine now. It took a day or so for her to get to that point, though. The vet said just to keep an eye on her; since she's back to her old self, he doesn't think there's any permanent damage. If my mother hadn't been home, she probably would have died. I'm not sure why the "break-away" mechanism didn't work in this case. I guess she wasn't pushing hard enough with her paw to activate it? Maybe because she's older and slower and maybe not as strong as she once was?

I just wanted to share this with everybody as a note of caution. Rainy no longer wears a collar.

Thanks for letting us know! Half of our cats wear a collar and the other half don't. They all have the breakaway collar though. I am glad that your mom was home to help her. It could have been a faulty breakaway or like you stated just getting older and not as strong.

Wow! that's good to know. I'll make sure my new breakaways are working properly and I should probably remove the collars when they become seniors..

That's one reason none of my cats wear collars. Glad she's ok now.

I have to make sure with both of mine that their collars aren't loose; but the risk of them being lost is greater than the risk from wearing collars, so I weighed the options and decided to use collars. Baby is a runner; Tiny could be frightened and run outside; so I want to be sure I can find them again if they go out that door. I know for a fact that Tiny's breakaway collar is safe, because he has learned to remove it himself! I am seriously considering a microchip for him, but haven't got the money right now. When I am employed again (fingers crossed!), it'll be less of a problem.

I know someone whose cat died after she got her jaw over her 'safe' collar and choked (not enough force to break it, I guess). I know of another person who let a kitten outdoors with a breakaway collar on and I guess the kitten was too light to activate it and he hung himself on one of those wire plant fences...none of mine (indoors only) wear them now. Too scary. It seems that there are certain situations the breakaway part does no good. Plus, some people leave them on way too loosely.

I'm glad Rainbow is OK.

I have 2 different breakaway collars (from separate companies), and one seems to be easier to break open. Many times Possum would get his whole arm through it and it wouldn't break open. He'd be able to do this because the collar seems to loosen itself. I haven't had any problems in the last few months; I just make sure it's tightened. I haven't changed his collar because I live in a college town and there's not much of anything around, so I've been having trouble finding the brand of collar Loki wears. This is kind of surprising, actually, because there's a very good vet school here, and I would think there'd be more pet supply stores.

Tricia

I have had two scarey experiences with break away collars. Never again. I don't put collars on my cats.