Someone taking off my cat collar

idreamofmemory

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I honestly don't know what to do! About a week ago I saw my cat with a collar that I had not placed around his neck. Many of my neighbours know that he is my cat. I kept it on for a couple of days until I could get him a new new one. Mind you is mircrochiped. I finally got him a new one and within a day that collar was taken off so I placed the old collar and I placed a note with it saying "that is a beloved cat and I appreciate the collar but he is cared and loved at home and I would like it if they would not feed or bring him into there home. " I had him carry this note for about a week and they did not even touch it. I bought him recently another collar with a tag and he had it on him this whole weekend and then tonight I see the collar missing! I understand why people would fall in love with becuase he is such a friendly little guy and loves being around people and making friends but he is my cat! I don't appreciate it all. I'm really stressed over this situation. I'm afraid that one day I am going to come home to find him missing! I thought of placing a small camera on his next collar on him but that just seems excessive. I don't know what to do. If I don't let him out he freaks out.
 

red top rescue

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It is likely, your cat is hanging out at two houses and the other family decided to put a collar on him to show that he was "owned" by someone since he wasn't wearing a collar.  When you took off their collar and put your collar on him, did it have a tag with your phone number, etc?  It could be that your collar was not a breakaway or escapable collar, and maybe the collar the other family put on was a breakaway collar.  They didn't have a tag or number on it either, or you could have called them.  So in this case I would put a tag with identification on him, including phone number.  And I would make sure it is a safe breakawaycollar so your cat doesn't get caught on anything.  Is your microchip registered with your vet as well as with the microchip company?  Did you get a microchip number tag along with his microchip registration?  You could have that info on his tag and/or his rabies tag, on the collar as well as the ID tag.  That would be a lot clearer statement of ownership than just a collar with no information, or a hand-written note on it.  Having your phone number and/or address on the tag, along with the cat's name, etc. is a pretty clear statement that he has a home.

And if he shows up with the other collar before you get all that together, perhaps you should just keep him in for a week or two before you let him out again.
 
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molly92

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The only way to be certain nothing will happen to your cat outdoors is to never let him outside unsupervised. It's a very dangerous world out there for cats, with threats from humans, machines, wild animals, dogs, other cats, and diseases.

That said, this does not sound to me like someone is trying to intentionally steal your cat. Cats can be pretty clever about charming people, especially if food is involved. He certainly doesn't understand that he's only supposed to be cared for by you. Just because some of your neighbors know about your cat does not mean all of them do, and it's often hard to tell just by looking if a cat belongs to someone or has been abandoned. It's a little weird that they didn't make contact with you after you put a note on his collar, but maybe they just didn't see it? And cats lose their collars all the time through their own devices.

If you want to know what your cat gets up to, what he's eating, and who he's hanging out with, the camera idea actually might be pretty revealing. I don't know if that would help anything, but it could be interesting. I don't think you definitely have to worry about someone stealing your cat, but humans always surprise me so I can't guarantee that that's not a possibility. The only way you can be sure something won't happen is to bring your cat indoors. Even former outdoor addicts can learn to live happily inside and go for walks on a leash and harness.
 

onirin

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Our cats are indoor only.  In case they do get out they have collars. Their collars say "I AM LOST" so if someone find them they know the cat is not suppose to be outside.

Maybe instead of a note you could make a new tag, which would stay on all the time. Put "Owner: Your name" and a phone number. 

The other family might honestly think they adopted some stray when they were first roaming around without a collar.  Maybe they will give a call and you can work this all out.
 
