kitty harness and leash

riffxraff

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does anyone use a harness and leash with their cat? i bought one for jericho, he doesnt mind it at all, but my boyfriend is convinced hes miserable and cant handle being outside the apartment...what do you guys think? keep him in his usual cave or let him explore with meowmy and daddy!?
 

yayi

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One of my cats, QT, is used to the harness. She acts like it's not even on her. She seems to have memorized the length of the leash too and never pulls on it (it's about 20 feet long). Amazing!

I think when a cat looks miserable on harness is probably because it has been traumatized by it. You need to make them get used to it slowly.
 

lauren_miller

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All of my cats are harness trained. They frequently go with me to the pet stores and sometimes we just take them for car rides so they remember it's an okay situation. I started very slowly training them to wear them, by letting them run around the house in the harness, then dragging the leash around (completely supervised). Then we started going for car rides, then out to the pet stores. I don't really walk them around the apartment complex as I don't want them learning to walk out the front door.

Here is Pandora checking out the cat trees.


and Lilly checking out the birdies..
 

my4llma

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I wouldn't take mine out on a leash, or even in my arms. I don't want to do anything to encourage them going outside. All my cats are indoor only.
 
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riffxraff

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well i usually put him in it as soon as i get home from work, feed him his dinner, and then we play for about a half hour and i take him out of it. last night i left him in it for a little longer and tried just letting the leash drag around behind him, but he wasnt a fan of the leash. he would just roll over on his side or belly crawl. i know its not hurting him, hes just so pitiful. i hope we didnt move too fast. im gonna keep letting him wear the harness and find a lighter leash..maybe he wont mind a smaller one
 
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