my cat loses its collar?

Question

My cat Ziggy will never keep on his collar. it's a really big waste of money since he always manages to get it off in the next 3 days. I really want him to keep his collar on, because he is mostly outside in other people's properties, and if he got lost (he has before), then i wouldn't be able to find him.If you put a bell on his collar, he gets it off in 1 day usually. Oh, and another thing, a couple of months back, he seemed to have taught my other cat Felix the same thing (not extremely logical i know) because Felix has never lost his collar before and now he has. my parents think that getting a microchip is slightly on the expensive side, so they won't do any thing about that. How do I get my cat to keep the collar ON NOT OFF?

As it already says at the end, my parents think its to expensive to get a microchip!!!!!

Well if you can suggest a cheap place to me, or if they are cheap always, than maybe.

Answer 1

If you want the collar on for identification, get kitty microchipped. It costs around £25 (don't know about cost in USA) and lasts a lifetime, so sounds as if it would be cheaper than continuous collars! If your cat gets lost and is picked up by anyone, they can scan a microchipped cat and ring the microchip helpline thingy, then these people can look up the microchip number and tell that the cat belongs to you. They hold all your info like your address and phone numbers etc. No need for a collar at all!

I don't really like putting collars on cats - they can actually be dangerous, for although most are designed to slip off some don't, and then rather horrendous accidents can occur, the results of which I've seen a few times. For this reason I'd never put a collar on my cat - just not worth the risk really. If you do find a way of making sure kitty can't get collar off at all, this is particularly dangerous - they NEED to be able to come off easily.

Reasons for putting a collar on a cat debunked:
Identification - microchipping is safer and in your case, cheaper!
Flea treatment - GRR! Doesn't work! (the flea has to actually walk over the collar)
Reflective collars - cats eyes are more reflective, so not really convinced there's a point in these. Plus by the time a vehicles head lights have reflected off a collar it might already be too late!
Bells - the amount of cats I've seen learn to hold the bells in their mouths so they can still hunt!
Magnetic (cat flap) collars - the only vaguely acceptable reason I can think of for a cat wearing a collar

So there you go - recommend microchip! Not that expensive and like I said, will probably work out cheaper in your case - by the time Felix has lost 5 collars, you'll already be more out of pocket than if you'd got him chipped! Please don't make it so that kitty can't get the collar off.

Chalice

Answer 2

My vet was only going to charge $25 or $50 for the microchip (sorry, can't remember which one but I'm thinking $25 for some reason). Don't get a dog collar. If the cat gets caught on something, he could choke to death as he struggles to get out. You should always use a cat safety collar. Best thing would be just to keep th ecat inside but I know that isn't always easy.

Answer 3

I would say to get a dog collar instead of a cat collar.

I had this problem with our two cats. One could just scratch a certain way, catch the collar with a claw and unlatch it, then walk away. The other would catch her tongue on the nylon and pull it off the latch.

With a leather dog collar (small, about 1/3-1/2 inch in width, 10-14 inches in length), you should be able to avoid the issue of collar loss.

:)

Answer 4

one of my cats did that for a while. What we got was one of those little tiny "choke chains" for dogs. It doenst choke them, but my cat never got it off :D

or you could get one of those cat harnests, wher it straps around their legs

But if you have a choice, get a microchip. They can hold TONES of mempry, like your phone number(s), address, and even the recent medication your cat has.

I would seriously sugest the chips, but the collars are just as handy sometime :D

Answer 5

Put the collar around your cat's body, let's see if Ziggy can take it off.

Answer 6

go to petco for the doctors to put a microchip on it.