Cats on Harness

I'm just curious, do you guys have harness for your cats? I do for Misa, but I only take her once in a while on a special occasion like pet blessings. Heheheee.

I had one cat who was used to a harness. She only wore it when we went to the vet. So I replied No. 

When I lived in town, yes, I trained my cats to the harness.  JC, the Maine Coon, did best at it - we practiced "neck-reining" and he loved it!  My horsey friends were amazed at how similar walking the cat on leash was to riding western - one friend would visit me just to take the cat on harness around the neighborhood    It can be a great way to give a cat the mental stimulation and outdoor exercise in a safe manner - plus, it's great PR for cats - it defies the stereotype of aloof, untrainable cats 

I replied no because none of my cats enjoyed the outdoors. Actually, they were terrified. Although they are young and two of them lived on the streets for the first 3-4 months of their life, I did not manage to make them enjoy being taken out.

I replied "no" because Mogli doesn't go outside other than on the secured balcony. The only reason he's not harness-trained is that he has some health problems and I don't want to risk side effects from the vaccines he'd need.

His predecessor, Jamie, was trained to the harness and leash and went outside for a walk every day for over 13 years. He loved it, and would often be out for a couple of hours on warm weekends.

We take our boys outside on leash, and have been for over 10 years now. They generally like it, Wiggies more than Pushkin. Wiggs will go up to people and get petted. Like catsknowme said, it's great PR for cats! Most people are amused when they see them.
We only take them out if they enjoy it - like not in the winter much, and Pushy usually comes in after 10 minutes or so. Wiggs can happily stroll around for over an hour though.

Burt and Chrissy were both harness trained, it was hilarious watching them first get used to the harness, ( which they wore inside the house at first) all the flopping over on their side, like 'I can't go on, this is killing me!.     But with time and patience they enjoyed going for walks, and people were always amazed to see us, they would about crash trying to watch us from their cars! Of course I never took them far, I was afraid of dogs, etc. and them going crazy and getting loose. It got to the point where they would get all excited and come running when they saw the harness, they knew they were going for a walk.

One (current) came already harnessed trained. Previous owner declawed her so she could never go out on her own. She is a scaredy-cat and doesn't like to go out during the day. We go out after dark when no one can see her (she thinks). She's deaf now, so we have started working on a forewarning signal where 2 quick, but gentle tugs on the leash means that she should be aware that something potentially scary to her is coming her way (people, dogs, bicycles, cars, cats ...).

One (current) came as a 12-year-old indoor cat who had never been outside. The previous owners tried, but the cat became overexcited and freaked badly - information overload, too much to take in. It took us an entire spring to get him to the point where he was calm when outdoors. He never minded the harness from day one. We don't let him off harness (except for small amounts of time when we are right by his side and vigilant) because he is obsessed with going due south. If we let him lead, he'll go for blocks, mostly straight through other people's property. We believe he may be a closet Elvis fan and is determined to make the pilgrimage to Graceland. He gets obsessed with something outside and just goes. We sincerely believe that if he went far enough, he would not be able to find his way back. He has no street smarts (which is our nice way of saying he's awfully dumb).

One (past) was on a harness only in the early spring when the river was melting. It was terrifying to see him sitting on the thin river ice looking down into a hole that had opened up. I would have just kept him in and put up with the meowing, but he didn't start using a litter box until he was a ripe old age, and so we went out a couple of times a day so he could do his business. Otherwise, he was indoor/outdoor.

One (past) was indoor/outdoor but never went more than 150 feet from the front door. He was previously lost from one, possibly two, homes and he made sure he wouldn't get lost from another home.