# DIY safety/breakaway collar?



## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

Zinny came in tonight without her collar. It's barely been a week, and it's already off! Hopefully I can find it out in the yard somewhere... but if she lost it in the thicket or neighbor's field, it's totally gone.

I don't suppose there's any way I can make my own collars? The cheapest I've found is $4 on E-bay (including shipping), which is a little better than $6 from the local Petsmart... and WAY better than $7-9 from Petco!
If she's going to be losing collars every other week, that's gonna get expensive. The only reason I bother with one, is I don't want people thinking she's just some stray, and that she's actually owned.

About the only thing I can think of, is buy a lot of that elastic band from sewing department and use that..maybe with a small safety pin to link the two ends together, and put the tag on the safety pin's rod?

The ID tag I can just take a piece of index card and laminate with scotch tape, so that's really cheap.
I'm getting her a microchip on 9/10, but want ID on her physically until then (and maybe even after...the city north of mine doesn't make a habit of scanning for chips when they take in animals, even though they're _supposed_ to!)


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## MowMow (Nov 6, 2010)

How about a strip of satin ribbon with those little velcro dots/circles attached to it to fasten it. If she gets stuck on something the velcro will give way and if the ribbon is bright you might be able to find them.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

Oohhh, that would work!... I think. I gotta buy kitten collars, because she's barely 6 pounds, and most collars say for cats OVER 6 pounds, otherwise there's not enough weight to make it 'break'. I guess if she were tugging, rather than hanging from it, she could be strong enough to get a big-cat collar off.

Anyhoo, I gotta go to bed. Not only do I have to be up early to go help with adoptions at Petco, now I gotta go look over a whole acre of lawn for her collar!


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## Penny135 (Apr 6, 2011)

Some breakaway collars at Wal-Mart I have found were only $2.97 (cats and dogs). I bought a small dog one recently as its breakaway is not as easy to unclasp.


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## Vivid Dawn (May 31, 2010)

Well, I want it to be sort of easy to come apart. That's the point of breakaways. If she gets caught on a fence post or tree limb, I don't want her hanging there indefinitely. Especially if it's in the thicket, where I can't get to (it's so overgrown, there's only little tunnels where the cats and raccoons can pass through).

I'll try the ribbon and velcro... hopefully make some today during break/lunch hour. I already have velcro dots and ribbon - red ribbon, which I don't like the color, but it'll do for now!


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