Cat Collars Can Kill

Yes, cat collars can kill sometimes. It might be quite rare but once is enough. People put collars on their cats for decoration (the cat looks better to a person - not to the cat of course), to control fleas and/or for identification. My neighbor puts a collar on her cat (I call her Pippa) for decoration only. She doesn't even use the collar for identification. So all this person is achieving by putting on a cat collar is making the cat look better in the eyes of the owner while putting Pippa under a risk, albeit slight, of injury. That cannot be right, surely? My neighbor is stupid like that (sorry but it is true as she also lets her cat regularly roam over a very busy road).

Anyway back to the subject of cat collars can kill. A charming and sad story got me on to this subject. It is the story of Millie. An abandoned cat in Beverly, Mass, USA.


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Here is a picture of Millie on the right, as I am sure the people who took the picture won't mind me using it as I've given a link to their cat charity (see below). Well Millie an all blue cat as far as I can see, was abandoned in Beverly. Nothing unusual about that as it happens thousands of times over the country every day.

Millie was seriously injured, though, as he has got her leg caught in a flea collar. This had caused the flea collar to become embedded in her neck and front leg. She was emaciated and in a bad way, when found.

Well, she got rescued (not sure who the actual people are or person is) and taken to a vet who put her right, although she has allergies and needs a special diet. Good comes out of bad sometimes. In this instance, as there was no cat rescue center to take Millie to, the rescuers formed one and it is called: Friends of Beverly Animals.

Millie appears to be a blue cat. Blue in the cat fancy means grey or gray. Here is a list of grey cat breeds. Millie is not a purebred cat though (as far as I know but she looks a bit like a Russian Blue). But she is sweet, forgiving and smart and she looks adorable too. Personally, I would not use a cat flea collar and the best way to get rid of or manage fleas is by regular combing with a flea comb and/or treatment such as Frontline drops (if the fleas are bad) and hoovering the carpet and other furnishings regularly. Sprays and collars are not as good and can be dangerous. See cat flea treatment and flea life cycle. Cat collars can kill rarely, yes, but it can happen.