Put an orange collar on your cat - here's why

Seattle cartoonist The Oatmeal, aka Matthew Inman, wants you to turn your indoor kitty into a convict.

On Tuesday, Inman launched The Kitty Convict Project – an "elegant solution to a tricky problem") never mind the cartoon kitty wearing orange underpants.)

It's simple – dress your cat in an orange collar with an ID tag (like a convict). Orange is bright and reflective and it will brand your cat as an INDOOR CAT. So anyone who sees a cat running around outdoors in an orange collar, know that they are an escaped convict.

"I don't know if it will work, it's a tall order," Inman told KING 5. "We're asking the world to change their perception of what a collar should be."

Here's the problem Inman is addressing: Statistics show that in the U.S., more than 7 million pets go missing each year. While 26 percent of dogs are reported and returned home, less than 5 percent of cats are recovered.

Why the disparity?

1.More dogs have ID collars than cats

2.Cats are better at hiding – when your kitty gets lost, often he's scared, sick or injured and doesn't want to be found. (Two-thirds of cats that go missing are found within 4-5 houses of where they live.)

3.When people see a dog running around the neighborhood they assume it's lost. When people see a cat running around the neighborhood they just assume it's an outdoor cat so it never gets reported.

Inman came up with the idea after he created his wildly popular card game, "Exploding Kittens."

"Basically we had a really successful game and we wanted a way to give back in a creative way … something where I could actually solve a problem," he said.

He decided branding the cat as a convict just might work.

And the Kitty Convict Project has gone viral.

"The Facebook post reached 10 million in 5 hours," said Inman.

Inman has partnered with GoTags to create two orange collars. Buy on Amazon.

"We took revenue from our game sales and we subsidized the cost," he said.

Lost cat? Don't give up hope

Kat Albrecht, founder of Missing Pet Partnership, says anything that gets owners to put collars on indoor cats is great.

"Many owners of indoor-only cats just assume that they DON'T need to put a collar or identification on their cats because they never let their cats outside," she said. "However, indoor-only cats are the MOST at risk of not getting back home when they escape outside because they hide in silence and their owners give up too soon."

"When these cats ultimately end up being taken in to the animal shelter (by a neighbor), the owner has long since given up on searching for them. That's why a microchip (in addition to an orange collar) is needed."

MPP says there are three major reasons cats not being reunited with their owners:

1. Owners rely on flyers and social media when an indoor cat is likely hiding in silence very close to their escape point, and a physical search is critical to uncover where the cat is hiding.

2. People stop searching too soon. Cats are great at hiding in silence, especially indoor cats, so they can hide for several weeks and end up in a shelter long after the owner has stopped searching - never give up hope.

3. Many people believe that their cat must have been killed by local wildlife, such as coyotes or owls/eagles, and they give up the search. This is most often not the case, and without evidence of predation (e.g. the cat's remains), people should not assume the worst and give up the search. Many, many cats are found safe weeks and months after going missing.

Inman is inviting people to share the Kitty Convict Project graphics to spread the word of the Kitty Convict Project. All of the images are free do download and use, he said. Get high resolution images.

He said basically, he figured a project like this would make him "square with the cats of the world."

"It's our form of cat atonement. Catonement."