Cat collars

slowone

slowone

Jedi Master
Hi all,

Some thoughts would be appreciated please.

We have two rescue cats who are about 2 years old. They are great hunters of mice etc. Anyway today Lulu the girl cat brought in a Blue Tit she had killed.

The thing is there is a Blue Tit nest in the garden. Should I get them collars with bells on to protect the birds? Or should I just let nature take it's course?

The mice I can deal with but the birds really upset me :cry:

Any thoughts??
 
Hi slowone,

My experience has been that the bells on the collar make no difference at all! :(

Cats will do what cats do.
 
Rhiannon said:
Hi slowone,

My experience has been that the bells on the collar make no difference at all! :(

Cats will do what cats do.
Click to expand...

Do you mean that the cats figure out a way to catch birds with the bell on? Meaning they become even quieter. Or that the birds are still not quick enough to get away?
 
truth seeker said:
Rhiannon said:
Hi slowone,

My experience has been that the bells on the collar make no difference at all! :(

Cats will do what cats do.
Click to expand...

Do you mean that the cats figure out a way to catch birds with the bell on? Meaning they become even quieter. Or that the birds are still not quick enough to get away?
Click to expand...

I had positive experience with bell-collar but had to find really nice resonant bell not the cheep one, although if cat has fluffy fur, no chime at all,.....,....
 
truth seeker said:
Do you mean that the cats figure out a way to catch birds with the bell on? Meaning they become even quieter. Or that the birds are still not quick enough to get away?
Click to expand...

Yes, they would move so slow that the bell wouldn't ring, get close enough, and then move like lightning before the birds could fly away.

It is sad. I rescued quite a few birds/chipmunks when the cats would bring them in the house, but many didn't make it. :cry:

I have two indoor cats now, so I don't have this problem. I know how hard it is though to deny cats the pleasure of going out when they are used to it.
 
Rhiannon said:
truth seeker said:
Do you mean that the cats figure out a way to catch birds with the bell on? Meaning they become even quieter. Or that the birds are still not quick enough to get away?
Click to expand...

Yes, they would move so slow that the bell wouldn't ring, get close enough, and then move like lightning before the birds could fly away.

It is sad. I rescued quite a few birds/chipmunks when the cats would bring them in the house, but many didn't make it. :cry:
Click to expand...

I think I might try it anyway.

I was worried as well that the constant ringing of the bell would upset the cats :(

It's a very sad thing to know they may kill the parent birds and the babies might starve.
 
slowone said:
I think I might try it anyway.

I was worried as well that the constant ringing of the bell would upset the cats :(

It's a very sad thing to know they may kill the parent birds and the babies might starve.
Click to expand...

It sure can't hurt to try. :) good luck!
 
Here's my thinking,

If one wanted to be letting nature run its course, one wouldn't be feeding the animal or having it as a pet to begin with. As well, I have read that domestic and feral cats have harmed mgratory and native bird populations in certain areas, although I don't know how blown out of proportion that is. Perhaps Google the terms: domestic cats bird population (or go to: _http://www.google.ca/search?q=domestic+cats+bird+population) to see pages on both sides of this issue.

IMO, when we have a pet, we have to be responsible for the effect they have on the environment around us. If a cat were actually a wild animal, I would feel totally different, but as a pet that gets fed daily (and nightly, as they do in my house), there is no need to take from the wild as well. That is, unless one couldn't afford to feed the cat, then I would probably support the hunt. :)

My $0.02, FWIW,

Gonzo
 
I had an outside cat for a couple of years when I was a teenager that at some point had a collar with a bell. There was a very large wooded area enclosed by a chain link fence across from my house which apparently was one of the favorite hunting grounds of my cat. His collar got caught on one of the prongs of the fence at the bottom and he was rescued by a relative in the neighborhood. I don't know that the bell made any difference in his hunting success plus I read many years later that the bell is useless - birds aren't conditioned to hear a bell as something connected to a predator, that is something a human would think. Probably the only way to keep the local birds safe is to keep your cats inside.
 
JEEP said:
I had an outside cat for a couple of years when I was a teenager that at some point had a collar with a bell. There was a very large wooded area enclosed by a chain link fence across from my house which apparently was one of the favorite hunting grounds of my cat. His collar got caught on one of the prongs of the fence at the bottom and he was rescued by a relative in the neighborhood. I don't know that the bell made any difference in his hunting success plus I read many years later that the bell is useless - birds aren't conditioned to hear a bell as something connected to a predator, that is something a human would think. Probably the only way to keep the local birds safe is to keep your cats inside.
Click to expand...
I was about to make a post regarding the dangers of cat collars when I read your post. I have heard stories of cats being strangled to death by a collar that got caught on something. There are some collars with elastic segments for just such a situation, but I do not know how successful these collars are. I do not collar my cats and so do not have experience with those types.
 
slowone said:
Hi all,

Some thoughts would be appreciated please.

