Poll: Do your cats wear collars?

I just put collars on the cats tonight.  I tried when the boys were kittens but they freaked out so much that I took them off - we were living in a top floor apartment so I didn't consider it a big risk.  Now that we live in a house, they are always crowded at the front door and Joni has managed to squeeze through a couple times.  I want to make sure if they get out that they are identified as mine (with my phone #), not strays or ferals, as I live in a rural area and folks aren't always too friendly to stray cats. 

Anyway, I'm a little nervous, as even though the collars are breakaways I'm still skeered of accidents.  But I'd rather trust the breakaway design than have them escape the house not collared.  Joni has also gotten hers off THREE TIMES ALREADY so I'm thinking the breakaway works!     

So, just wondering how many of y'all's cats wear collars.  Take the poll!  

Wessie used to wear a collar when he went outside, but now that he's always in, there doesn't seem to be much need for one. He lost three already! :lol3:

Living where we do there's just no point. Ours are indoor-only with no interest in the front door, so little risk ( :cross: Knock Wood! ) as it is. But as we live in an RV Park, and everyone knows we TNR, people alert us to cats as it is, and we'd be the ones rescuing them anyway!

If we lived in an area where it might help... I'm not sure what we'd do. Ours are all microchipped. :nod:

I'm REALLY surprised by the results of the poll so far LOL! I'm the lone "yes" vote up there. 

Here's Garfunkel in his new accessory: 

Jamie has worn a reflecting breakaway collar since he was little because he had an unfortunate habit of dropping down on us on the stairs, and that often gave us advance warning. He's slipped out of his harness or out of the house before, too. I decided to remove it when he became so ill (HCM), but he must have felt naked, because he fussed till I put it back on.
Miezi, who goes outdoors, is a whiz at removing collars, so we've given up. Both are tattooed and microchipped.

Gus won't wear a collar. He takes it off. He won't let Lucky wear one either.

Em has been wearing a collar since he's been a kitten.  I don't want to risk him getting out and being lost.  The breakaways are great. I've found it hooked on things every now and again.

My cats all wear collars with name tags on them. I order them cheap off of ebay. I mine love to slip out of the door and I am afraid what would happen if I did not see them slip out. Boo got out once when company was over and I had no idea before the neighbor called to tell me they had my cat.

No, my cats are microchipped and where I live there is a good system of checking all found animals for chips.

Plus I think collars are too dangerous, even the breakaway kind. At the shelter I've seen problems with those as well.

Rosie and Sophie had always worn one, but when l was trying to get Jack used to one he got his mouth caught and clawed at it until he bled. These were breakaway collars as well, but his never opened!

Luckily l was always in the house when l was putting it on him, but it made me think "What if" when l wasn't there, so l even took them off the girls after that

Their all microchipped so their covered still

Both of my cats wear the Beastie Band collars. Monet is microchipped and Cassie will be this summer when things slow down at work and I can take the day off. I don't know if they would be found by microchipping alone (how many people really check for them??)

Monet occasionally loses his collar and i'd have to find it. But both are pretty comfortable wearing them

My cats do not wear collars and I would STRONGLY urge anyone who does put a collar on their cat to use a breakaway collar.

I have a foster cat now, Shadow, who was found with her leg stuck through her collar around her neck and the collar was embedded and cut away at her arm pit. She needed to be trapped to be caught and the wound was so badly infected they could smell her from across the room. Shadow was already spayed when she was found too so she was domesticated and loved at one point but is now so completely terrified and feral that we can't get anywhere near her without a fight, which needs to be done as the wound needs to be treated and she's on antibiotics and pain meds. It breaks my heart to see her like this, and to not even know the pain this cat must have gone through before being caught.

Kailie said:

My cats do not wear collars and I would STRONGLY urge anyone who does put a collar on their cat to use a breakaway collar.

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- Joni has now gotten out of hers five times and Simon twice.  (Garfunkel is clearly not the brains of the operation.)  It's annoying, but demonstrates that breakaways do work as designed and will keep kitty safe if s/he gets caught on something.  Like the blinds-cord issue, it's just not something to take a risk on.

Both the boys had theirs on when I woke up this morning, but Joni was out of hers (the 5th time) - we'll see who still has collars on when I go home tonight! 

Kailie said:

My cats do not wear collars and I would STRONGLY urge anyone who does put a collar on their cat to use a breakaway collar.

I have a foster cat now, Shadow, who was found with her leg stuck through her collar around her neck and the collar was embedded and cut away at her arm pit. She needed to be trapped to be caught and the wound was so badly infected they could smell her from across the room. Shadow was already spayed when she was found too so she was domesticated and loved at one point but is now so completely terrified and feral that we can't get anywhere near her without a fight, which needs to be done as the wound needs to be treated and she's on antibiotics and pain meds. It breaks my heart to see her like this, and to not even know the pain this cat must have gone through before being caught.

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I actually use breakaways for that very reason. I had a roommate who used to buy the toy sized dog collars for the cats. I put a stop to this when I came home one day and poor Ella had stuck her leg through her collar and was stuck there walking around like that until I helped her out. Now my cats leave their collars in various places around the house most of which are places they have snagged themselves and the collar came off so they do work.

Mine won't wear them. They manage to get them off within 15 minutes of me putting them on. I finally managed to figure out how they do it. They stick their paw through the collar, then grab it with their mouth and yank, and then the breakaway pops open. Crazy cats. 

No none wear collars.  And my dog doesn't unless we are going out.

I voted 'NO' because usually all of mine find a way to get out of a collar in a couple of hours.  But, they have all kept their The Calming Collars on!!!  I don't know?  Maybe they just like the way it smells or feels?  But normally, no....

Ours our 100% indoors but do wear collars with tags (and are microchipped) just to be on the safe side. 

It took FIVE tries to find a breakaway collar our Leo couldn't take off by himself....so keep trying if you are having that problem.  Beastie band finally did it for him.  For Emily it took 3-4 tries.  Tuff-lock did it for her.  The ones at pet-smart were no good for us.  We had to start ordering ones from the internet to try.  

I should add that I have seen all three cats activate the breakaway feature (by snagging on something) at one time or another.  So the ones we found that they can't take off are still breakaway safe (as advertised.)

Rosiemac said:

Rosie and Sophie had always worn one, but when l was trying to get Jack used to one he got his mouth caught and clawed at it until he bled. These were breakaway collars as well, but his never opened!

Luckily l was always in the house when l was putting it on him, but it made me think "What if" when l wasn't there, so l even took them off the girls after that

Their all microchipped so their covered still

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Collar accidents are all too common, even with breakaways. Won't risk it with my cats. Mine are all microchipped.