Walking kitty--danger?

Well, I am training Gigi to a harness and so far I have taken her out on my own front porch and driveway. We've not worked up to much yet. There are a lot of cats in the neighborhood....in fact we have a bit of a cat problem on our street! God only knows if there are any diseased cats out there.....how much do I need to worry about having Gigi...geez...even on my own front lawn where other cats have traipsed through?? How careful do I need to be? Thanks for any input........btw, she is fiv/felv negative and in vibrant robust health and I kinda wanna keep her that way!!!!

Make sure she is UTD on all shots before you take her out... Take her on her harness, and she should be ok. If you live in an area with mosquitoes, I would advise also to apply revolution or Advantage Multi to prevent heartworm disease (you need to request it from the vet). My vet said they don't get the serious diseases (Leukemia, Aids) with casual contacts with other cats - they have to exchange bodily fluids, through fighting, breeding, etc.

Has she had all the shots usual for indoor/outdoor cats? Jamie goes outside in a harness, and has 1) gotten involved in fights with neighborhood cats, and 2) caught rodents, etc., so I'd say there definitely is a risk of exposure to disease.

Well...this leads to my next question. Firstly, she has had all her kitten shots. She is only 3 3/4 months old, so no rabies shot yet, but in a couple of months. Regarding feline leukemia vaccine...is this recommended? I read a couple of blurbs (not on this forum) that the felv vaccine is a bit controversial and not always recommended b/c of a pretty close association with cancer at the site of injection later on. I was going to bring up this topic at some point; wasn't sure if I was going to vaccinate my indoor cat; however if taking her places (including cat shows...in fact, is it REQUIRED??) puts her at risk, then I need to weigh the pros and cons. With my dogs I now only do the required rabies..in fact I go to an out of county vet to get the three year rabies; I no longer do any additional shots after the one year boosters. I don't believe in annual shots. I DO believe in annual or more frequent vet visits, so it is not that! I am just against overvaccination.
Thoughts? Thanks!

When I told my vet I was planning to take Church to cat shows she recommended more vaccinations than she would for just an indoor house cat. She is normally fairly minimal with vaccines though... I'd have to check his records to see which vaccines she did because it was a while ago and I don't remember (since he decided he didn't enjoy showing anymore we didn't get the same vaccs. last time.)

I would recommend a flea/tick preventive as well, especially since you have other cats in the neighborhood which may result in fleas around which can carry some things.