We have two rescue cats who are about 2 years old. They are great hunters of mice etc. Anyway today Lulu the girl cat brought in a Blue Tit she had killed.

The thing is there is a Blue Tit nest in the garden. Should I get them collars with bells on to protect the birds? Or should I just let nature take it's course?

The mice I can deal with but the birds really upset me :cry:

Any thoughts??
Click to expand...


I never let my cats outside, because cats can take a terrible toll on wildlife. If your cats are males and used to going outside, changing their access and making them house cats only could lead to spraying behavior, even if they are fixed. Once they get used to being outside, they can make territories. If you reduce their territory after that, its tough on their well being.

I don't think bells work, and as sad as it is, cats kill things. They are predators and that's what they do, they bring you the food to show you how good they are.

What I do when my cat brings me a mouse is praise her for being a good cat. She never goes outside, so if she catches a mouse, its an event. Then I go round and watch her close to see where she stalks, and take measures to close any hole a mouse can get through. :D

If your cats are outside/inside cats, I'd just praise them when they bring you a mouse, and ignore them if they bring you a bird. Over time that might work.
 
I personally can't see a difference in the value of a mouse's life and that of a bird, but maybe I'm taking the "every life is sacred" concept a little to far. Heck, I feel bad squishing a spider or any other bug and generally try to catch them and release them somewhere outside. For all I know, maybe a bird swoops down and eats them moments later.

I agree a bell isn't the most intimidating sound, but I believe birds are adaptive and will soon associate the bell with the disappearance of the feathered neighbours and the otherwise silent stalking of the serial killer in their neighbourhood.

Regarding strangulation - that is definitely a serious concern. Many cats have died from hanging after getting their collar snagged.

They make collars now with break away fasteners now, to combat this concern. While the connection is secure enough to keep the collar in place, it release quite easily if it gets caught, which makes it a poor collar if one wanted to put the cat on a leash to go for a walk.

We have a break away collar with a bell on our kitten.

The added benefit of the bell, for us is we never have to worry where Coco the Oracle might be hiding. Eventually she will reveal herself with a jingle.

Both our cats are indoor cats though. We were afraid of letting them go outside, fearing they might get hit by a car, poop in the neighbours' gardens, bring ticks, fleas and other nasty parasites into the house and, more on topic, kill off the very wildlife we enjoy so much watching in our backyard.

We are blessed by having our house adjacent to a forested greenbelt and a golf course and it's bad enough that our dog scares away the bunnies, squirrels and chipmunks whenever he comes outside. Too bad the skunks aren't afraid of him though, but that's another story for another day. :)

Thanks,
Gonzo
 
Well, if you do a search on the life span of outdoor cats versus indoor cats, you'll get estimates on outdoor cats ranging from 18 months to 5 years. Indoor cat lifespans range from 12-18 years or so (my indoor cat lived 21 years). So, there is that. While my indoor cat did get outside regularly on a leash (a modified ferret harness - not a leash connected to a collar) (yes, it was degrading for her, but she was brilliant on it and even headed up trails in front of me, leading the way), I do know that it was much less of a 'cat cat' life and much more of a 'cat person' life. It's a complicated subject.

Ultimately, outdoor cats live shorter lives - but - perhaps they live better 'cat' lives? I don't know. My feline friend lived a very long life and was a silent (and often not so silent) witness to my life, through good and bad. She played a lot - got out a lot - traveled a lot - made mischief a lot and was never in danger - though I can't know if this life served her better than an outdoor life, I can know that she was very well taken care of and loved and, considering her behavior, I find it hard to fathom that this was lost on her.
 
Anart,

I can see it like it was yesterday, even though 20 years have since passed, the first time we took the bravest of our indoor cats outside for a walk. We too ended up using a ferret harness.

The poor guy walked, or more like crawled, so low to the ground that his belly was dragging.

He was so terrified that he couldn't wait to get back inside the safe confines of our apartment.

Although I thought perhaps a consistent approach of frequent walks might cure the poor guy of his fear, I just couldn't bring myself to traumatizing him any further.

It did have a beneficial side effect: he no longer whined at the window or tried to get outside whenever someone would open the door.

Gonzo
 
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