scotth@hercules.UUCP (Scott Herzinger) (05/07/84)
I think someone ought to speak up in defense of collars on cats. I
encourage the use of collars on cats as a convenient place to attach
identification tags. (For those who may be deterred by the length
of this article, please don't skip the STATISTICAL argument at the
end).
Cats do get lost and injured. ID tags provide the only means (for a
stranger) for returning pets to owners and contacting owners when an
injured pet is found. Multnomah county (Portland OR) requires cat
licenses just for this reason. Collars and tags work, and are
effective.
I can't imagine letting my pets outside untethered without
identification. You shouldn't either.
As to cats not liking collars, well, horses don't like saddles, either,
but they get used to them. It sometimes takes time. The cats I've had
since kittenhood got used to them quickly; older cats required a
gradual adjustment. Moreover, there are good collars available (the
ones I buy are made of nylon webbing) that have an elastic section that
permit the collar to come off over the cat's head should it get caught.
Even strays that have never had a home, and have never been restrained
adjust to wearing a collar, just as they adjust to people and affection.
And they like being healthy so much better.
Another alternative is to permit your cat to run inside without a
collar, and put one on when it goes outside. Yes, this takes time, and
you have to think about it when your cat wants out. My cats are
important enough to me to take this time for their safety.
For cats that wear their collars all the time, and during collar-
adjustment periods, take the collar off now and then, and give the cat
a nice neck rub. They seem to associate the collar with the petting,
and it seems to make the collar a positive experience. Pretty soon,
they're naked without a collar.
Some of my friends have a cat-sized harness that goes on the cat when
it goes outside. Then the harness is attached to a tether fastened to a
pole on the back porch. The cat loves the arrangement. It gets fresh
air, grass, dirt, etc. as well as safety.
Here is the STATISTICAL argument:
I am closely acquainted with Portland, OR's emergency veterinary
clinic. They provide emergency-room type services to injured animals.
They receive injured animals directly, and patients are also referred
to them by most of the city's veterinarians. They know what kind of
injuries occur to animals, they follow the seasonal trends just like
human hospitals do (recreational-related injuries in the summer,
hunting accidents, slug-bait poisoning, etc, auto injuries always).
They have had substantially less than one collar-related injury per
one-hundred non-collar-related injuries. And the unaminous feeling of
the staff is that the access to the pet's owners (thorough the ID tag
on the collar) overwhelmingly increases the pet'safety than to permit
the cat to run without a collar.
I hope the length of this article didn't deter the pet owners who
should be reading it from doing so. If you have any questions or
comments, please send them directly to me.
--
Scott Herzinger; Logic Design Systems; Tektronix; Inc.
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