A tag that doesn’t jingle, and lettering that can’t rub off
Two complaints come up about metal pet tags more than anything else.
The first is the noise — a steel disc against a steel buckle, all
evening, in the room where you are trying to watch something. The
second is that the writing goes. Engraved tags are cut and then
filled with paint, and the paint is the part you read; a year of a
dog being a dog takes it out of the grooves and leaves you with a
blank silver circle.
A printed tag answers both by accident of how it is made. Plastic on
metal is a dull knock rather than a ring. And the letters here are
not cut into the surface — they stand 1 mm proud of it, in a
second color, laid down as part of the tag. There is no coating to
wear through. Scuff it and it is still legible, because the text and
the tag are the same object.
Lightweight cat ID tags, safe for a breakaway collar
The reason so many cats wear nothing is weight and noise, and both
objections are fair. A 7/8″ printed tag weighs about two grams.
Steel at that size is nearer ten, and acrylic — the usual lightweight
answer — is about three.
That matters more than it sounds on a breakaway collar, which is
designed to pull apart under a couple of pounds if a cat catches it
on a branch. The lighter the thing hanging off it, the less it drags
at the catch. And an indoor cat is exactly the cat that most needs a
tag: the day it slips out, a cat with nothing on its neck is
indistinguishable from a stray.
Pet tag size guide
Sizes are the ones US pet retailers use, listed in inches with the
millimetres in brackets. Pick by what the collar can carry, then by
how much you need to fit on it — the more lines, the smaller each one
gets, and the tool will tell you when the text has shrunk past being
readable.
| Size | Tag | Weight | Suits |
|---|
| Cat | 7/8″ (22 mm) | ~2 g | Cats and kittens, breakaway collars |
| Small dog | 1″ (25 mm) | ~3 g | Terriers, dachshunds, small mixes |
| Medium dog | 1¼″ (32 mm) | ~4 g | Beagles, border collies, spaniels |
| Large dog | 1½″ (38 mm) | ~6 g | Labs, shepherds, anything bigger |
Every size takes a standard 16 mm split ring, and one comes with
the tag. The hole is 4.2 mm with at least 2.2 mm of tag
around it, because the hole is where a tag tears.
Why 3D printed — and where metal still wins
Printed wins on weight, on silence, on color, and on shape: a bone, a
fish, a paw and a house cost us the same to make as a disc, which is
not true of anyone cutting steel. It wins on text that cannot wear
off. And it wins on the thing you are doing right now, which is
seeing it before you buy it.
Metal wins on the long run. Stainless shrugs off sunlight and years of
abrasion; PLA is a plant-based plastic and it does not. So we would
rather say it plainly: this is the tag people read, and the one you
replace when your number changes or the puppy grows into its collar.
Keep the license and rabies tags on there too — those are often
required, and neither of them tells a stranger how to call you.
What to put on a pet ID tag
A phone number, with the area code. It is the one
line that actually gets an animal home, and the AKC puts it above
everything except the name. A second number on the next line is
better than an address.
The name — probably. US practice puts it front and
largest, on the reasoning that a stranger who can say “Biscuit,
come here” can hold on to a frightened dog. A minority view says
it also lets someone call your dog away from you. Both are true; most
American owners put the name on.
“I’m chipped” if they are. It tells
whoever finds them to get them scanned when nobody picks up, which is
the whole point of the chip. Skip the street address
— it spends a line telling a stranger where the house is.
Made to order, then shipped in 3 business days
Nothing is sitting on a shelf — your tag is cut for your order, so we
print and ship within three business days, and US shipping is free.
If anything is going to take longer than that we email you and you
can wait or cancel, which is both the decent thing and what the FTC’s
mail-order rule requires of us.
Because every tag is made for one animal, it is final
sale — but if we get it wrong, we remake it and ship it free.
A dropped letter, the wrong size, a color that is not what you
approved: our mistake, our problem.
One legal note worth naming. California’s Food & Agricultural
Code § 30951 asks that a dog wear “a metallic tag which
gives the name and post office address of the owner” or a
municipal license tag. A printed tag is not metallic, so in
California it rides alongside the license tag rather than standing in
for it.
Questions people actually ask
- What should you not put on a pet ID tag?
- Your full street address. A phone number reaches you wherever you are; an address only tells a stranger where the house is, and it eats the space a second number could use. Skip anything that needs explaining, too — a finder reads the tag once, in the dark, on a wriggling dog.
- Are 3D printed pet tags durable?
- Honestly: less durable than stainless steel. PLA is a plastic, and sunlight and abrasion get to it eventually. What it does hold on to is the text — the letters are raised in a second color, not engraved and paint-filled, so there is no coating to wear off. Ours is the tag people read; keep the metal license and rabies tags on the collar too.
- Do cats need ID tags?
- Indoor cats get out, and a cat with no tag looks exactly like a stray. The reason cat owners skip tags is weight and noise, which is the argument for a printed one: about two grams at 7/8 inch, and plastic does not clink against a bell all night.
- What size pet tag should I get?
- Cats and kittens take 7/8 inch. Small dogs — terriers, dachshunds — take 1 inch. Beagles and border collies take 1¼ inch, and labs, shepherds and anything bigger take 1½ inch. The bigger the tag, the more you can fit on it and still read it at arm’s length.
- How much does a custom pet tag cost?
- Ours are $9 to $13 depending on size, with free US shipping. Engraved steel from the big pet retailers runs about $9 to $20, and the machines in the store are cheaper but the paint wears out of the letters.
- Does a pet ID tag have to be metal?
- Not for identification — that tag is voluntary almost everywhere in the US. Rabies and license tags are a different matter and are required in much of the country. One to watch: California asks for a metallic tag or a municipal license tag, so a printed tag rides alongside those rather than replacing them.