Having a cat of my own, I have learned some different things about the collar. At one time, I had to decide why or why not I would put a collar on my cat.
Benefits of putting a cat collar on my pet
If your cat is an outdoor cat, the benefits of wearing a collar are mostly so that if he or she gets lost someone can find you and bring your pet home. Some people like to feed birds on their front lawns, as the birds are neat for them to watch, and if your cat goes over there, he or she will catch a bird or two. This can upset the neighborhood friendliness, believe it or not. So, if you can get your cat to wear a collar, you can also put a little bell on it. The birds will hear the bell and the birds will live for yet another day. If you love birds, as well as your neighbors, this will make for an even happier neighborhood.
Collars for cats
One benefit of wearing a collar is that the pet will be able to wear a name tag on the collar, generally for outdoor cats. An indoor cat still looks neat with a collar on. Also, if by chance your pet gets fleas, you will not have to have a scratching match with your pet if you need to put a flea collar on them for a week or so. They will already be used to wearing their regular collar.
Another benefit of training your cat to wear his or her collar is that you will be able to train him or her to go for walks. This is an especially great idea for a cat that stays inside all the time. It is great exercise for you, too.
Disadvantages of putting a cat collar on my pet
If your pet is an outdoor cat and they have not been trained to wear a collar, or if the collar is too loose, they can get caught up on tree branches when they run through the woods. There are some ways to avoid this, starting when cats are younger. I will touch upon this a bit more later in the article.
One disadvantage of wearing a collar is that if the pet does get fleas, the fleas will hide under the collar. We can tell if our cat has fleas, very easily, as they will begin to scratch at their collar a lot. To remedy this, some people take their pet’s collar off at night when the entire household goes to sleep.
When we look at the disadvantages of the collar, there is a simple solution to avoid the disadvantages. Putting a collar on our cat when they are a kitten’s age will cut down on the bad happenings that could occur if we begin to use a collar when they cat is a lot older. One of my cats would not wear a collar. In fact, he literally jumped up and down the walls of the house once that collar was around his neck. Then, he calmed down and began to try to get it off over his head, got his mouth stuck in it, and literally jumped the walls again, while his mouth was stuck in it. This was traumatic for me and for the cat.
Avoiding trauma
The way to avoid this entire trauma is quite simple. When you want to introduce and older cat to the collar, do it slowly, have some treats for him or her, and be ready to cuddle your cat and play with him or her for a while. Do this for a few minutes at a time, each day, for a few days. Then, try to leave the collar on your cat a little bit longer on the fourth day. You may still want to have some treats or some new and interesting food your cat has never had. This will distract your pet while they are wearing the cat collar.
What did I decide to do about whether or not to put a collar on my pet?
With some of my cats, I chose to put a cat collar on them. With some of my cats, I tried to do this, and I gave up and never tried to put a collar on them again. I learned more as time went on, cat after cat, and now I would say that I would put a collar on my cat. I would start this out early, like around 9 or 10 weeks old.