How many of you cat owners have put a bell (or bells) around your cat's neck to stop them catching birds?

My cat has always had a bell on her collar, but it's never stopped her catching things..
She's either very fast, or we have dopey birds around here.. :hihi:

There's lots of research which shows that the birds don't get warned by them so there's not much point in putting bells on them for that purpose.

I still find it handy so that I know where they are though!

My cats - catch birds???!!
I own a feline couch potato who was probably the Queen of Sheba in a previous life, since all she does all day is recline on her pillow expecting to be waited on.
My little lad is petrified of anything that runs or flies and comes belting back in the house if anything 'strange' comes into the garden.
Then there's Rocky, my big bruiser, who's actually far too laid back to waste the energy chasing things.
Had a huge spider in the hall last night and all three just sat around watching it. I had to do my lion-tamer bit; tackle the spider with chair and whip & get it outside.

My cats have bells on their collars cos when I buy the collars the bells are already on them. I have never thought about why before. I just think they look cute :)

Both my two have bells (each of a different pitch aswell) so I can tell where they are, it does give some warning to the birds around here and it cuts down on the pouncing on eachother as they both know where each other is!

What amazes me most is when the walk around without their collars on / bells they are soooo silent it's scary :)

I left the bell on one of my cats collar and she hid behind the wardrobe for two days and waited to die. (I don't know if anyone else has experienced the trying to die behaviour in cats)
I won't put a bell on either of them now as I don't want to distress them. Neither of them are birders though, Billy hunts mice (strange considering his best mate was a rat) and Mojo hunts cats and dogs.

I tried to put a collar on emily with a bell and she got so frightened she ran around the house trying to escape the noise
I took the bell off and she ran around
I just lifted up the collar today and she legged it! me thinks kitty doesnt want to wear one!

I left the bell on one of my cats collar and she hid behind the wardrobe for two days and waited to die. (I don't know if anyone else has experienced the trying to die behaviour in cats)
I won't put a bell on either of them now as I don't want to distress them. Neither of them are birders though, Billy hunts mice (strange considering his best mate was a rat) and Mojo hunts cats and dogs.

My youngest is a hand reared feral girly and when something's freaked her and she's in feral mode she's not responsible for her actions and often runs up walls or into things (forwards or backwards). The last time I tried a bell on her collar she ended up on top of the wardrobe and got herself so worked up that she ended up frothing at the mouth and having a fit, so she's the only one who doesn't jingle when she moves now. I'm so pleased that she tolerates the collar at all- most feral kitties don't cope with collars either.

She's OK with the little lights that all of mine wear though- they have tritium light sources on their collars so that I can see where they are in the garden at night.

My cats apart from one have collars with bells, unfortunately it makes no difference at all to them catching birds and mice, the collars are more for identification than anything.
One of my cats never would wear a collar, it really upets him, he just goes frantic to get it off and always manages it at some stage, its just not worth the hassle.

I tried to put a collar on emily with a bell and she got so frightened she ran around the house trying to escape the noise
I took the bell off and she ran around
I just lifted up the collar today and she legged it! me thinks kitty doesnt want to wear one!

It takes practice keely- she will run round backwards for a while when you put one on, but the only way she'll get used to wearing a collar is for you to put her in one and leave it on no matter what she does for a couple of days (make it properly fitting and a lot tighter than you think- if you can just get a finger under the collar that's about the right fitting).

If she hasn't calmed down at all in that time then you may have to have a rethink on the collar front, but the vast majority of cats grudgingly put up with them after this period.

If she's very nervous then it may be an idea to have 2 collars, one of which you get her used to in the first instance and a real one. Take all of the bells, tags and cat flap magnets that you may want her to have on the collar off the practice collar and just get her used to wearing the plain collar for a while.

Once she's used to it you can replace it with the other collar with the tags on- and BTW, you need to add the other collar then take the practice collar off, rather than taking the practice collar off then hoping that she hangs around long enough to put the other one on. At least whilst she has one on then you have a way of hanging on to her to put the other one on.

Our two have bells on their collars, they have done since being kittens. Sadly it doesn't seem to stop them catching things... though i think catching an already dead bird doesn't count :suspect: weird cat!
They did get freaked by them for about 15 mins when we first introduced them and both did an amazing 'backwards' with a 'what the hell?!?!?!' look on their faces, continued to glare at and swipe at each other (they each blamed the other for jingling) then settled fine. Now they are freaked if one or the other doesn't have a collar on!!
We like them as we can at least tell where they are most of the time :)


EDIT: damn you Torin and your new avatar, i didn't realise you'd already posted :hihi:
Both my two have bells (each of a different pitch aswell) so I can tell where they are, it does give some warning to the birds around here and it cuts down on the pouncing on eachother as they both know where each other is!

What amazes me most is when the walk around without their collars on / bells they are soooo silent it's scary :)

Both my two have bells (each of a different pitch aswell) so I can tell where they are, it does give some warning to the birds around here and it cuts down on the pouncing on eachother as they both know where each other is!

What amazes me most is when the walk around without their collars on / bells they are soooo silent it's scary :)

Yeah I like mine to have different pitch bells n name disks on so I can tell exactly which of the usual suspects I can hear causing mayhem somewhere else in the house...

got emilys collar on, and she was happy to wear it (for once) but its still a little too big, so she got her foot caught in it and I had to set her free

She's OK with the little lights that all of mine wear though- they have tritium light sources on their collars so that I can see where they are in the garden at night.

That sounds like a good thing - we have a large garden with fields at the back of us, which are frequneted by a lot of the neighbourhood kitties. I've often been out in the dark and picked up what I thought was one of mine, and found it to be a bewildered cat belonging to someone else!

Where can I get some of these collars with lights on please?

That sounds like a good thing - we have a large garden with fields at the back of us, which are frequneted by a lot of the neighbourhood kitties. I've often been out in the dark and picked up what I thought was one of mine, and found it to be a bewildered cat belonging to someone else!

Where can I get some of these collars with lights on please?

I just bought some of these (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/CHEAP-NITE-TRITIUM-GADGET-KEYRING-GLOWRING-GLOW-STICK_W0QQitemZ260166811187QQihZ016QQcategoryZ1171 11QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem) (actually mine are slightly different but that's because they're getting old now) off eBay and hung them on their collars.

My handbag and keys glow blue so I can find them in the dark if I ever need to and the cats glow green.

The light isn't bright enough to upset them and it doesn't flash or need recharging or turning on every night- it just glows for 10 years.

Thanks Medusa!
I good investment I think - will stop me collecting other people's cats in the dark!:thumbsup:

Word of warning on cat bells, make sure the "slit" opening on the bell is quiet large, as one of our cats got her claw stuck in it whilst scratching and nearly ripped it out, not pleasant, best to avoid bells altogether if they dont do the job they are meant to.