My Four Essentials

This comment caught my interest.

san said...

I used to tag my community cats until one day, one of our cats Minah got dragged by her collar by some boy. The old aunty who helped to feed her aw him just in time to stop him but she could not tell me what he looked like. He actually hooked her collar to a kind of spring that teenagers use these days. She got a bloody mouth and a bad sprain. :( So now I don't tag her nor any of the cats although I still think it might be safer to tag them.

10/06/2007 9:18 PM

San, I'm so sorry to hear about Minah's traumatic experience. : (

Generally, sane humans won't disturb the cats. It's the insane who will. And if these insane do, then whether the collar is on the cat or not is really secondary. Their primary intention is, to hurt the cat. They can hurt the cat with anything.. even with bare hands. With collars that comes with elastic band portion, the collar will stretch when pulled.

It's a pity the abuser got away scot-free. But I suppose the old aunty can't do anything also due to her age. She can't be running after him. Sigh.

What I do when I go feeding, is to always ensure my four essentials are with me (actually I have them all the time with me):

1. my digital camera
2. my mobile phone
3. a shrill alarm (good for creating a scene so as to draw attention)
4. a small handy bright torch (Energizer has good ones)

** Pic to be uploaded **

For cats who love the trees, then it is up to the caregivers' assessment on whether the collars will be suitable. I guess they know the cats best.

For cats who love the cars, I would reccommend but only with safety collar. Remember to state also the street name where the cats reside - it'll be helpful.