This is a highly unusual cat product warning. You wouldn’t think about it unless it had happened and been reported. However, there are two versions of this story and both are strange.
Heat
In many parts of the world the weather has been extremely hot and that includes the UK. Some cat collars have plastic parts and, in this instance, a collar had a plastic clip which melted in the hot sun. The melted plastic fused to the cat’s skin and caused a nasty burn on the cat’s neck. The collar costs £3.19p (very cheap) and it is manufactured by Ancol.
The name of the cat who was burned is Magnetron. His owner is Kim Mills. She said that when she took the collar off she noticed that the melted plastic had fused to her cat’s skin and fur leaving a horrible burn as you can see from the photograph. Kim Mills wants the manufacturer to issue a warning about the product.
Spot on flea treatment
She contacted the manufacturers to complain. They told her that the plastic had reacted to a ‘spot on flea treatment‘ which she had administered to her cat a week earlier. To me, this sounds incorrect and Kim Mills has the same thoughts. She said:
“They say they have seen this before, but I just can’t believe that will happen. All cat owners should be warned.”
The manufacturer is going to examine the collar to assess how the clip melted. Kim Mills is sending it back to them and at the time of writing this we have no further information regarding their assessment. Either version is highly unsatisfactory.
Third possibility
Putting aside the collar for one moment, the burn looks like an injury that can be caused by a spot-on flea treatment on its own. Just a thought. If that is the case the damaged skin could have adhered to the collar. The picture of the collar is not that clear and doesn’t help is trying to assess what might have happened.
If it was melted by heat from weather temps it wouldn’t be blackened. May have been caught against a hot car exhaust? . .
Possible but when some plastics melt, they don’t blacken in my view. But it does seem strange that hot weather caused this. It is just about feasible but unlikely I agree. The exhaust theory is not a bad one.