Friday 17 February 2012

On Dressing up Pets

The only things that are acceptable for dogs to wear:

Actual functional dog things e.g. collar, harness.
Dog coat. That is, an actual dog coat: one of those things like a miniature horse blanket. Not baby clothes adjusted to fit a quadruped. In bad weather only, except for hairless breeds, which might need one most of the time.
Boots, if the dog needs them.
Hats and deely boppers, to pose for a photo only. The dog can get them off in three seconds, and if you didn't get a picture, you missed your chance.
Those neckerchief scarf things. They are acceptable.

The only things that are acceptable for cats to wear:

If the cat is supervised and confined to indoors, hats and deely boppers are acceptable as described above.
Similarly socks, which are applied at your own risk.

Harness (or puppy collar, but a harness probably works better), which is only for walking it on a lead and must not be left on when the cat is unsupervised.

Specially designed cat safety collar, with release catch. This is the only thing that it is safe to ever let a cat wear outside, unless under the control of a lead.
Cats climb, and any clothing or accessories may become caught on twigs etc and unless it has a safety catch the cat could be strangled.
You may find that the cat disagrees with you about wearing this, and soon works out how to pull it off. If so, you will either give up on the collar, or buy a new one every month (sometimes less). This will continue until you either give up, or for a few collars after you buy an electronic catflap because the neighbourhood bully, a big black and white thing appropriately named Arnie, keeps coming in and stealing your cat's food. In the latter case, the cat will soon learn that without its collar and attached magnet, it is locked out.

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