Orange Cat Collar: Clever Idea or a Dud?
Orange collar for indoor cats
The creator, Matthew Inman, of some sort of sicko computer game called “Exploding Kittens” has come up with an idea that merits a mention and hopefully some discussion. He wants to make things right with cats so even though I have not played the game he realises that it is abusively exploitative of the domestic cat population.
“It’s our form of cat atonement. Catonement,” said Inman
Matthew’s idea is that all indoor domestic cats should wear orange collars so that people can easily identify the cat as being owned and an indoor cat if he/she escapes and is roaming outside. You can then report the matter and try and catch him to reunite him with his owner.
That’s it. The reason why the collar should be orange is because it brands the cat as a “convict”. I suppose this is a reference to indoor cats being imprisoned in the family home and when outside they are said to have escaped like a convict from prison.
We know that many lost cats are not reunited with their owner and a good percentage find their way to a shelter where they can be euthanised as unwanted. Anything to minimise that scenario should be welcome.
I wonder though whether Matthew Inman is being serious – the idea looks a bit tongue-in-cheek. Nearly all full-time indoor cats are successfully kept indoors. I don’t believe there are many escapees. The problem with lost cats comes from indoor/outdoor cats who go walkabout and don’t return. That’s the way I see it.
In fact many cats who have spent their whole lives indoors don’t walk through open doors to the outside because it is the unknown. They are conditioned to live inside.
Also a lot of cat owners don’t like collars because they are unnatural and they can be dangerous unless they are quick release. This will be a barrier to the idea being taken up.
That said the suggestion is that the cat can wear any orange item, it need not be a collar – but what?
My gut feeling is that the idea is quite interesting but it does not tackle the problem of lost cats square on and it is also unworkable. I hope I am not being too negative on this.
See the cat convict page.