Any leash trained cats on TCS?

Anne

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Working on a new article here. I wonder if any members here have leash trained cats, and if so, can you possibly share your stories and pictures with me?

If you can please either post here or PM me with your story and picture, I'd be most grateful. Please understand that you will be contributing the content for me to use on TCS and in effect granting rights of use to TCS (same as you do whenever you post on these forums
).

I'll be rotating this thread over several forums in the next few days, so everyone can get a glimpse and reply. Thank you!
 

sharky

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Over the yrs all my cats have been leash trained...

Zoey is unique as she was collar and leash vs harness leash trained ... I could not find a harness to fit her huge shoulders vs small frame...

PJ took right to it ... put the harness leash ( it is a combo all in one
) ....

right now only Sylvie is not

I have ancient pics of my Moms cat on lead
I will look up pics and try to pm you something better
 

missymotus

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My 3 are all harness trained, didn't really do any training just put the harness on and took them out - they all 'got it' right away and loved it
 

skippymjp

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The only one of the Jellicles that is trained for a leash and harness is Sassy Sasparilla. Because, to be honest, none of the others are truly interested in the outdoors. They are more than content to merely sit in their outdoor enclosure and watch the bugs and the birds and keep up on the neighbors.

Sassy, however, truly enjoys taking a walk now and again, and a couple times a week we'll "suit up" and tackle the great outdoors.


It was somewhat comical at first. The first few trips outside in harness, Sassy would do the "low walk", staying very close to the ground as though she had no idea what to expect. Now, however, she has a good idea of how long the leash is, and is comfortable with knowing that if something scary pops up, Daddy will be quick to pick her up if she comes dashing back






I have a photo somewhere of her "modeling" her harness indoors. If I can find it I'll add it in here.
 

mimosa

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When we got Ernesto and Mimosa we lived in a tiny apartment and we felt we had to come up with a way to let them enjoy the outdoors, they were very young when we taught them to walk on a leash so they adjusted really fast. They got to have fun at the park !




Tiny Ernesto spots a dog:



Mimosa climbs her favorite tree, the harness never seemed to bother her:



After we moved we got dEUS and Flynn, we gave their breeder a harness and asked if she could put it on them every now and then so they could get used to it before they would come to live with us.

dEUS outside our apartment as a kitten:





Flynn and dEUS together:



The cats get to do a lot of things that they couldn't have done because it wouldn't have been safe if they weren't leash trained
dEUS enjoys the snow:



And he meets a queen ! (albeit a queen ant)



Flynn in front of the apartment (the "street" in the picture is actually one floor above street level)



Checking out the neighbours' new bench:
 

whiteforest

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I have one cat who is terrified of the harness, because that means he will have to go outside. He HATES going outside. My other kitty love going out on the harness and leash. I wouldn't say that he's "trained". I got him used to wearing the harness inside for short play periods, then started taking him out in the grass. I can't walk him like a dog or anything, but I can follow him around while he rolls in the grass and explores the yard.
 
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Anne

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Thanks for the input everyone - great pictures!
 

jennyr

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Five of mine are leash trained - all the ones I brought from Bosnia, plus Milo. It is pretty easy usually, I get them used to wearing the harness on its own in the house for a few days, ignoring the funny belly crawl they often do at first, and then add the leash and 'walk' them indoors before going out. I have never had it take more than three or four days of several sessions a day of wearing till they completely ignore it. That is important as then they will not be terrified and either refuse to walk or pull so hard and so suddenly that they break the leash or harness, or jerk it away from you. Some cats will still manage to get out of the harness, and then I find that the figure of eight type harness is better than the traditional 'H' shaped one. I have seen people try to train their cats by attaching the lead direct to a collar but that is a very bad idea for I think obvious reasons.

Walking a cat is a misnomer as the cat walks you and you really have to go where it goes, though you can encourage it to go in certain directions. Sometimes that works, sometimes not. And cats do surprising things - I was walking Ellie once in my field when the grass was quite long, and she actually managed to catch a mouse while on the lead - I only felt a slight tug!

I always harness train a cat before letting it out alone, and take it out so that it know its way home. There are so many stories of cats here on TCS who have never been out, escape and are never seen again, because they bolt and have no idea of where they are. If a cat knows the smell of home and garden, and the plan of its environment, it is far less likely to get lost, in my opinion.

Having cats harness trained is invaluable if you have to travel with them - it takes so much hassle out of keeping them safe in the car. I brought mine from Bosnia across Europe to France, a two day trip, and kept their harnesses and leads on all the time in their cages. It meant I could get hold of them so much more easily and safely at rest stops, and I was able to exercise them when we reached the hotel. Here are Ellie and Persil in their cage, quite relaxed.
 

pookie-poo

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Cleo has been leash trained since she was a kitten. She loves to go for walks in the back yard. I never really 'tried' to train her. I just slapped a figure-8 harness on her, and she took right to it! I take her out with me when I work in the garden, or when I'm out picking raspberries. She even 'asks' to go for walks. I keep her harness/leash on the kitchen counter. When she wants to go outside, she jumps up on the counter and knocks it off onto the kitchen floor. Then she makes that cute little purr-chirrup sound. She'll stand on the counter with her neck stretched way out, so I can put the harness on her.

She absolutely loves to roll around on the warm concrete of the driveway when I take her out.




When Maggie was a year or two old, I tried putting a harness and leash on her. OMG!!! That was a fiasco! She immediately dropped to the floor as if it weighed a million pounds. She kept wriggling and contorting herself into awkward positions, trying to get her paws under it to wiggle out of it. She looked like a cerebral palsy cat on psychotropic drugs! I laughed so hard I almost wet my pants! I have to admit, that was the first, and the last time I ever tried to put a harness on her.

I tried Lola on a leash a couple of summers ago. She was okay with it, until she got outside and realized that there wasn't a ceiling above her. She seemed a little intimidated by the wide open spaces at first, but adjusted fairly quickly. I did, however, learn that it isn't a good idea to take two cats outside on leashes at the same time. Invariably, they want to go in opposite directions at exactly the same time!
 

cheylink

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Mimosa, your pictures are priceless! I definitely think some kitties take to the harness/leash more then others. I tried to introduce the harness/leash to Maia as a kitten and it really didn't take, she never wanted to be let down out of my arms outside. If I put a harness on her today, she freezes up, like a poor little paralyzed kitty. We live in NYC though and I have a back rooftop that she will explore out on atleast 6 feet away from the door when I'm outside!
 
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Anne

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Some awesome stories and pictures here - thank you so much everyone. Some good tips too - I have a feeling this will be a great article. I'll post here when it's published.
 

sibohan2005

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Sibohan has allowed herslef to be leash trained because she knows it's the only way she is going out. She hated having a coller but dosn't mind the harness and she can't wriggle out of the harness. I put her on the extendable leash and she wonders along sniffing things and scratching trees at her leisure. I don't get to take her out as often as I would like but she gets some outside time as often as possible.
 

rockcat

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Lancelot, the cat I had when I was a teen, was leash trained. It was in the 70's. At the time a harness didn't even occur to me. I used a collar and a leash. Thank God nothing horrible happened because of it. We would walk to the store after school. The guy who worked there would let me put Lance right on the counter and feed him lunchmeat. We ran uphill all the way home. I'm sure we were a riot.

Oliver was leash trained as a kitten, but I had to stop because the more I took him outside, the harder he tried to get out on his own. Years later, we stayed in a bar/restaurant overnight because of a hurricane. I put the harness and leash on Oliver so that he could walk around safely indoors with me. He did great, even after all that time!
 
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