Poll: Do your cats wear collars?

[starryeyedtiger]

All of my animals (cats and dogs) wear properly fitting collars with id tags on them at all times, no exceptions! Mine are all microchipped and registered as well. When I worked for animal control, I saw animals who clearly came from loving homes pts because we simply had no more room for them in the shelter. A lot of them were strays that clearly had belonged to families. Unfortunately, we simply had no way of reuniting them with their families though, despite our best efforts. This is why having them chipped and tagged is so important! I also saw animals come in with proper id on them, and know first hand that collars and tags save lives (microchips too)! There's no way I'd ever gamble on it.


One piece of advice: if your pets are microchipped (or tattooed), PLEASE be sure to keep your information up to date with the microchip company your pet is registered through. It does no good to have them chipped if you don't keep the information on file accurate. (It's also a good idea at their yearly vet check to have them scan your pets microchip and make sure that it hasn't migrated too) Also, please do not rely on a rabies tag alone to reunite you with your missing pet; it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! (You have to match up the vets office out of ALL the ones in your city with that specific rabies tag number....it takes a small eternity, and lots of digging just to do that. Most shelters simply do not have the time to play detective when they're trying to run a facility. Many times, owners don't update their telephone number or addresses with the facility they had their animals vaccinated in, so even if you manage to find the owners name, it winds up being useless in terms of reuniting them with their owners if you have outdated contact information. My biggest advice is to keep your information at your vets office and microchip company up to date; it can make a huge difference!

Another tip: Put your email address on your pets ID tag in addition to your address/ number. It gives shelters/ whomever finds your pet yet another way of getting in contact with you. I do that with all of mine!

 

[tarav]

My cat Pepper wears a collar, always a breakaway. She has lost a few as she goes outside, but she has had this last one since October and she has even kept the bell on this time...ha ha ha

 

[artemisdiana]

Lucie is particular - some collars she pulls off immediately, and more than once, if I insist on putting it back on again. She is currently wearing a flea collar on which I have hung her bell - she loves her bell. The kittens haven't yet gotten collars, but they all have harnesses and leashes, and all three are microchipped.

 

[nekochan]

Also, please do not rely on a rabies tag alone to reunite you with your missing pet; it's like trying to find a needle in a haystack! (You have to match up the vets office out of ALL the ones in your city with that specific rabies tag number....it takes a small eternity, and lots of digging just to do that. Most shelters simply do not have the time to play detective when they're trying to run a facility. Many times, owners don't update their telephone number or addresses with the facility they had their animals vaccinated in, so even if you manage to find the owners name, it winds up being useless in terms of reuniting them with their owners if you have outdated contact information. My biggest advice is to keep your information at your vets office and microchip company up to date; it can make a huge difference!

I think this depends on where you live. Where I live, if you call the number on the rabies tag, you will reach the animal control bureau and if you tell them the ID number from the tag, they can tell you the name of the clinic where the tag was issues right away. The vet's office should be able to tell you what animal has that rabies tag #...

However, as you mentioned this only works if the owner keeps their information current with the vet's office where their pets got vaccinated. I did once find a dog wearing a rabies tag, get the vet's info and then the vet gave me the owner's contact info, but when I tried to contact the owner I found out that the info was out of date, the number was disconnected. A neighbor of mine rescued dogs/cats and was a police detective so I asked her for help, she checked and found the person no longer lived at the address the vet had for them, there was no forwarding address and she could find no current address for them. I never did find his owners, but due to circumstances I think that the dog might have been dumped anyway. The vet who gave the rabies vacc had only seen him once and the dog did not answer to the name that the vet had for him at all.

Yes, all my cats, who are all indoor only, wear collars and tags- except my elderly cat. I took hers off because she's so slow and arthritic there's no chance of her getting lost. I am paranoid about my pets getting out or getting lost in an emergency or disaster or something (they're also microchipped). There are so many ferals around here that no one would even look twice at a cat wandering around outside without a collar. My cats all wear tags that say either "INDOOR ONLY" or "LOST IF ALONE". 

Most of my cats wear Collartags which are like a nameplate, nothing dangling from the collar to potentially get caught on something. Except for Mr Grey, because I wanted a tag with medical info because he has immune issues and serious allergies so I needed more space than the Collartags have for info, so I got him a 2-sided hanging tag. The from says in larger letters MEDIC ALERT:  -Needs Meds  -Do No Feed (because of his severe food allergies). The other side says IF ALONE, I'M LOST and my contact info...

