Purrs In Our Hearts - Cat Forum UK
Cat General => General Cat Chat => Topic started by: AllShookUp on November 07, 2010, 12:52:57 PM
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Elvis is my 1st experience with a kitten.. our last cat was an elderly indoor rescue cat. She wouldnt wear a collar and so I didnt insist on her having one as she never went out.
My question is, at what stage in a kittens life do I try and introduce a collar?
Elvis is 9 weeks old. We put a kitten collar (with a safety clasp) on him last night. It had a bell on it which drove him mad and he kept trying desperately to get it off. I told my husband to take the bell off. He seemed less botheresd about the collar being on.. and only sometimes trying to scratch it off etc.
But later in the night he was trying to get it off again and managed to get his bottom jaw kinda caught on it. He became very distressed as we were trying to calm him down and take it off.
It hasnt been put bck on since then. I was just wondering when the ideal time to re introduce it to him would be?
Thanks for any help :)
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9 weeks is too young, their little necks are still growing and developing and even a kitten collar will be very heavy to him. He won't be going outside till he's at least 6 months anyway so there's no hurry, I wouldn't start until maybe 4 months? I can't remember when I did it with mine but neither wear collars anymore, Chilli loses them far too quickly and it costs me a fortune!
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ok thank you :) we had planned on leaving him just now anyway, we just didnt know when we could start again. Thank you so much :) xxx
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I think 6 months as generally that is when they are neutered and shouldn't go outside until then. When you say safety clasp, hopefully you mean the break away variety not elasticated which are dangerous? The break away ones can of course only work if the kitten/cat weighs enough to break away under pressure. Our Groucho is now 4 1/2 months old and not small (in fact big enough to be neutered early) but he doesn't weigh enough yet for a break away collar.
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Oh blimey! Just saw Elvis' pic and he's the image of our Groucho when he arrived here :Luv: :Luv: :Luv:
See?
(http://i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii191/Rosella100/P1000031.jpg)
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Mine don't wear collars either,they are all chipped though.
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:O hes is the spit of Elvis (or vice versa) :evillaugh:
Yeah the one we have for him is the break away one. Red tartan with a black break-away clip thing.
We plan to have him micro chipped too once he has been neutered :)
We are just gonna leave him till hes much bigger. Thank you again! xx
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The same thing happened when I tried introducing a collar to my kittens (too early). As their jaws are short/not fully developed they get their jaw stuck under the collar which an adult cat with a long/fully developed jaw would struggle to do and even if they did an adult cat would have the strength to pop the clasp open.
I left it til mine were around 4/5 months and intoduced them gradually for a few minutes at a time to begin with until they were comfortable wearing one. Mine only wear collars outside now but one of them always gets his off within minute so don't bother for him now, the other one is happy to wear one and gets quite excited as he knows it means he can go outside! :)
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Thank you :) xxx
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:O hes is the spit of Elvis (or vice versa) :evillaugh:
Yeah the one we have for him is the break away one. Red tartan with a black break-away clip thing.
We plan to have him micro chipped too once he has been neutered :)
We are just gonna leave him till hes much bigger. Thank you again! xx
I would have Elvis microchipped as soon as possible, we have had cases on Purrs of youngsters that have escaped before they had been chipped. :( A identity collar is only useful whilst it is still in place, a chip is a marker that any vet or rescue should look for and is there for life.
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okey I will do. Hes in for his last lot of vaccines on the 25th... I will get him chipped then too. Thank you
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Good idea. It was vet suggested our Groucho get chipped at same time as neuter op but it became more and more obvious that we were running serious risk of him escaping without a chip in place :scared: so brought him back to be chipped. Vet then said he was big enough for op at only 4 months. Our boy's gonna be a whopper :Luv: :Luv: :Luv:
Both Ruby and Millie were chipped no bovver at 11 weeks old :hug:
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Luna was chipped when she had her second vac and no bother at all when they did it, think she was 12 weeks at the time.
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perfect. I will call the vets before the 25th and make sure they can micro chip him too. Thanks! xx