Tips for Cat Owners

Your Cat Needs a Tag

Animal shelters take in millions of lost cats each year, and 99 out of 100 wear no identification. Less than three out of 100 are found and reclaimed by their owners. One of those three is wearing a tag, and is usually found quickly. The other two have owners willing to spend hours, days, or weeks advertising and personally visiting local shelters in search of their lost felines. Many owners search long and hard, and never find their pets at all! Don't take a chance on losing your cat forever. Put an identification tag on it with your name, address, and phone number. Be sure to keep the information current. Tag your cat even if you never let it outside. One day it could slip through an open door and become lost in the unfamiliar (to it) neighborhood.

There are collars made especially for cats with a short piece of elastic sewn in. These collars can be buckled snugly around the neck, but will stretch and let the cat escape if it should get hung up on a tree limb or fence. Remember that far more cats have died because they got lost and their owners could not find them than have ever been hurt from wearing a collar.

The first time you put a collar on the cat, give it a catnip toy. The toy will distract the cat's attention from the new feeling of wearing a collar. By the time it finishes shredding the new toy, it may have forgotten the collar entirely.

Any cat can get lost - even yours. That's why your cat needs a tag!

Reprinted courtesy of The American Humane Association

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