A Goal Met

There's been this cat showing up at my back door about once a week. It is someone's outdoor cat, but last year at this time, the jerks decided to put a collar on it. It isn't one of those breakaway collars either. I guess they put it on the cat to let people know he belongs to someone, but they put it on and forgot about it. The thing is all ragged and frayed on the outer side, but it is otherwise sturdy and looked so tight on the poor cat. He wouldn't let me touch it for weeks. I would feed him and try to get at it while he was distracted with eating, but he'd growl and hiss and he raked me in the hand the first time I tried to get it off. Two weeks ago, I got it turned around so I could get at the release, but it was so tight I couldn't get it to open before he became belligerent and wouldn't let me touch him anymore. I thought maybe cut it off.  Tried pruning shears, but all they did was fold the material over and get stuck. I didn't want the poor cat running off dragging those around too so I gave up. Well yesterday, finally, he was distracted enough that I got the catch to release and freed him from that thing. His neck is raw but he'll be ok. He's an otherwise healthy cat. I took that rotten collar and cut the clasp off on one end in such a way that it looked like the material wore out and the collar fell off. Then I took it out and threw it in the alley. I am just so relieved I don't have to see his pain anymore. If they put another collar on him like that the same thing is going to happen until they quit trying. Some people. Grrr.