When Grooming Gets Ugly..

I think its very weird and if your cat doesn't come back when you call than really can you say it should be outside? I've seen alot of animals get out of collars or their harranas and it can be dangours if there not being watched.

They love to rub agaisn't things so the possiblity of getting there collar snugged is a big risk. My cats go outside free range you just make a kiss sound and they come running back.

Cats in a harness should never ever be left unattended or tied to anything unless you are seriously right there (like you are on your deck and you attach them to the chair you are sitting in-- even then it could be a problem if a dog shows up or something).

Breakaway collars solve the problem of them possibly becoming snagged on something. Not 100%, but compared to dog-type collars, they do.

And just to re-emphasize, cats cannot be walked on a leash with just a collar. Cat collars even carry warnings to that effect. They have to have a harness or a walking jacket.

I can't keep up in here lol. I agree Zissou's mom .

Hello Kitty Paws

I know where you are coming from. I find the idea of walking my cat on a leash rather strange as well. I live in the UK where it is much more common to have an indoor/outddor kitty and I guess, I should put a collar on them, but I have seen some bad pictures where cats got stuck with them in awkward places (even the breakaway ones), so I am not going to. They are both microchipped though and the neighbours know them, so they don't think they are strays.

Calling them back is easy.... just open a packet of food... this will normally bring Gizmo back and then Bubbles follows out of curiosity.

Dangers outside ? Well, I live in London, so obviously cars are a danger, but they are both scared of cars and motorbikes, which helps keeping them out of the road. Gizmo also likes to go next door and steal their cats food, which isn't very much appreciated by the neighbour's rather huge cat. So far Gizmo has escaped with a smack on the bum from "Huge Cat", I am sure she can hold her own in a fight though.

What other dangers ? Not really sure, and I don't really want to think about it too much. The foxes are fine for now, but I may have to keep an eye on them in the winter since we now have wheelie-bins and they can no longer feed off the rubbish and lovingly spread the contents of our bin bags all over the pavements.

I know in the US you have a lot more dangerous animals about, so keeping your cats indoors might be a good idea, but here in London the wildlife is limited.

The most i see is deer out here and we live next to a forest. Not much of coyotes and such people "think" they see them but come on they look like dosmetic dogs so really theres no way to determine what people see.

So really the only danger is cars because we don't have many animals out here maybe a few stray cats. But thats about it.

I really don't think the situation with cars even in London compares to the average road in the US. Gasoline in the UK costs twice as much as it does here (US dollars per gallon). Families have four or five cars. People go over 60 mph (around 100 kph) on regular streets, even in residential areas, regardless of the speed limit.

If I lived in the UK I would probably let my baby girl outside too, or at least in an enclosed garden.

Here, the alley/driveway behind my building is even dangerous due to the number of cars, and you have to go down a residential street and through a parking lot to get to it.

That and the fact that not everyone will swerve to miss a cat in the road. Or even be paying enough attention to what they're doing to notice that that wasn't a speedbump.

lol,yeah - the good thing about London is that there are so many cars, they all go quite slowly. But I live in the suburbs and we have these idiots racing down the residential streets like mainacs. Thankfully they usually also have these huge exhausts which make a ton of noise, so the cats hear them early enough.

It must be nie to live in a country where filling up your car doesn't cost an arm and a leg and then some (and that's not only for petrol, but also for shopping...)

Oh, I've never had a car. For one thing, I don't believe in paying someone to destroy the planet. But yes, the prices of everything else that runs on gas are lower here, and I guess I'm glad for that (you're right, gas prices affect pretty much every single thing we buy).

I think the strangeness of leash-training is a cultural thing, here it is sort-of normal. Another person in the building next to me (only 6 units per building, so we aren't talking many people) has her cat out on a leash too. My sister's cat was trained on a leash as a kitten, until he was brain damaged. I've seen other people at the park and such with their cats on leashes.

Whereas, I imagine you've never seen it or if you did it was quite the novelty. Just like I giggle when I hear someone use the word "whilst" with a straight face.

All of ours wore a collar until their first birthday, as training for times when a collar is crucial. Such as moving.
Two of ours are permanantly in collars.
One because she was feral, and still makes dashes for the door, the other because she wears a medic alert tag.

All are microchipped.

Gas prices really never take affect on me i hate bush period so i guess its more of a face the facts kind of thing. But i travel alot so i guess i'm use to all types of prices. But it is expensive in some parts of Ohio and here its about $2.82 a gallon.

My charger is pretty good on gas though so it really doesn't matter. I shop alot lol, but in the malls theres sales and such hehe,

Gas prices affect everything. When you go to the grocery, the prices are higher when gas prices are higher because it costs the store more to deliver things. Same with pizza delivery, shipping costs, plane tickets... every single thing we buy has been shipped from somewhere and the higher the prices are the higher the prices are to you as a consumer. The way people travel, the types of cars they buy, the amount of extra money they have to spend-- which directly affects our economy in a negative way when prices are high.

It doesn't have all that much to do with Bush. Yes, the gas companies are getting away with murder, but in a capitalist society, companies can charge as much as people will pay. And since nobody is refusing to pay 3$ a gallon, they're charging 3$ a gallon.

Wow....

I think collars are a good idea. Zissou is an escape artist.

lol, i still hate bush and its his fault that were in this gas price mess. Like i said it doesn't affect me at all i don't really care when it comes to prices on stuff. Its life i learn to live it, i don't see the big deal with the grocery stores like you said it cost money to get stuff here.

But yea prices are going up and such but its just how things are. Also i was thinking about getting a collar for Smore but he won't go outside or on walks (lol) but something tells me he's on his way to the "Excape" artist tittle...

I know this is a very old thread but I was reading through and wanted to chime in that I have a collar on my babe all the time unless she is getting her claws clipped. She actually has three collars because I think they are cute but even just the collar itself shows that she has an owner. I live in a large apartment site and all the buildings look the same. If she were to get out she would be lost forever likely. This way her info is written on the inside of the collar and the collar shows she is owned. She isn't microchipped yet but she will be soon enough