Great holiday gift for pet owner: a new tag

Q: It drives me crazy that so many pets don’t have tags. I’m a receptionist at a veterinary hospital and I swear only half the dogs and a small minority of cats wear tags. Could you let your readers know that the best holiday present for any pet is easy identification — especially for outdoor cats!

A: Your stats sound about right for my patients, too. What’s really sad is that all of my patients are well-loved. But should the untagged ones go missing, who would know? If they didn’t get hit by a car, they’d end up hungry and cold on the street or at Animal Services, waiting for family to call.

Only one in 10 of my feline patients even wears a collar. Maybe half that number sport a tag, and one of every couple dozen bears a microchip.

Consider that we live in South Florida, where 75 percent of owned cats live a significant portion of their lives out of doors, and you’ve got to wonder why.

What is it about keeping pets close and safe that appeals less to cat owners than to dog owners? These are some of the reasons clients have give me:

The lack of legal regulation that govern dogs.

Cats’ notorious, collarlosing ways.

The notion that cats will always find their way home.

Yet outdoor cats are the most ID-needy of my patients. That’s why I tend to recommend Beastie Bands (beastiebands.com), the stickiest collars out there. They’re stretchy, you can cut them to fit any feline, and your cat is unlikely to lose one.

Add one of those cheap tags you can self-engrave at a big-box store, and you have a great holiday gift for any cat — or cat owner.

Dr. Patty Khuly has a veterinary practice at Sunset Animal Clinic in South Miami. Her website is drpattykhuly.com. Send questions to khulyp@bellsouth.net.