I feel like the scummiest animal abuser and a bad mom :o(

[Nelly]

Our kitten Steffi is around 4 months old now - we got her at about 4.5 weeks when she was already 2 lives down out of her 9, having been abandoned by her semi-feral farm cat mom, then treated by the farm owners with dog flea product. 

Remember I'm in the UK so indoor-outdoor cats are the norm here. Our big boy Boris goes in and out through a cat flap which is restricted entry, via a special 'key' on his collar.  So Steffi will need to wear a collar when she starts going out, when she's bigger and less silly. 

So I got her a little kitten collar to get her used to it last week.  It's size adjustable by moving one half of the doubled over collar through a grip, if that make sense.  It definitely wasn't too tight for her, but yesterday I noticed it's rubbed the whole of the back of her neck.  I think either where she's caught it when she's scratched she's pulled it out of shape or maybe it's just a bad manufacture.  Where the top and bottom layer of the collar are supposed to sit together, they don't, they were almost side-by-side and I think that's where the problem's started.  When it's bothered her she's scratched at it and I guess - unless she's allergic to it - it's caused something like a friction burn.

It looks so sore but doesn't seem to be bothering her and she's not really scratching at it.  Obviously I've taken the collar off and thrown it away. Her poor neck looks so horrible and I feel so terrible, I felt physically sick all day yesterday.  I've never let something like this happen before.  I don't know how long it took to get like that, but I don't think it could have been like it for long as we were checking the collar wasn't too tight so I'm sure we would have noticed, even though her collar was pink and now there's pink skin My stomach rolls every time I see it.  My poor baby 

[JR1030]

If this is the first time something like this has happened, you're not a bad mom, you're a lucky mom!  Lots of things can't be predicted, and lots of animal products are not what they claim to be.  You noticed, and took the collar off.  You did the right thing, not the wrong thing.  (((hugs)))

[ScoutGotBig]

Really quick - is there ANY purple on the collar at all?  I don't know what it is in the US, but I've seen a LOT of cats who have purple collars that have the hair worn off the neck in the collar area.  Put a green collar on the cat, and it's fine, hair grows back and it's never a problem again.

You didn't do anything bad, IMO.  You noticed a problem, you fixed the problem.  That's what you should do!

[Nelly]

Purple! Some in the writing, I think.  It was a pink collar with coloured writing!  How strange.  That particular collar will never be used again and the other collar I have is thicker (why I didn't use it) but softer and pink and white.

Thank you, both. I am feeling less like an attempted murderer at the moment!

[Marybelle]

If we were animal abusers every time something unexpectedly harmed or irritated one of our pets, I think we'd all be locked up!  You took the collar off as soon as you noticed, and, like you said, you'd been checking it frequently.  You're definitely NOT an abuser or a bad mom! 

[Cryllin_Myrrh]

Really quick - is there ANY purple on the collar at all?  I don't know what it is in the US, but I've seen a LOT of cats who have purple collars that have the hair worn off the neck in the collar area.  Put a green collar on the cat, and it's fine, hair grows back and it's never a problem again.

You didn't do anything bad, IMO.  You noticed a problem, you fixed the problem.  That's what you should do!

I've seen that all over the place too! Thats really odd.....

And like everyone's  said; you're not a bad mom! You fixed it as soon as you noticed, and it will all heal up and you'll give her lots of love and attention and everything she needs.

[Savage4883]

Really quick - is there ANY purple on the collar at all?  I don't know what it is in the US, but I've seen a LOT of cats who have purple collars that have the hair worn off the neck in the collar area.  Put a green collar on the cat, and it's fine, hair grows back and it's never a problem again.

You didn't do anything bad, IMO.  You noticed a problem, you fixed the problem.  That's what you should do!

That is odd... I have three cats, with three different colored collars. One is mostly pink, another is mostly purple. Is there something in the dye perhaps that causes many cats to have a reaction? My cats all have all of their fur (I just checked!  )

[ScoutGotBig]

Really quick - is there ANY purple on the collar at all?  I don't know what it is in the US, but I've seen a LOT of cats who have purple collars that have the hair worn off the neck in the collar area.  Put a green collar on the cat, and it's fine, hair grows back and it's never a problem again.

You didn't do anything bad, IMO.  You noticed a problem, you fixed the problem.  That's what you should do!

That is odd... I have three cats, with three different colored collars. One is mostly pink, another is mostly purple. Is there something in the dye perhaps that causes many cats to have a reaction? My cats all have all of their fur (I just checked!  )

No idea what causes the reaction, and obviously, it's not every cat with a purple collar.  My black cat and a purple collar means she loses the hair.  My sister's tabby with the same purple collar and there is no problem.  But, I swear, at the clinic, if we see a cat with standard collar rubbing off hair only in that area, it's seriously always either 1) too small or 2) a purple collar.  Since it wasn't too small in Nelly's case, I was thinking "hrrm, purple?"

But if Franky is wearing a collar now, I make sure it's a yellow/orange/green one.  I figure anything other than purple is fine, but I'm not sure what the reaction is from and who knows if red and blue dyes are in there to make the purple......

[Nelly]

Well I didn't like the look of how her neck had scabbed over but looked sore at the edges, so I took Steffi to the vets tonight.  He gave her an anti-inflammatory and anti-biotic injection and I have antibiotic steroid cream to put on it twice a day, plus he wants me to bath it in warm salt water twice a day.  He says it looks worse than it is, and that it would likely have happened quite quickly, and definitely wasn't to do with a collar being too tight.  He said he'd be inclined to think that she might have had an allergic reaction to it.

I've got to take her back on Friday, but he did warn that occasionally these sort of injuries don't heal and need an operation but that wasn't something to worry about now (yeah, cos I wasn't worrying until you said that!)

[ScoutGotBig]

Oh, hope it's just an allergic reaction here also!!!  If it helps at all, here in the US with kitties and purple collars, my own cat will be raw and oozing and NASTY if she wears a purple collar, and while it'll take time to heal, it does heal without surgery.  She does fine.  I've never seen a kitty need surgery from an allergic reaction to their collar. 

Does Boris have the infra-red key system?  That's what my dogs and my sisters cat use.  P-Nut (the cat) will NOT stay inside for any reason.  She gets to go outside in the backyard only, and she mostly goes out and suns herself on the patio.  Don't let her out, and she'll bolt out the front door at the first chance.  The backyard is safer (mildly - she could escape if she wanted to I think), but at least there is no traffic.

[Nelly]

Just want to say a big Thank You to everyone for your kind messages.  The vet didn't make me feel like an evil person either, so I guess you are all right and I'm not!

Does Boris have the infra-red key system?  That's what my dogs and my sisters cat use.  P-Nut (the cat) will NOT stay inside for any reason.  She gets to go outside in the backyard only, and she mostly goes out and suns herself on the patio.  Don't let her out, and she'll bolt out the front door at the first chance.  The backyard is safer (mildly - she could escape if she wanted to I think), but at least there is no traffic.

Similar - it's some kind of electronic key that you programme against the cat flap and it'll only let him in (and will let her in when she's got a collar key on).  It's actually been discontinued now, but you can still pick up the units and they're a bit cheaper than the infra-red, both to buy initially and to replace the keys.

It looks like this