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idreamofmemory

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It is likely, your cat is hanging out at two houses and the other family decided to put a collar on him to show that he was "owned" by someone since he wasn't wearing a collar.  When you took off their collar and put your collar on him, did it have a tag with your phone number, etc?  It could be that your collar was not a breakaway or escapable collar, and maybe the collar the other family put on was a breakaway collar.  They didn't have a tag or number on it either, or you could have called them.  So in this case I would put a tag with identification on him, including phone number.  And I would make sure it is a safe breakawaycollar so your cat doesn't get caught on anything.  Is your microchip registered with your vet as well as with the microchip company?  Did you get a microchip number tag along with his microchip registration?  You could have that info on his tag and/or his rabies tag, on the collar as well as the ID tag.  That would be a lot clearer statement of ownership than just a collar with no information, or a hand-written note on it.  Having your phone number and/or address on the tag, along with the cat's name, etc. is a pretty clear statement that he has a home.

And if he shows up with the other collar before you get all that together, perhaps you should just keep him in for a week or two before you let him out again.
 
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idreamofmemory

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It is likely, your cat is hanging out at two houses and the other family decided to put a collar on him to show that he was "owned" by someone since he wasn't wearing a collar.  When you took off their collar and put your collar on him, did it have a tag with your phone number, etc?  It could be that your collar was not a breakaway or escapable collar, and maybe the collar the other family put on was a breakaway collar.  They didn't have a tag or number on it either, or you could have called them.  So in this case I would put a tag with identification on him, including phone number.  And I would make sure it is a safe breakawaycollar so your cat doesn't get caught on anything.  Is your microchip registered with your vet as well as with the microchip company?  Did you get a microchip number tag along with his microchip registration?  You could have that info on his tag and/or his rabies tag, on the collar as well as the ID tag.  That would be a lot clearer statement of ownership than just a collar with no information, or a hand-written note on it.  Having your phone number and/or address on the tag, along with the cat's name, etc. is a pretty clear statement that he has a home.

And if he shows up with the other collar before you get all that together, perhaps you should just keep him in for a week or two before you let him out again.
The collar that was placed on him was not a breakaway. In fact I went and bought him a breakaway. I even called my vet to let them know what was going on to put a note of some sort under his microchip if they tried to take him. I had the. Microchip I'd on him but has since gone missing same for the tag. He had his collar with the tag on as I said above but has since been taken away with his name and my number.
 

fairycatmom

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You really shouldn't let your cat just roam around unsupervised. I have a family member who did this and one day her cat never came back. Cats are targeted by abusers as well, recently a cat was horribly abused in my area and on the owner's funding/help page she admitted that she knew that drivers try to hit cats ON PURPOSE. Not to mention diseases they can be exposed to, accidents that can happen, fights, etc. If I were you, I would stop letting him out alone and try to train him to go on walks on a leash-or, do you have a screened porch? It is not even legal in many places to let cats roam. He will be much safer and your stress will go down if you keep him inside
 

tabbycatlover09

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I honestly don't know what to do! About a week ago I saw my cat with a collar that I had not placed around his neck. Many of my neighbours know that he is my cat. I kept it on for a couple of days until I could get him a new new one. Mind you is mircrochiped. I finally got him a new one and within a day that collar was taken off so I placed the old collar and I placed a note with it saying "that is a beloved cat and I appreciate the collar but he is cared and loved at home and I would like it if they would not feed or bring him into there home. " I had him carry this note for about a week and they did not even touch it. I bought him recently another collar with a tag and he had it on him this whole weekend and then tonight I see the collar missing! I understand why people would fall in love with becuase he is such a friendly little guy and loves being around people and making friends but he is my cat! I don't appreciate it all. I'm really stressed over this situation. I'm afraid that one day I am going to come home to find him missing! I thought of placing a small camera on his next collar on him but that just seems excessive. I don't know what to do. If I don't let him out he freaks out.


I have the same problem, and the only advice I can think of (which I will use myself as well) is to put a cat cam on the collar
I'm buying one, hopefully whoever steals my cat's collars will be "scared" by the fact that I had to push myself to the extend of putting a cat cam on my tabby...
I will reply if it will work, hopefully they won't take the cam off, or else I might buy a GPS tracking device for my cat to see who she goes to...
 
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