This is the old tag he had, the new tag looks the same except with the wording I listed above:

 

[mimosa]

One piece of advice: if your pets are microchipped (or tattooed), PLEASE be sure to keep your information up to date with the microchip company your pet is registered through. It does no good to have them chipped if you don't keep the information on file accurate. (It's also a good idea at their yearly vet check to have them scan your pets microchip and make sure that it hasn't migrated too)

Yup, very important, it is estimated that about 25% of microchips in my country are not or incorrectly registered. I register all the fosters myself because I've seen to many examples of vets, shelters and new owners not doing it correctly if at all.

To prevent the fosters from going into areas that are designated "our cats only" we have installed cat flaps with microchip access, Ernesto never went through the flaps at first. When someone from the rescue came by to show me her new chip reader she scanned him to show how it works and it took a long time to find his chip because it was in his front paw ! No wonder he never went through the flap, he couldn't because it scans their neck for a chip before it unlocks. Ernesto now has a second chip in his neck.

 

[Willowy]

All the rabies tags here have the vet office's name and number engraved on them. . .is this not usual? Then you call the vet and tell them the number on the tag and they'll call the owner.

Anway, no, none of my cats wear collars. I used to collar everyone but gave it up after I got to 10 or 12 cats. Just too hard to keep up with. And some of them were getting sores under their collars from the constant rubbing. I took the collars off about 5 years ago and some of the older cats still have collar rings because the fur never grew back properly--I think there's scarring . Nobody has ever gotten out because I'm kind of hypervigilant about it, but I do worry. And Animal Control in my town doesn't have a microchip scanner so there's no point in 'chipping them, plus some have had bad reactions to vaccines so I'm afraid injecting the microchip might cause similar inflammation (and inflammation leads to cancer. . .etc.).

 

[jcat]

All the rabies tags here have the vet office's name and number engraved on them. . .is this not usual? Then you call the vet and tell them the number on the tag and they'll call the owner. .

Rabies tags aren't usual in Europe - pets get an EU "passport" now with all their inoculations entered and stamped by the vet. The counties in Pennsylvania and Nebraska where my parents lived didn't have the names of vets on the rabies tags, just the county, year and an I.D. number.

 

[Willowy]

Huh, that sounds like my dogs' city license tags (year, number, name of town). Every rabies tag I've gotten (and I've used a lot of vets :tongue2 has had the vet's name, address, and phone number, plus a serial number for I.D.. Even the ones I got from the low-cost spay/neuter clinic for the ferals. Odd.

 

[nekochan]

To prevent the fosters from going into areas that are designated "our cats only" we have installed cat flaps with microchip access, Ernesto never went through the flaps at first. When someone from the rescue came by to show me her new chip reader she scanned him to show how it works and it took a long time to find his chip because it was in his front paw ! No wonder he never went through the flap, he couldn't because it scans their neck for a chip before it unlocks. Ernesto now has a second chip in his neck.

Wow, I've heard of migrating chips before but that's the first I've heard of one in a paw! I actually found out that one of my dogs had a second, migrated chip. She was a stray and when I found her I had a vet scan her, they didn't find a chip. After we couldn't find her owners we ended up keeping her, and I got her microchipped. 10 years later she was very sick and had a chest x-ray, and they found she had a second chip that had migrated down her chest near her front leg. So apparently she had been chipped before I  found her. My vet thinks that chip may have either never been activated or been defective because when they scan a pet for a chip they usually check all over so she thinks it would have been found if it was working. We never found out for sure though because when we found it my vet had just opened a new clinic (in fact it was technically not even open yet) and didn't have a scanner and Ginger was so sick (cancer) that I pretty much forgot about it and she passed away soon after so we didn't have a chance to get it scanned.

All the rabies tags here have the vet office's name and number engraved on them. . .is this not usual? Then you call the vet and tell them the number on the tag and they'll call the owner.

I think that might be a regional thing. I've never seen one like that here where I live, the rabies tags all come from the county and so all vets have the same exact tags the county gives them, so the tags just have the county animal control phone number on them, not anything identifying the vet clinic on the tag.

 

[ashley marie]

My little man is an inside cat and is micro-chipped but I keep his collar on just in case he gets out, lets face it, it is more likely someone will see the collar and return than take the animal(especially if it looks healthy) to a vet and scanned.

