Kittens and collars.

[Boggles]

Does anyone have any idea how to get a kitten to happily wear a collar please?

This is Alfie. http://dbworld.s3.amazonaws.com/5692374_200.jpg

He is currently 4 months old so has another 4 or 5 months before he will be allowed to start venturing out into the world.

I tried a collar on him yesterday for the first time but he got so worked up, it had to be taken off. Does anyone know how you get them to wear one or is it just a case of putting it on and leaving him alone.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Take baby steps. Start out just letting him sniff it, but don't put it on him. Let him play with it, leave it out on the floor for a day or two, then try putting it on him again. Does it have a bell or anything? If so the noise might be scaring him. Also, is it the kind that will release if it gets caught on something? And if he doesn't already, ask his vet about getting him microchipped in case he does lose his collar.

My parents did similar with the carrier before they last went to the vet. Just left them out in the living room so they could get used to their presence. Even caught them sniffing at them a few times. Made it (slightly) easier to get them in when it was time to go. They don't go outside, though, so they don't have collars. Stripes will let you put one on him (my mom used to take him out on a leash sometimes, but it just encouraged him to try to escape the house even more, so she stopped); Stars will run and hide if you try to take her out.

[Evil Queen]

Some cats are real good about being collared. Others are not; I'd vote "stick it on him and leave him alone"

It's like watching a colt learn to walk with shoes on; they walk really funny so it's going to take time for them to get used to it. Same with Alfie.

[protege]

When I brought Sally and Baxter home from the shelter, both kitties had collars. Sally was pretty good about keeping her collar on. Baxter, was another story. He took it off a few times. Right now, neither one has a collar--after Baxter's cut into his neck (leaving nasty sores), I took them off for good. Oh, and both are chipped in case they get lost.

I haven't had problems getting them into the carriers for the vet trip. They seem to enjoy it. Snow wasn't bad either--she did though, freak out the night I adopted her. She meowed the entire way to my mother's (so she could meet the new kitty), and then meowed the 2 blocks until home.

Kitty was the *worst* when it came to his carrier. He *hated* being in there, since whenever he was in there...he was usually going to the vet. He would put up a fight...meaning the only way to get him in the carrier...was to stand it on end, and drop him in. But, once in there...he wouldn't come out!

[pssorens]

Beware, Cats are really good at the passive resistance method of fighting collars and harness's. My male siamese would turn into a lump on the carpet everytime the harness was put on him.

[protege]

Kitty tolerated the collar, but not the harness. He hated that thing, and the leash too. At the time, I was hoping that he'd come out onto the porch. Even though he was an outside cat when I brought him home...he wanted no part of the porch. So now the kitty leash and harness sits in a drawer. After his reaction, I didn't bother trying it on the other kitties.

Also, Snow wasn't allowed outside anyway--she was deaf, and I worried that she'd get hit by a car. For the same reason, both Sally and Baxter aren't allowed outside, not even on the porch.

[MadMike]

Good luck with that. One of the cats we had, its collar mysteriously disappeared. I later found it outside, next to one of the trees with rough bark, and severed and torn up in the middle. Apparently the cat rubbed it against the tree until it wore thru. I can't believe how smart cats can be.

Another one tried to work it off and ended up working it tighter. Poor thing almost strangled himself. After that, I gave up trying to collar them.

[Saydrah]

Personally I don't collar my cat. She is inside-only and microchipped in case the unthinkable happens and she gets lost outdoors. I have heard a few too many stories about cats injuring themselves with collar snags, even the emergency release kind of collars. But if you really do need your kitty to wear a collar, try putting it on him right before offering him a dish of his favorite snack, like chicken soup baby food or a little saucer of cream. Do that a few times and he'll think wearing the collar means exciting happy time.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Easy; give up and take the kitty down the vet to be microchipped.

My cat refused to wear one then when we finally got her to wear it, by using positive reinforcement, she went out and returned with a smug face and no collar. -.-

[gaspode]

Cats, huh easy .Try putting a collar and lead on my ferret and then count your fingers.As everybody else says just chip the kitty

[Primer]

My cat refused to wear one then when we finally got her to wear it, by using positive reinforcement, she went out and returned with a smug face and no collar. -.-
Sounds like what my cats did. The last time I tried, I got the stretchy type. I found the cat with one front leg through the collar -- wearing the collar like a sash. I gave up after that. The two cats that do like to go outside tend to stay pretty close, and the third cat, the one that started out as feral, now doesn't like to go out at all.

On the other hand, the step-daughter's cat has absolutely no problem with her collar -- never did. :shrug:

[MadMike]

Personally I don't collar my cat. She is inside-only and microchipped in case the unthinkable happens and she gets lost outdoors.

If I ever get to the point where I have to worry about them getting lost again, I'll conside that. But back then, microchipping didn't exist. And my area passed a law over a decade ago that cats aren't allowed to run around loose anymore. And the shelter that I adopted half of mine from require them to remain indoors anyway, regardless of the law. Probably safer for them anyway, considering the number of idiots who seem to confuse my street with a drag strip.

[Saydrah]

I definitely believe cats should stay inside (although I'm iffy on how good an idea it is to prohibit by law letting cats out-- seems just a little overarching) but Monster is chipped because it's easy and has very few risks, and if something happened like, say, a fire or a robbery and she got outside, she'd probably go right up to an animal control person and demand food, get scanned, and get returned to me.

[MadMike]

I definitely believe cats should stay inside

Now that I'm used to the idea, I have to agree. Although there were some cute things about when they used to go outside. The one would come back smelling like a fireplace (it's a completely different smell from cigarettes), so I think she adopted a second family.

One of the others would jump into the outside windowsill to my bedroom window, and meow loudly at me to be let in that way. It was cute. :)

I thought the law was stupid when they first inacted it, but now I can't even imagine letting them outside. Bad enough my big orange one somehow found a way to get from the deck down into the yard, even though the deck doesn't have stairs.

[Lace Neil Singer]

My cat is fine wandering around outside; my parents live in a very quiet cul-de-sac and there is no traffic at all. She lives with my parents cuz when I moved out, she was nearly 10 and I knew that if I tried to take her with me, she'd just run home. Tho I can see how cats should live indoors if you live anywhere with the local grand prix hopefuls using your road to practice on. -.-

[Boggles]

Cheers for the advice folks.

Off to have him microchipped it is then. Maybe next mnth when he is going in to have his bits chopped.

We live in a fairly quite villge with plenty of open countryside so I am not too worried about letting him out. Our last 2 cats used to be outside a lot and the only problm was the regular presents they would bring home. Although the best was a chicken. Plucked, washed and wrapped in clingfilm with the giblets in a little bag. We never did find where it c ame from.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Mine brought in a squirrel once. Still can't figure out for the life of me how she managed to catch one. O.o

[AdminAssistant]

We once had a three-legged cat who would regularly catch rabbits. Grown ones. Of course, this was one of those cats that all dogs feared - heck most people were wary around him.

Our dog has a gift at digging up moles, and he can't understand why Mom gets upset when he's sitting on the front porch with filthy front paws and muzzle, with a dead mole in his mouth, after having dug big holes in the yard. :lol: