Walking Kitty With a Harness?

My husband's been talking about getting a harness to be able to go on walks with our cat for a few years now. I really can't see it working for her because she hates being outside... but then he saw a neighbor walking a cat that way and started talking about it again. Have you tried it? Any tips on how to train a cat to get used to a harness?

 

Is your cat already routinely in a collar? See how they deal with that first. I tried to get one of my cats interested and she had a hilarious reaction. Once the leash was attached, she flopped over limp. I didn't even put any tension on the leash, she had all the slack the length offered. But nope...plop. She wasn't having any of it. My other cat acted like it was caught in a vice and jumped around wildly.

My two other cats didn't mind it was on but were completely disinterested in being lead around. They just sat there and stared at me in obvious confusion as to exactly what I thought I was doing.

Four cats, four unsuccessful attempts to give them an outside experience. That doesn't mean you will fail and a leash is a small price to pay for giving it a try. Just listen to kitty.

 

Here's an eHow article on how to get a cat to walk with a harness.
They suggest letting the cat walk around the house with the harness for a few days before attempting to attach a leash to it.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7714246_walk-cat-harness.html

 

I can *so* see our cat flopping over like that! "Nope, not gonna move and you can't make me!" So maybe it would just be futile for us to try. And no, she's not used to a collar and wears it only when we're traveling so I'm thinking I was right about a harness not going very well for her.

 

As the eHow article states, it would probably be best to try to get them used to wearing it by themselves at first. If you introduce it gradually, you are more likely to be successful. You might even have to leave it lying around the house in places they regularly go to. In this way, they would become used to it before you try to put it on them. If it does not work then I would not persist. There is no huge benefit (as far as I am aware) of being able to take a cat for a walk. They can take care of themselves quite well really.

 

I tried putting a harness on my cat too but it started going crazy rubbing itself on the floor and walls. It just hated whatever was on it. The same thing happened when I tried putting a collar on it. He does not even like going out and I guess that's due to him being indoors too much so I gave up on the leash and harness and just let him do his own thing at home.

 

I can barely get 2 of my cats to wear collars, i buy them and they rip them off and destroy them. They will absolutely not even keep the collar on but yes i have wanted to try to walk them. My other 2 cats have no issues with collars, but one of my cats prefers hemp collars probably because they are softer and i don't think that she will go for a harness either.

 

If your cat likes to walk on a harness, it likes to walk on a harness. Otherwise it may just cause some serious issues to attempt. We bought a harness for Alice, as she was always trying to get outside, and she was terrified when we took her out. It's stopped her trying to go out! Some breeds love to be walked, others hate it. I would just be really careful if you try!

 

I honestly don't recommend that! Well, at least not where I live, because it seems there is a stray dog always lurking in the shadows and coming out from them all of a sudden when they feel the urge. I think harness walking is for dogs only, and it's hard enough to train them to walk on a harness at first.... but a cat? I guess it is possible, but really hard!

 

Well you know my story Trellum, if I ever go there again; owning another cat, it's either going to be with the "harness" or it will stay indoors all the time. It's interesting to hear the original poster saying the cat does not like to go outside. If my cat did not like outside next time around that would be a treat.

There are conflicting views on the use of the harness. Most of what I have read suggest, it's really not for cats and that's why most if not all are so resistant. At the end of the day, I guess it's what works well for both. Remember we don't want to stress the cats. I think I shared a thread about stressing the cats expecting them to behave like dogs leash and all.

 

Anne, I hope next time you do end up with a cat that doesn't like to go outdoors, so far I haven't met a cat like that, but I'm sure there are some who do It's so hard to keep a former outdoors cat indoors! I had the hardest time with my Bob, but in the end things worked out just fine, isn't like we had much of a choice tho.

 

I’ve looked far and wide for a suitable cat harnes. I’ve had at least a dozen dog harnesses from cheap to $100+ Amish leather. Originally the first dog simply chomped it in pieces. Then I found that backing out was the favorite escape method. Dogs can live with pretty stout collars so I made a vee link to connect the collar and harnes. This worked great but by then I had fixed the issue by training. I had a custom belly band for my big German Shepherd but he didn’t need it by then. My Aussie got tangled inthe brush pile and broke a plastic clip so that let. Her loose. I was scared to death that she would run to the neighbors show horses but I had n9 easy way to get there but plow through the woods. She had herding training and I th8nkink she had been on a farm or ranch so she knew big farm animals. She did get in the horse coral and had all six of them rounded up . They were all standing watchin* her and she was laying on the gro7nd watching them. So no harm done.I called her an she came running and jumped dead center between the electric fence wires. And ran up to me.I just clipped the leash on and we walked back home like noth8ng happened. I didn’t have the belly band for her yet but it wasn’t needed from ther on as the recall became more positive.
Anyway cats are even more agile and many harnesses reviews note escapes even on the highest rated ones. So far I haven’t seen a belly safety band for cats. I can make one with my industrial sewing machine but it would be best to just purchase .
Does anyone know of these. I haven’t found such a thing. . My little girl is so thin with her shaved coat that most are not going to fit very well. I may have to modify something. But I don’t want her running around loose. There are big owls and eagle here so it would not be good.
Byron

 

Getting used to harness. I spread a small washcloth over my kitty back and let her walk around she doesn’t seem to mind jut goes where she wants to. I did this with puppies at first but they took to collars very quickly. Actually knew what we were going to do by the collar. Harness for tracking training prong for obedience or chain if competition and heavy leather for protection work. Eventually we mixed them up so the dogs had to adapt to the situations.

now cats can escape from about any harness once they are allowed to backup and get away so this is to be prevented by the handler. As soon as you see this happening you need to release tension on the leash. At one point I made an H shaped add on that clipped to the collar or harness then the belly band went around this gave a couple seconds reaction time. Later I made a ver connector for the collar to harness so it was much harder to get completely away. I’vet to find this device for cats so I may have to make it myself. You can also use two leashes, long and short. These get twisted if the pet is boinging around. The point is to connect the harness and collar. I have a breakaway now but my kitty is only one year old so pretty small. The rescue shave her so she has only light fur so no help there.

a home sewing machine can sew light materials but my industrial machine does not do well on light stuff.

 

my kitty actually likes her harness. I clipped a leash on and she follows me all around the house.we haven’t ventured out side as the collar and safety link was not what I wanted. I have som materials and an industrial sewing machine so it looks like I’ll have to make my own. It won’t be the first time as that’s what I used on my dogs untill the nice leather ones came out. I’ve got some Velcro too so I can make the collar breake away. So far she had not tried to back out or escape from the harness. My hard part is she does not like any treats so it hard to reward her she loves pets and light rubs and that’s working for now. Our grass is all burnt brown so probably not very interesting. I tried making a small bundle and winding tape around it for a bouquet but every thing is dead due to drought conditions.