 

[rad65]

I don't keep collars on either of my cats. I put a collar on Memphis when I first got him since he was already an adult, was in the shelter since he was born, and was used to the collars they put on him, but I noticed his neck fur was really thin and there were bald patches from the collar he wore at the shelter, those concert wristband-type collars, so I took the collar off to let that heal and never remembered to put it back 

. I ended up getting Tails one month later; he was only two months old and he hated his collar more than anything, so after some futile efforts on my part I figured they could do without collars until I move out of the city at least. They've both gotten out, but neither of them is willing to wander away from my backyard area once they do get out. Tails squirmed out of a second floor window one night, and I found him sitting on the other side of the fence in my backyard, staring at my apartment when I woke up in the morning. In fact, with the yowl-meows he was making when he saw me, you'd think I pushed him out that window myself. Now I can keep the back door open all day if I want, and Tails won't wander more than 10 feet onto my back deck without me next to him 

.

Both my cats are microchipped, however. That's standard procedure at all the shelters in Chicago. I don't think they're allowed to adopt out a cat who isn't chipped.

 

[meuzettesmom]

Two of my cats love wearing their breakaway collars. Tags and all. If someone sees them outside, they will know someone owns them and its not one they should round up.

 

[missymotus]

lets face it, it is more likely someone will see the collar and return than take the animal(especially if it looks healthy) to a vet and scanned.

I suppose that depends on where you live, with microchipping laws here chipping is extremely common.

 

[yayi]

Like catsallaround, none wear collars even the dogs except when out for walks. 

 

[mollymoomoo]

a breakaway collar is like no collar.... they break away very easily and thus no use at all... microchip is the way to go.... if the cat is  lost it will be afraid for a while and then seek humans who will hopefully turn it in.... then the chip is useful...i saw on the tv that some animals had a tattoo on the inside of the ear... i dont know if i would have my cat go through that or how much it is or if its even a choice in the united states....my first cat never had the urge to go outside  maybe just to look if i opened the door.... my now cat is the same!!!!  loves her domain and has no need to look further... the front window is all they need at my house...we all know our cats best i guess....

 

[ashley marie]

I suppose that depends on where you live, with micro chipped laws here chipping is extremely common.

 Where I live all shelter animal must be micro chipped before adopted out, like in most places, BUT it is up to the owner to go on line and pay the fee to register that microchip, most people do not do this making the microchip useless, My cat is microchiped(and his number is registered back to my husband and I) but as a precaution, to avoid him having to set paw in a shelter again we keep his collar on, it does not seem to bother him and he does not even know it is there, It is more likely someone will pick him up and see the number and call as oppose to taking him to the shelter if not just keeping him for themselves in the off chance he gets out.

 

[mollymoomoo]

yes i beleive that is a good idea then.....

 

[parsleysage]

I gave up on the collars.  Joni would not keep hers on, and I was afraid to make it any tighter.  Simon didn't take his off as much as Joni, but still managed it several times, in only 24 hours.  Garfunkel kept his on but pulled the tag off - 

They aren't chipped - I will be doing that ASAP and will just be hypervigilant about the door.  I will keep the collars safe and try, yet again, when they are older.

 

[nekochan]

The problem with a microchip is it's not visible. If someone sees a cat running around here they generally assume it is a feral cat and they will ignore it. The hope is that if they see a cat wearing a collar they are more likely to try to find the owner and not assume it's a feral/stray. Especially if the tag indicates the cat shouldn't be outside... Mine have microchips too, but they also wear collars.

Unfortunately the microchips may also migrate so it's possible they could be scanned and no chip found...

 

[ashley marie]

The problem with a microchip is it's not visible. If someone sees a cat running around here they generally assume it is a feral cat and they will ignore it. The hope is that if they see a cat wearing a collar they are more likely to try to find the owner and not assume it's a feral/stray. Especially if the tag indicates the cat shouldn't be outside... Mine have microchips too, but they also wear collars.

Unfortunately the microchips may also migrate so it's possible they could be scanned and no chip found...

That is exactly why I do both! My fear is because he is such a loving cat that if he does get out, someone will just grab him and keep him as there own, most people don't realize a clean, friendly cat usually belongs to someone and "Escaped" the house or is an indoor-outdoor animal, many cats go missing because people trying to be nice adopt these animals that already had loving homes.