Reaction to the harness that is. I need opinions on couple of things regarding the leash/harness.
First, Ferdinand is 2 years old. Might be too late for this but you ever know. We got him from SPCA in August. He's an adorable tomcat but is skiddish by nature.
We live in an apartment but I really would not mind if we could take him out sometime. He's my first indoor only cat, my cats were always been at least partly outdoor.
Anyway, we bought a harness and a little leash today. He tends to calm down when you restrain him(he's great during vet exams) which is really helpful when performing tasks like putting a collar on.
So, we went to put it on, took us a while but had no problems when it came to Ferdinand wanting to run away or anything. Once the harness was on, I made sure it's not too tight, I left it quite loose.
But Ferdinand's reaction to the harness was really weird!!
He would not walk at all(this is harness only, no leash at all), not far anyway! He purred and purred and would walk for like 4 feet then roll on his side as in being pet. He seemed funny about it but I would not describe it as being scared or alert, just kinda docile. And with that harness on, we could hold him as long as we wanted, and he usually does not like it past 30 seconds or so.
I left him like that for few minutes, then felt bad about it and decided it's enough for now so I took it off and he went back to his old self.
My questions are, any input what goes on in his head while doing this? It's strange...
And my second question is, do you think it's possible to get him leash-trained enough I could take him out a bit sometime?
Thanks for input!
Ferdinand:
First, Ferdinand is 2 years old. Might be too late for this but you ever know. We got him from SPCA in August. He's an adorable tomcat but is skiddish by nature.
We live in an apartment but I really would not mind if we could take him out sometime. He's my first indoor only cat, my cats were always been at least partly outdoor.
Anyway, we bought a harness and a little leash today. He tends to calm down when you restrain him(he's great during vet exams) which is really helpful when performing tasks like putting a collar on.
So, we went to put it on, took us a while but had no problems when it came to Ferdinand wanting to run away or anything. Once the harness was on, I made sure it's not too tight, I left it quite loose.
But Ferdinand's reaction to the harness was really weird!!
He would not walk at all(this is harness only, no leash at all), not far anyway! He purred and purred and would walk for like 4 feet then roll on his side as in being pet. He seemed funny about it but I would not describe it as being scared or alert, just kinda docile. And with that harness on, we could hold him as long as we wanted, and he usually does not like it past 30 seconds or so.
I left him like that for few minutes, then felt bad about it and decided it's enough for now so I took it off and he went back to his old self.
My questions are, any input what goes on in his head while doing this? It's strange...
And my second question is, do you think it's possible to get him leash-trained enough I could take him out a bit sometime?
Thanks for input!
Ferdinand: