Morgana's Close Call...
By twoey68
@twoey68 (13627)
United States
January 23, 2011 4:34pm CST
One of the gifts that I got for our cat Morgana for Christmas was a little nylon collar. It looked similar to the one in the photo but it was green. We put it on her and made sure that it was plenty loose enough. Loose enough for me to get two fingers between her and the collar…loosely so there was plenty of space.
Weeks went by and she was fine with it. Then the other day we took a nap and when she got up she came up to lay beside me and I was petting her…I went to rub her neck and noticed the collar wasn’t moving. I started feeling it and found that it was so tight I could hardly get the tip of my finger between her and the collar. She was making little gasping sounds like she couldn’t breath. I called Hubby and he used the scissors to cut it off. The collar was so tight that it had rubbed all the hair off her neck.
Looking back I realize now that she hadn’t been eating much and she’d all but quit meowing. We’ve decided she won’t ever get another collar and I feel so terrible to think that it was all my fault for putting it on her in the first place.
I’ve talked to other ppl and they’ve had similar or worse stories about collars and pets.
Do you check your pets collar regularly? Do you think that it’s wrong for ppl to even market these kinds of collars? Do you feel guilty when your pet gets hurt?
[b]**AT PEACE WITHIN** 
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]9 people like this
22 responses
@Polly1 (12645)
• United States
23 Jan 11
So glad that you spotted that. I have four cats and none of them have collars on them. I didn't put a collar on my dog neither. I thought most cat collars had a piece of elastic, just in case they got caught and then they could get out of it. If you do get another collar look for one of those kind. Glad that your kitty is ok.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
23 Jan 11
Those have been the kind I got for my cats. They usually are gone right away, so I do not buy them. Why waste the money. I get the feeling that they figure out how to get them off themselves, not that they get caught on anything.
2 people like this
@Hatley (163776)
• Garden Grove, California
23 Jan 11
hi twoey long time no see wow. I have no pets but I had an experience with a home made stuffed toy monkey that should be heard by all new mom,s. The monkey had loops on it and I had not even thought about it and the house was quiet. my little girl was napping and suddenly it was too quiet and I heard my little son making odd gasping sounds. He had got the loop of the fringe on that toy over his head and had his little hands inside the loop trying to get it off.however he was just pulling it tighter.'luckily I had a pair of small scissors in my pocket and I cut everyone of those loops open so that could not happen again. my gosh had I been any later he could have suffocated. I was so eternally glad I got there in time. After that I looked at all toys given him for any sort of hazard to be had.that was many years ago but it was etched in my miond.
He was starting to turn blue and I had no time to work that off his little
neck so I clipped it off and made sure that would never happen again.
3 people like this
@GardenGerty (160952)
• United States
23 Jan 11
My cats never seem to keep their collars on. I always have breakaway collars. I do worry when they have anything wrong with them, and I wish I could fix it all. It is good you noticed this, but I think that was part of why she was laying down with you. Had she grown, or had the collar slipped tighter?
1 person likes this
@whiteheather39 (24403)
• United States
23 Jan 11
I always check my 3 dog's collars but I am really curious as to what happened with Morgana's collar. Did it get wet? Did it shrink or did your kitty put on a lot of weight.
1 person likes this
@twoey68 (13627)
• United States
24 Jan 11
I don't know how it got so tight...I doubt she gained that much weight in 3 weeks. The only thing I can think of is she has claws on her back feet and maybe she scratched at it and it adjusted. I don't know...I'm just glad I caught it.
[b]**AT PEACE WITHIN**
~~STAND STRONG IN YOUR BELIEFS~~[/b]
@ElicBxn (63643)
• United States
23 Jan 11
I do feel bad when a collar hurts a cat - so I get collars the velcro on just on a few so we can more easily tell them from other cats.
http://www.pawspetboutique.com/neoprenestretchycatcollar.aspx
I didn't get mine there, but they are like these
2 people like this
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
24 Jan 11
Hiya twoey,
Wow that was a close Call for Morgana the Cat indeed. Poor brave little thing. It looks like the Collar has shrunk for some reason maybe by a lot of movement on her part. But even then I can´t think why the Collar should shrink at all. Because you left enough space around her neck.
Could it have been the Body heat from herself that made it do that. I don´t know what the collar is made out of so that´s why I am wondering.
What´s most important is that Morgana is alive and well and ready to live out all of her Cats lives happily.
So glad you saw her plight in time though.
@lovinangelsinstead21 (36850)
• Pamplona, Spain
2 Feb 11
Hiya twoey,
Never mind it´s one chance in a lifetime that a thing like that could happen to a Cat or any other Animal.
Morgana was very lucky to get free of that one.
I know I would have felt awful too if it would have happened to me. I would have got really upset as well.
@sedel1027 (17846)
• Cupertino, California
2 Feb 11
We have collars on both of our cats and since they are on our laps at one time or another during the day we do fidget with their collars daily.
Was Morgana's collar not a quick release? I know if our cats kick their collars in the right spot or wrestle too hard theirs will pop off.
