Pick the appropriate poll choice.
Last edited:
-
Too many ads? Join our community of cat lovers now to reduce ads by 90%! Click here to join for free!
Do you walk your cats?
- Thread starter crazy4strays
- Start Date
Well, not a harness yet, currently just with his collar and a leash. He's really good about it. The reason for no harness is because he's been growing so much.
No pictures on my phone, but 3 of my girls are harness trained. Maya is a little iffy about it, she prefers to stay inside, but Aria and Calypso both LOVE going out. They'll come running if you even touch their harnesses. We take them a lot when we go to the pet store and the employees there adore them. I thought having a fluffy lynx point kitten riding around in the cart got us a lot of attention. Then we showed up with 2 kittens. And the girls of course can't get enough of the attention.
I picked Yes, but, really, it depends on your definition of "walk." Jasmine has a leash, and a harness that she's unable to escape from (so far, at least), and she gets very excited about going outdoors. But once we're there, she only wants to do two things — sniff every leaf and blade of grass in our yard, and chase rabbits. I don't let her chase rabbits — she has no idea what those strong hind legs could do to he — and sniffing individual blades of grass gets pretty old (for a human) rather quickly. If I try to take her on a genuine walk, say to the end of the block, she cowers away from all the people who think she's beautiful and want to give her a finger to sniff. :lol3:
Margret
Margret
wow he is beautiful,
Yes he is so beautiful and he looks so stylin in the black and white harness!! I have a cat Boris that will grab his leash and toss the buckling end up in the air with his mouth-tick tick tick=when he wants to go outside for a walk. Once he even shot under a bush and caught a mouse! YUK!! Took it away from him then but he was so pleased with himself.
Thank You! He is my momma's boy.
looks like a little black panther
Both of my cats go out for walks. For the little one, these tend to be less walks and more holding her in our arms since she is still a bit nervous of the outdoors. For Carrot, this can include actual walking, but lately includes mainly sitting on the edge of the porch watching everything.
Bud's on his second harness after I started walking him when he was a kitten. It's a great conversation starter and people always do a double take, like "Is that...a cat?!?" Once had a whole family stop and talk to me after their kids saw Bud and started asking me questions.
Unfortunately it's more of a spring/summer activity because it gets so cold here in the winter. Bud dislikes the cold as much as I do. But it's all worth it when it's nice out and he really walks with me.
Unfortunately it's more of a spring/summer activity because it gets so cold here in the winter. Bud dislikes the cold as much as I do. But it's all worth it when it's nice out and he really walks with me.
- Joined
- Sep 3, 2015
- Messages
- 54
- Purraise
- 6
I live in England where it is very rare for people to use harnesses on cats, but as i have 2 indoor kittens i would defintely like to try with them.
We have recently bought a leash and tried it with our two, just to put it on them to get used to. My partner after just one try doesn't want to continue as he thinks it's stressing them out, after one was very fidgety and the other when it was on him ran under the sofa to hide.
I want to try again to expose them and get them familiar with it, presumably it takes a while to train them end to end and most cats don't take to it straight away?
We have recently bought a leash and tried it with our two, just to put it on them to get used to. My partner after just one try doesn't want to continue as he thinks it's stressing them out, after one was very fidgety and the other when it was on him ran under the sofa to hide.
I want to try again to expose them and get them familiar with it, presumably it takes a while to train them end to end and most cats don't take to it straight away?
Two of mine took right to it. My other two rolled onto their side with the harness like I put a straight jacket on them. I had to but harness on just in the house for about a half hour or so for days to get them used to it. I started with just the nylon harness at first, but two of my cats do not fit in cat harnesses. They are all willing to get in their harnesses now and go on the leash. My girl will not actually walk she just sniffs and then lays down. My oldest cat is a very sweet boy and is certified to go to the nursing home my dad is at so he does very well on the leash. It takes time and some like my girl just will not take to it.
It varies immensely. Pretzel had no trouble with a standard cat harness (made of the stuff leashes are made of), until the time I had to wait with her in a desert rest stop in Idaho, with a woman who insisted on chatting politely even though she could see that it stressed the cat out. Pretzel managed to slip the harness and went into hiding until night, when she came out to hunt, secure in her invisibility, and I heard her collar bell ringing. Jasmine has a Hyendry walking jacket, which she can't slip. She gets very excited when I bring it out, as it means we're going outdoors, but then she lies down and presents her belly because she thinks it makes her look adorable (it does), which makes it hard to put the harness on. Then when we get back inside, she wants the harness off, "Meow/now!," but won't hold still long enough for me to remove it. :lol3:
I suggest putting just the harness on, no leash, for a short time every day, and then giving them treats or playing with them.
Margret
My cat, Midnight, would literally walk over to where I kept her harness, grab it with her teeth, then bring it to me to put it on her for our walk. She wouldn't go for a walk beyond our yard without it. She felt secure with it on.
Oh, he looks just like my Midnight! Absolutely stunning!
I was walking Eclipse everyday, but since I was in a cast we are just starting over. Sounds startle him and today he saw a couple w/a stroller and a huge dog (might have been a pony) and he jumped up on the fence (6 foot privacy fence) and ran into the yard. I let go of the leash and ran into the house just in time to see DH let him in the back door. When it's near dark or dark out he will venture farther down the block but during the day he checks out the front and back yards smelling the ferals and the lone squirrel. During the summer he will chase the ducks that come into the yard. We started walking him when he was about 12 weeks old.
We tried to take Fluffy out but it never went well. The last time she managed to get both front paws through the neck opening w/her head already in it. We cut the harness off and didn't try again. She is happy inside. She came from a shelter and I suspect she spent some unpleasant time outdoors.
We tried to take Fluffy out but it never went well. The last time she managed to get both front paws through the neck opening w/her head already in it. We cut the harness off and didn't try again. She is happy inside. She came from a shelter and I suspect she spent some unpleasant time outdoors.
Last edited:
Try leaving the harness next to their food bowls for a week or two and let them play with it and get used to it. Then you can put it on them for short sessions, five minutes and up. Give them treats and praise them when they have the harnesses on.
The trick is to get them to associate the harness with fun and happy times, and food is a great way to do that.Then when they're used to the harness you can start training them tk walk indoors. With Bud this was necessary because he would go into sensory overload when I brought him outside. The sights, the smells, the noises, the bushes, the crickets and cicadas...all of that was new to him and it would take a good 20 minutes outside until he went from uncertain (or even frightened) to curious and bold. Like clockwork at around the 20 minute mark his posture would change, his tail would shoot up, and he'd start to really enjoy being outside.Honestly it's a process that could take weeks or months, but the payoff is amazing when your cat accompanies you on walks every day. (Or night in my case, since I'm a night owl and I love walking on summer nights.)
I'd love to get a harness and leash for Nala Ava Marie!
Would be interesting to see how she responds. She's very stubborn.
