The one line that matters most for cats
Put "Indoor cat — I am lost, please call" in the medical or note field.
Dogs outdoors read as escaped. Cats outdoors read as normal. A neighbour who finds a friendly cat on a wall assumes it lives two doors down and does nothing — and an indoor cat can be a street away, dehydrated, within a day. That sentence is what converts a shrug into a phone call.
Weight and hardware: cats are not small dogs
- Breakaway (safety) collars only. A cat collar must release under load or it becomes a strangulation hazard on a fence. Accept that you will lose collars — that is the collar working correctly.
- Keep the tag light. Thin aluminium or laminated plastic, not the chunky steel discs sold for dogs.
- Flat, not curved. Curvature distorts the pattern; a flat 2×2 cm face scans far more reliably than a bent 3 cm one.
- Buy spares. Because the collar is designed to come off, order two or three identical tags at once — they all point at the same profile page.
Fields worth filling in for a cat
- Photo — cats of the same colour look identical to strangers; the photo settles it
- Indoor / outdoor status — the note above
- Microchip number — most cats are chipped and not tagged; giving the number lets a vet confirm instantly
- Medication — thyroid and kidney medication are common in older cats and cannot wait a week
- "Do not feed" — for cats on prescription diets
- Two numbers — you and someone who can collect the cat if you cannot
Why an editable profile suits cats especially
Cat ownership changes quietly: a new flat, a new number, a new medication after a vet visit. An engraved tag freezes whatever was true the day it was made. A QR profile is edited in a browser and every existing tag — including the two spares in the drawer — updates at once.
Scan logging helps here too. Cats roam small territories; "scanned near the allotments an hour ago" narrows a search from a neighbourhood to a street.
Chip and tag, not chip or tag
The microchip is permanent proof of ownership and works even without a collar — which for a breakaway-collared cat matters more than it does for a dog. But it only works once the cat reaches a vet or shelter. The QR tag works on a garden wall, with a neighbour's phone, on day one. Both.
Related pages
For the general builder, see the pet QR code generator. For dogs and their much rougher hardware requirements, see the dog QR code generator. For tag materials and printing, see the pet QR code tag guide.
How to make a cat QR tag in 4 steps
Pick the Pet ID type
Choose Pet ID in the generator above, set species to Cat, and add name, photo, breed, and colour.
Write the indoor-cat note
In the medical or note field, state whether the cat is indoor-only and add medication or a do-not-feed instruction.
Add two numbers and your vet
Your phone, an emergency backup, and the clinic — so a cat found injured can be taken straight in.
Order light, flat tags — and spares
Export SVG, have two or three light aluminium tags made, fit them to a breakaway collar, and test-scan each one.
Frequently asked
My cat loses collars constantly — is a tag pointless?
No, but order spares. Breakaway collars are supposed to release; that is a safety feature, not a failure. Every replacement tag points at the same profile, so swapping one costs nothing but the collar.
What is the most important field for a cat?
Whether the cat is indoor-only. Strangers assume an outdoor cat has a home nearby and do nothing — that one sentence is what prompts a call.
Is a QR tag safe on a cat collar?
Yes, provided the collar itself is a breakaway type and the tag is light. Use thin aluminium or laminated plastic rather than a heavy steel disc.
Does it replace the microchip?
No, and for cats the chip matters more than usual because the collar is designed to come off. The chip proves ownership at a vet; the QR tag gets you a phone call on day one.
How small can the tag be?
A flat 2×2 cm face scans reliably at arm's length. Flatness matters more than size — a curved tag distorts the pattern.
Read next
Need a different QR type? Browse all 48 QR types on the home page.