I just moved from rural Minnesota (big open yard, lots of trees) to Brooklyn, NY (no yard, no trees). My 1-yr-old cat grew up spending a lot of time outside and loved it. Now he is cooped up all the time and seems to hate it. When I open the window, he goes ballistic–sniffing the air, scratching at the screen, etc. I feel horrible about keeping him in, but my neighborhood is not exactly residential.
Anyway, I’ve heard of people training their cats to walk on leashes. Have any of you done this, especially with older cats? Is it worth it? I am envisioning my cat trying to run up a tree with me holding the other end of the leash!
Any other suggestions to deal with the miserable housebound cat issue are welcome and appreciated.
My cat from 1961 - 1979 (Moki, a 25 lb Seal Point Siamese), would walk on a leash. He acted like he was walking to his coronation, would run when he heard his chain and lease rattle.
He just took to it. wouldn’t try and go up trees or anything like that. Try it with your cat, worst you’ll see is that it didn’t work out.
Hmmm, we started Gryffin with the harness and leash when he was a kitten. He doesn’t exactly walk, either. He feels it is more appropriate to let his servants carry him. The harness and leash go on, and then he gets carried to the park or wherever our destination is. Then he will sniff around or sit and bask in the sun (still on the leash!). We live in Brooklyn, too, and I never let him outside without the leash.
It might help to get a harness and have your cat wear it around the house until he gets used to it, before you try to bring him outside.
If you have a balcony that you’re sure is cat escape-proof, it seems to help an outside kitty if they can get any fresh air at all. You could also make the balcony more interesting for her with some cat-safe plants, and some dirt for her to dig around in, too.
We walk our cat Midnight. Before Maggie died, we walked her, too.
It’s not as weird as you think. I’ve seen cat leashes in every pet store I’ve been in. It’s true that you can use them on small dogs, too, but I’m sure there are lots of cat-walkers out there. No one makes (and mis-names) a product in such quantity.
The first time we did it the cats didn’t know what to think – they kept their bellies close to the ground, as if they were tied down. Eventually they got used to them. I always kept plenty of light rope coiled up, in case the cats took off after something. (A word of warning – do NOT put a cat leash around the neck only. The cat will either strangle, or slip off the leash. You want something that wraps around the torso as well.) You have to keep up with the cat – There is no way you’re going to keep your cat on the sidewalk. Cats do not recognize the existence of straight lines. Be prepared to cut across country and to “hand” your leash through fences and the like.
Eventually the cats learned where we wanted them to go and where we wanted them to stay away from, and we could do without the leashes altogether. We yelled at them if they strayed out of bounds. We even walked both cats simultaneously. Popular sayings (and commercials) to the contrary, you CAN herd cats. It just ain’t easy.
I both walk my cat and let her run on a lead. It’s not dissimilar to walking a dog – you have to be prepared to follow the cat’s agenda. That means a lot of poking around interesting looking nooks and crannies, no straight lines, and a modest amount of untangling. Cats have no notion of topology as it relates to ropes. If tangled, they will pull away from the lead rather than follow it back to the problem.
It works pretty well as a compromise – the cat gets to go outside and I don’t worry as much about cars. It’s not totally satisfactory as the cat doesn’t get a chance to chase critters and I have to spend a fair amount of time untangling her and ferrying her in and out. As far as “looking weird”, see if I care.
I’ve tried to walk all three of my cats and none of them like it one bit. They want to go out, just without me along. they always tried to hide in the trees/bushes so I stopped tring to get them out. They do like the portches that we have and no have ever tried to jump even though the current one is 10-12 feet up.
We have three cats and Loki, the Siamese will walk on a leash.
As others have mentioned, you pretty much have to follow the cat’s lead. Loki and I have a set path and I will usually have to carry him to the turn-around spot. From there though, Loki will walk back home without another thought.
He is easily frightened of loud vehicles and the slightest tinkling of a dog collar will make hime freeze up and crouch low to the ground. Most of our dog-walking neighbors are good enough to cross to the other side of the road when they see us coming.
As for looking weird, I have found it to be quite the contrary. When we lived near a metro station with a great deal of pedestrian traffic, people would stop all of the time and comment on the spectacle and ask all types of questions.
My advice, start slow and let your kitty get used to the harness and leash -inside the apartment. From there you can venture outside and move further and further from your home.
Also, you might want to try the idea of carrying your cat to a specific spot and then -since cats have a great internal sense of direction- allow him to guide you back home.
Another note about cat-walking - it has been recommended to me by a vet that cats differ from dogs in that they are much more comfortable around bushes and buildings than, say, in the middle of an open field. Cats like to slink around things, not charge into the middle of the park for a game of frisbee.
I think you need to get a cat used to the leash while it is a kitten. We tried it with ours as adult cats, hence the following snippet of domestic conversation:
“It’s a nice night out. Think I’ll go for a walk.”
“Can you take the cat(s) for a drag at the same time?”
Walking implies independant voluntary limb movement. Ours just put bum to ground, and neck up and back. Passers-by would comment on the cruelty of it, especially little-old-ladies. Oh, especially little-old-ladies.
I had a cat that would ride the bus in a large bag (with clothes and crap) and I had him on a leash, he was a black cat but not quite, red highlights, most of the coments I got were from women who thought it was cool as hell but he didnt do much walking, mosty sat on my shoulder looking around at stuff.
I miss that cat, I shoulda named him Road Pizza though.