The Importance of ID

I’m a stickler for identification. I never knew I was until Oliver was big enough to wear a collar. In my quest to find a nice collar for him I was surprised by my choices: reflective, buckled, jeweled, bells, break away, etc. I had previously read that a break away collar is very important for cats. Should a cat get entangled in a tree, he can break away if his collar does.

I remember thinking reflective was crucial. The headlights of a car could pick up the reflective paw prints or even the lights of a flashlight. So I bought Oliver a reflective, break away collar. When Annie came into our lives, I got her one too. Then one for Penny and finally Stella.

All 4 of my cats are strictly indoor only, yet they wear collars. On these collars are 2 tags: their license with the county and another tag I had made which reads “PLEASE CALL” and my cell phone number.

I opted to for it to read “PLEASE CALL” instead of their names because I didn’t want to risk someone seeing how beautiful and friendly my cats are and decided to keep one for himself. It would be easier to bond with an animal by knowing his name. Paranoid? Maybe.

On top of wearing collars, my 4 are also microchipped. You can never be too careful. Should one of my cats get out (God forbid) and have their collar come off, I would hope that some caring stranger would take my dear lost cat to a shelter or vet where he or she would be scanned and I could be contacted.

The statistics are frightening. So few cats are returned to their owners. I think I know why.

Whenever I’m out driving or walking I always keep an eye out for cats. When I see one, I simply don’t know what to do. Questions keep swimming in my mind: Is this cat lost? Is that a stray? Does that cat have indoor and outdoor access? Was she dumped here when her family moved? Should I try to catch him? Should I borrow a humane trap from a shelter? What do I do?!

So many cats are allowed outside but so many cats are also lost. I’ve heard of cats escaping homes without meaning to, of cats falling from high rise apartment, of cats being allowed to explore outside without any identification.
What am I supposed to think when I see cats around the neighborhood?

I am in favor of indoor only cats. The only way I would ever allow mine outside is if I owned a house and installed the Purrfect Fence. And even then, they would only go outside if me or Mike was out there with them. But alas, we live in a townhouse and aren’t allowed such luxuries. Instead I keep the sliding glass door and windows open when the weather is nice, we have tall cat tress with good views, and a cat window seat in installed behind me in the office.

If there was a law to keep all cats indoors, I would be all for it. An outdoor cat’s life expectancy is less than 5 years while indoor cats can live up to twenty. Besides, it’s a scary world out there full of cruel people (including kids), mean dogs, territorial raccoons, antifreeze, poisonous flowers, and cars.