@LittleMel (8742)
• Canada
27 Jan 11
thats kind of strange her collar rubbed all her hairs in the neck off
how did it get so tight? I'm sure you didn't do it on purpose
my cat doesn't like collar, no matter how loose it is
we used to go with the last hole but she always managed to take it off and somehow 'cries' if I try to put it on again
so I figure well I won't put anything on her that she doesn't like
she is indoor cat and kind of afraid going out of the house
so maybe I don't have to put a collar on her
I will surely feel guilty if she is hurt by something I did
@jillmalitz (5131)
• United States
18 Feb 11
Man, that really is scary. I have dogs and it bugs me that their collars seem to make their fur bulge up around the neck. From what I read collars need to be tight but we should be able to put a finger under them easily. I have seen stories about neglected animals whose collars were so tight that they had to be cut off. Some were so bad they got embedded into the the animal. Take care.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
24 Jan 11
It's great you noticed that otherwise the end result might not have been so positive. Before I answered this I went to do a check to see if any collars had been recalled...is it the Nylon Sassy Cat Collar with bell? Just want to make sure want the brand was...and I'm just betting it was made in China--so far though no recalls about it though..many pet toys from China have been recalled btw. I've never had collars on any of my kitties though--are you over at Facebook by any chance? PM me what your name is over there
@elitess (5070)
• Ipswich, England
24 Jan 11
Hello twoey !
Oh my what a bad storry, but luckily you saved her in time to prevent permanent damage - as the hair will grow back.
I have noticed that cats fight collars with passion, and all that i had (seeing how i live with my parents in an appartment and they don't go out) have been spared wearing a collar for a long term.
But not all of them hate them, my girlfriend's sister's cat has one, with bells to prevent him hunting birds, and for the years since he has it there has been no incident about it.
@scififan43 (2434)
• United States
16 May 11
I hope your pet is doing all right now. we keep the collars on a dogs lose, sometimes a bit too lose. that helps pervent situations like this occoring of course.
I thing our dog collars are made of nylon too. but I do think the collars are ok to use if used the right way.
@elena1969 (153)
•
7 Feb 11
Yes ,i check my cat's collar regularly.It is really important that i do that once a week.On the market it doesn't matter whether an item is dangerous or not,if it produces money and a lot of people buy it,they don't care abut the consequences.I feel really guilty when my pet gets hurt.It's as if i have hurt myself like that,and i try not to make the same mistake again
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
26 Jan 11
My cats get a new flea collar every few months and I make sure it will slip off their neck should they get hung up one something.
What happened with your pet happens quite often or at least so I've heard. It's good of you to notify everyone. Good idea to check collar once a month. Many people who own dogs have no choice, they have to have a collar with dog tags on or they get fined in our area. Checking a collar once a week or once a month, some time period is a good thing. Take care.
@CatsandDogs (13963)
• United States
25 Jan 11
OMG twoey! That's awful!! Poor Morgana!! That's why I'm SO picky to what collar I'll put on my fur babies because I've had a similiar thing happen to one of my cats. I like the one that has the rubber band like thing between the collar so that if they were to get caught on something, they can pull free and not have to worry about the darned latch tightening up on them. The same goes with toys on a string, I will not have those around either because I had a cat get tangled up in one with his paw and couldn't get lose and he let out a wail! I ran to him and saw that he was tangled up and I couldn't get him free so I screamed for hubby to get the scissors to cut him free! From then on I said NO MORE STRINGS and it's been that way now for about 10 - 12 years now and it's going to stay that way.
@jdyrj777 (6528)
• United States
24 Jan 11
I know they make collars for cats but one thing ive read was that cats windpipes are not like a dog and they can not withstand all the stress on their necks that dogs can. Plus they go places that really makes it a danger for them to continually wear anything like that. I have three cats and each one has a harness and leash. I dont leave the harness on them. Once when i was getting them use to the harnesses i had them wear them around the house. Later in the day i noticed one cats didnt have hers on. I figured id find it sooner or later. I did. I have one of those things that you use to hang dry clothes on. She had jumped upon that and the harness was hanging on that. Looked just like she took it off and hung it there.
@celticeagle (168269)
• Boise, Idaho
24 Jan 11
I think it is some what like having a child. We always feel alittle guilty, like we should have watched closer, or been there, etc. I never have a collar on the animals and have never had a problem. We had to with Stryder because he would bite the mailman and so he had to go to doggy jail and was therefore on the books and so we had to have him a license and a collar. I have always had cats from the time I was a tiny child and we never had all the gismoes. I think cats get themselves into scrapes and the collar pulled tighter. I had to have my daughter go out and help and young cat out of the tree just today. They aren't that used to this world we live in.
@savypat (20216)
• United States
24 Jan 11
*I feel very bad anytime something is hurt due to my not knowing what can happen. I never put a collar on a cat, and I am checking the dogs collars all the time. They need to wear collars because it's the only way we can find them if lost.
