Cat Keeps On Losing Collar And Rabies Tag...

I have a 10-year-old cat which spends a lot of time roaming outside the house.

The cat has one of those breakaway collars to which the rabies tag is attached.  Every now and then the cat comes home without collar --and tag!  (The cat is also micro-chipped but I think it would be better if she had her rabies tag on display, too...)

If anyone has found a good solution to this problem, please let me know!

This may sound obvious, but is it the correct size? A general rule of thumb is being able to comfortably fit a finger under the collar. I'm sorry, I don't know what to say besides that

You could try a beastie bands collar ( which uses a different method than breakaways to ensue safety), but, really, loss of collars is normal for many outdoor cats.

Usually, the microchip carries the rabies info, but I do understand why you would want to have it on display, for all to easily see!

Barring making kitty indoor-exclusive, a plastic buckle collar (yes! A BUCKLE collar!) MAY actually be a safe option for your cat.

A study done by the ASPCA of 538 cats and three collar types (plastic buckle, breakaway plastic buckle safety, and elastic stretch safey collars) found this:

*Out of the 538 cats that participated in the 6 month study, 391 (72.1%) kept their collars on the entire time

*the style of collar that had the fewest reports of loss, limb or mouth entrapment was the plastic buckle collar!

Breakaway plastic buckle safety collars can also have safety issues themselves; the prominent one being, if the breakaway buckle of the collar is stuck in the cat's mouth, still around the neck, the cat can panic and strangle. It can also be quite difficult to remove this type of collar (depending on make/type) from the cat, in the event that it gets stuck around the neck and in the mouth.

I am definitely not saying you should use a buckle collar, if you don't feel right about it. It seems to be a viable option, though!

Link to study:
http://aspcapro.org/busting-the-cat-collar-myth

The problem is not with the breakaway collar itself.  The real problem is that the cat gets her rabies tag caught by something and then she has to free herself by pulling on the breakaway collar.

For instance, just a few days ago her rabies tag got caught in the fan grille of an air conditioner condenser located just outside one of my windows; the cat pulled on the breakaway collar to free herself and came back home without collar and tag.

I gotcha! No clue how to help with that!

If it is a legal requirement to have a rabies jab where you live, and if she is microchipped, then people will assume she is rabies-vaccinated. I don't see the necessity of showing the tag. But some cats will not keep on collars or they get caught up even in breakaway ones. I have never been able to keep a collar on my Bonaparte.

Maybe try a custom tag that you can order as a very small tag. You can put on her info and add onto it "rabies vaccinated". Then keep the actual rabies tag at home. Or acquire a second tag along with the rabies tag that has your address on it. Then if a stranger finds the collar it can be mailed back to you.
But if her issue is tags and not the collar consider investing in a personalized embroidered collar. Again make sure it's a breakaway. But you can have it embroidered with her name and number. Then there won't be a tag to pull it off.

Could you use a Sharpie to write your phone number and "Rabies Vaccinated" right on the collar? or '"Has Microchip & Rabies Vax" depending on how much room you have.

While having both a collar with tags and microchip makes good sense ( two methods of protection beat having just 1), I don't understand why you'd use the limited space on a cat collar tag to say that a cat is microchipped. I assume that the phone # on the tag will reunite the cat with you, and that the microchip is more of a backup. Am i missing something?

sargon said:

While having both a collar with tags and microchip makes good sense ( two methods of protection beat having just 1), I don't understand why you'd use the limited space on a cat collar tag to say that a cat is microchipped. I assume that the phone # on the tag will reunite the cat with you, and that the microchip is more of a backup. Am i missing something?

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It may be redundant but not everyone would think to check for a microchip. Us pet people would but non pet people might not even know about microchips. If the tag were to fall off but the collar stayed on the, the collar would direct them to the microchip for the info. The microchip would contain more information then just a phone number.

You can get collars with the phone number woven into the fabric. Also, the collars called BEASTIE BANDS are made of foam and attach with velcro. They are very safe, but I agree, dangling objects are very likely to get caught in things. Personally I keep rabies tags inside the cat's medical folder, and when I have had tags on beastie bands, I use the smallest and lightest ones and only have the cats name and a phone number on them.

My boy made a game of taking off his breakaway collar. He would literally come home with it in his mouth (picture happy dog carrying a stick look not stuck in mouth) and sometimes would "loose" it for a few days before bringing it home. One time he even brought home my other cats lost collar.

Since getting the Beastie Band not a problem. I would agree with having the ravine information engraved on a tag that the collar slides through instead of the hanging tag. I hate hanging tags myself but I have one who gets visibly upset if he doesn't have a tag to click against his food dish (odd one that one) but the other two have the type that slips on the collar.

maddies momma said:

It may be redundant but not everyone would think to check for a microchip. Us pet people would but non pet people might not even know about microchips. If the tag were to fall off but the collar stayed on the, the collar would direct them to the microchip for the info. The microchip would contain more information then just a phone number.

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ah. it is marked on the collar, not the tag.. that makes more sense. i was puzzled about it being on a tag (which already has contact info and shows that the pet has an owner)