I have a cat Houdini! She escapes all collars. How can I get her to keep one on?

We have had 7 cats over the years (4 passed away due to natural causes). We currently have 2 outdoor cats and 1 indoor cat.

I would not recommend putting a harness on your cat. When cats are loose outdoors, it's too easy for them to get tangled in something, and without a break-away collar, they could be injured or killed. I remember one lady whose cat was missing for 3 days. She walked up and down the street calling for him, until the third day when she heard a faint "mew" and found him tangled under a motor home, hungry and dehydrated, but okay. Luckily the motor home was parked for the season.

Cats CAN get out of harnesses, and once the learn the trick, they can easily do it again.

We always use breakaway collars, and yes, our two outdoor cats sometimes lose them. When they were first getting used to a collar, they often came home without it. Since then, we have loosened (not tightened!) the collars. Definitely, the one cat who always lost collars, isn't losing them as much. We found two collars at a wooded spot where he was pulling them off by snagging them on branches (we guess). He hasn't lost any for months now.

The other thing that helps is to write your address and phone number on your cat's collar. We have had many lost collars returned. Sometimes we go pick them up where they were found; sometime people drop them off in person or just leave them in the mailbox.

When our cats come in, we always take off their collar. Then they associate having the collar put on with going outdoors, which makes it easier (eventually). We don't put current license or rabies tags on our cats' collars so that they don't lose the tags. We have used expired tags instead (our licensing laws only require dogs to wear tags). We do have emergency medical insurance; we ordered a few of those tags and try to keep a current one on each cat (if our cat is hurt and someone picks him up and takes him to a vet, the vet can treat him immediately, without even contacting us).

The only time we would recommend that you let your cat be an outdoor cat is if it was that way when you got it.

Four of our cats were stray cats that we adopted. 1 of them successfully became an indoor cat (she was very friendly), 2 of them are outdoor cats (1 might have become an indoor cat except she hates the indoor kitten). The last ex-stray was an indoor cat until he was maybe 5 yrs old, when he managed to escape outdoors a couple of times. Both times, his personality just blossomed afterwards. We realized we were wrong trying to keep him inside, he was miserable, and fought with our other cats. So he became an outdoor cat too.

You can (probably) make your cat into an indoor cat just by not letting her go out. That means putting up with days (or maybe weeks) of yowling at the door, and being REALLY vigilant that she doesn't escape on her own, and if she does, catching her and bringing her back inside (maybe bribing her with treats).

She can also be taught not to run out the door if you have someone outside waiting with the garden hose. As soon as she appears, spray her with water so she runs back inside (not enough water to knock her over, just so she gets a bit wet). If you don't have a hose, a few containers of water might do it.

It takes quite a bit of determination to "create" an indoor cat, but they are so much safer inside. It's also nice to always have them around (and no worrying when kitty doesn't come in for dinner or bedtime). You didn't mention if your cat was spayed. If she's not, she's going to want to roam - but of course, you let her do that, and you'll have kittens. Unless she's purebred breeding stock, please have her spayed. Having a female cat in heat is not fun, they are really really loud (one of our strays arrived already pregnant, had 5 kittens, then went into heat again before we could have her spayed).

Whatever you decide to do, I hope something here has been of assistance.

My cat is an outdoor cat also. He won't wear a collar and he doesn't have a microchip. Personally I think collars are a very bad idea on cats because they can choke themselves trying to get it off. Its also the law here that they have to have collars but nobody around my area really cares I mean there are about 10 cats in my neighborhood none of which have a collar or microchip.

I agree with a harness, but you cat can get stuck some where and not be able to get out, if she is wearing a harness. Maybe you should take her to the vet and see if he can pierce her ear and put some kind of earring in to show that she is yours. That might be easier that a collar.

A harness! No kidding. It goes under her front legs and that is going to be harder to get off. Maybe your cat is Houdini reincarnated?

Try using a harness. If you can't find a cat harness, use a small size for dogs. You can attach her tags on the harness ring. This way you can also go out walking with her.

I moved into a house that has an enclosed foyer with 2 doors to keep my 6 cats from getting out.

Try a harness rather than a collar.

My cat used to this all the time...but i think what you have to do is...everytime she takes the collar off, put it back on straight away...after a while she'll realise that she's not goin to get rid off them and she'll just keep them on.

get a harness instead of a collar.Once she's used to it you can switch back to a regular collar.

staples?