Warning: The Dangers Of Flea Collars

This is a warning about the dangers of flea collars.

Since I have 8x 5 month old kittens, I found that store brought flea collars were effective and I thought that they were relatively safe - most animals wear them at some stage, and no pets in the past have ever had a problem.

2 days ago, I went out to check on all my cats and feed them. I found one of my kittens, Ashara bunched up on the floor, rigid, and when I bent down to examine why she was like that, I just about cried.

She had gotten her flea collar (which none of the other kittens had, had problems with, it wasn't too tight or too loose) up over her jaw, and it was pulling her jaw down and strangling her. She had blood everywhere, I honestly thought she had broken her neck and was dead or near dead. I got the collar off and cleaned her up, and she seemed fine - she had bitten her lower lip to shreds trying to get it off.

But the flea collar caused her unnecessary pain, risk of infection, and if it had taken me longer to find her - possibly death. Please be aware, that catching on objects and fences ect are not the only dangers collars pose.

I do not use them because they are unsafe and also Cats have been poisoned with them too. I hope your Cat will be ok.

I never used a flea collar because my cats are strictly indoor. However, I once put a regular collar on Buster but it was a disaster. He spent hours trying to take it off by pawing his ears. Ultimately, he burst a blood vessel in his ear, which caused a hematoma. Nearly $1000.00 later, he had to undergo emergency surgery in order to drain the blood. I never tried using a collar again.

Glad to hear that your kitten is alright!

yikes how scarey. I'm glad you found her in time the poor little thing.

Thanks for the warning but there is a bigger concern regarding flea collars.

If the animals chew on them, they will poison themselves! Most of us do not use them and caution owners to throw them away or use them in the vacuum cleaners. They are the least effective way of flea control and more dangerous then helpful. And most cats will have allergic reactions with the collar on their necks.

I suggest you do the same - get rid of the collars now and use Frontline or Advantage flea control from your vet.

I'm so glad your poor little one was okay! Something similar happened with my mom's senior cat a few months back. She's gotten her front paw wedged between the collar and her neck, and she would have strangled herself if my mom hadn't found her. It was a breakaway collar, but I guess in her old age she just wasn't strong enough to break it.

My cat doesn't wear a collar, for that reason. And I've never used flea collars.

Riley wears a collar lately, because lately he has been trying to get out the door a lot. Once he gets over this "phase" I will take the collar back off. It is a breakaway collar though and very lightweight.

I would never put a flea collar on him though.

I used to work in a vet/boarding clinic and I can't even tell you the number of times I would come in the mornings and find a dog with their collar wrapped around their head and in their mouth like this. Fortunately it was never serious with the ones that I found but I just wanted to post that this can happen to any animal and any type of collar.

i remember when i was a kid my mums cat managed to get her front leg through the collar and it was so tight, pulling on her neck. fortunately she was in the house when this happened so we cut it staight off. another time she got the collar caught on a small branch and again, fortunately we saw her do this so rescued her.

i wouldn't put any type of collar on my cats because of seeing that.

glad your kitten was ok!

I'm glad you found your kitty in time.

I don't put collars on my cats for this reason. They will try whatever way they can to get rid of it and often get into trouble.

I am glad your kitty is ok!!!

I have never in my life put flea collars on my cats.....

Hey I understand the flea collar did that to Midnight. I saw sticky stuff then I touched it then I smelled poop I was going to wipe it then I saw this red mark then I took it off her and Hadini had a owie from it so I took it off him. It didn't affect my other two cats Kona and Sally