Do you walk your cats?

[GoldyCat]

I tried walking my two when they were just kittens, 6-7 months old. Their idea of a walk was they'd ride on my shoulders and I'd do the walking. :lol3:

 

[dennis47]

I started training Midnight on a leash when she was 4 months old. Didn't have to try very hard---she took to it almost immediately.

 

[konstargirl]

Yup! Spock does great on it. He goes out a couple times a month!

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• konstargirl
• Jan 17, 2016

 

[alic23]

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.)

Tha

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

Thanks Margret for the tips will try it out

 

[Geoffrey]

I do not put a collar on Sukie because she will not let me put a collar on her!  In fact she won't even sit on my lap - and I brought her up from an 8 week kitten.  She is now 18 months old and is the only cat that I have ever had in my long life who has refused to sit on my lap!

With regards,

Geoffrey

 

[hellocat]

I have never done that ever, and never seen others walking their cats

 

[eck1kaylie]

 
I have never done that ever, and never seen others walking their cats

I've never seen anyone else walking their cats either, but I've found plenty of people online who do! 

 I always had the thought in the back of my mind; I'd heard stories of my grandma walking one of her cats in the hallways of her apartment. It's lots of fun! The older of my two girls (still pretty young, 3 years old now) prefers to just rub on everything she can reach and then find a sunny spot to sit in, but the younger one loves  to explore and chase bugs and leaves. Last time we were outside, she got to play with a little white butterfly! Very cute. 

 

[raina21]

I don't walk mine... yet. I ordered a custom harness for Tesla and it hasn't arrived yet. So hopefully within these next few weeks I'll be able to start harness training him. I think he'd be good on a harness, he has always been more like a dog than a cat haha! He's the only one of my 3 to actually be interested in the outdoors. I also figure that harness training him would make vet visits easier, as he HATES the carrier.

 

[edna romeo]

I'm lazy so i never walked my cat

 

[woodheather]

I really never saw someone walk their cats and iv'e never done it too

 

[gearpunk]

Oakley (who looks identical to Dante but much, much smaller) was really reluctant to it at first and just flopped over when I first used it. I had to use it with the cone for her spay (because she would aggressively go at her stitches) but once that cone came off it was like the harness wasnt even there and she walks with the leash just fine in our back yard!
She even meow to go back out once in a while. It's cute!

 

[hellocat]

 
I've never seen anyone else walking their cats either, but I've found plenty of people online who do! 

 I always had the thought in the back of my mind; I'd heard stories of my grandma walking one of her cats in the hallways of her apartment. It's lots of fun! The older of my two girls (still pretty young, 3 years old now) prefers to just rub on everything she can reach and then find a sunny spot to sit in, but the younger one loves  to explore and chase bugs and leaves. Last time we were outside, she got to play with a little white butterfly! Very cute. 

That sounds interesting. I look forward to your experience of walking your  cat some day in the future.

 

 

[Lyzzie]

Sparrow walks me everyday.

He wanted to go explore the neighborhood, I wanted him safe inside.

Letting him out in the enclosed courtyard every day under strict supervision wasn't enough, he was always trying to escape in the hallway (he knows how to open doors that little rascal).

So, he and I compromised.

I wanted to start getting him in a harness, and go on walks.

But SO was against it, and again, we compromised.

I would be the one to do anything and everything related to the cat's outdoor time.

In 4-5 days he was comfy with his harness in the house and in the enclosed courtyard (that took lots of FD chicken treats...).

He was comfortable with the leash right away, but tried to get the leash's shadow (he loves that).

I let him in the hallway, sniffed everywhere, and I opened the door (I was holding on that leash for dear life).

He just strolled a bit everywhere like he owned the joint, it was funny to see.

He's still very afraid of cars passing, and more afraid of people, but we're working on it.

When I go get his harness, as soon as he sees me he comes running, and wait patiently at the door.

 

[Geoffrey]

About 15 years ago, when we lived right next to the Sydney Bush, we used to walk the cats regularly. Not on leads but loose so they could investigate the bush and to follow us; this they did but I noticed that they did so in spurts. 

I have already mentioned in a "cat behaviour" thread how my Tonkinese,"Kinky" ambushed 'George' the Staffordshire Bull Terrier when he leapt out and jumped off his back to the other side of the path.  

At an other time when we were all at a beach-house on an island in Queensland, the three cats followed us when we went for a walk on the sand in the night., I remember shining my torch backwards and seeing five eyes reflecting back (Susie, the Burmese, had only one eye). 

A few years later we had two Siamese year old brothers rescued via the Cat Society and they also followed us on walks.  These also had the run of the bush through a cat door and we were rather disconcerted when Kerry, the brother of Rupert, came rollicking in with a young snake in his mouth whilst we were having our evening meal. We had quite a disturbance having a snake chase through the house.

With regards,

Geoffrey

 

[ollieoxenfree]

Cute pictures everybody! I walk my cats too. When we found Oliver he was an outdoor cat so,naturally, he pushed to go out again. I bought him a harness and leash and there was no training involved, he just took right to it! When we found, and decided to keep, Sansa there was no way she was letting a harness on. It was a struggle just to get a collar on her. Over time she got better, I would touch her neck and tie little scarves around her neck to get her used to it. It was only last Spring, after having her for a year a half, that we tried her on a harness. Because I didn't want to potentially waste money on a harness I used my bunny's harness and it fit like a little glove. SHe did the freeze and fall dance but was quickly overcome by curiousity. 

My advice to anyone who cannot get a harness on their cat is to 1. consider what type of harness they use. I see a lot of the pictures above have the t-shirt type harnesses, this might be okay for some cats but for others it might be too much. Try a different type, I use the ones you see in my picture below and have had two great results! 2. consider the time and place you try to train the harness on your cat. I found opening the sliding door or large window would preoccupy Sansa enough to allow me to touch her body with the harness. It feels very odd to them at first I guess but if they associat that feeling with going out to explore they get used to it really quickly.

I have both of my cats (mostly) trained with some walk cues like "come", "this way", "let's go". Unlike with dogs, this sometimes does not work! But they love going out. 

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• ollieoxenfree
• Aug 19, 2016

sanse1.jpg

• ollieoxenfree
• Aug 19, 2016

sanse2.jpg

• ollieoxenfree
• Aug 19, 2016

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• ollieoxenfree
• Aug 19, 2016

 

[hellocat]

That's absolutely interesting. Love your cats.