I have a young kitten who likes to bolt outside at any given chance…so I bought him a Lupine harness and decided I would take him out on a leash…
Here was our leash fail…
Kitten plop, roll, stand up, plop, roll, stand up walk three steps, plop, roll…lays down…stands up walks three steps, plop roll…rinse repeat.
I saw a Come with Me kitty leash at Petco and was curious if that one worked any better.
So…anyone successfully teach their cat to walk on a leash?
I have not, although I attempted a few times and they all went about as you described. :lol:
Apparently it is possible though, as there is someone that brings a black cat to Rolex on a leash each year. I’ve seen it a couple of times, just walking among the dogs in the Trade Fair. :eek: Would like to know how they did it, will have to ask if I ever see them again.
It can work. I had a cat years ago who walked well on a leash. When he felt like it :lol:.
However, one year at the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, I saw an amazing pair of animals. A good sized Lab and a tabby cat, both on leashes, held by a person, walking down the sidewalk. BUT, when the person went to cross the very busy street, the cat hopped up on the back of the dog and rode him across the street. I kid you not! I wish I had had my camera. I remember thinking “I wonder how long it took for them to learn to do this”.
It depends on how deterined you are, and how consistant you are
and what the lifestyle is
Many cats, particularly those who travel with people, learn that the leash is the way things are.
But you cant use it one day and then not bother for a few days and then want to use it again
I do agree that the “commando crawl” that my one kitty did while “on leash” WAS pretty funny. She eventually settled down and she could go out on her own. I just used the leash til she know the routine
I’ve done it
I have two that will walk on a leash. IT’s very different from my two dogs though. We go at a much slower pace and have some distracted moments. :lol:
Make sure you keep the harness tight! My cat wiggled out of one and BOLTED away outside when he panicked at some people/suitcases/etc. Made me a sad panda for several hours until I saw his furry face pop up at the door again!
I “acclimated” him to the harness by making him wear it inside several days in a row then tried with the leash inside a while as well.
it’s not the leash…your cat is broke!
:lol::lol:
it’s training…
Nothing of value to add other than whenever I think of cats on a leash this comes to mind:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/02/28/funny-pictures-civil-disobedience-cat/
I had one cat, Jake, that was wonderful on the harness, he loved to go for walks and drives in the car. I took him to Petsmart, he thought it was fabulous…but I knew when I adopted hiim that he was a former “outdoor” kitty.
My other cat, Kitty would not walk on the harness…she would walk three steps and flop on the ground like she was paralyzed…and then she would not budge.
ROFLMAO!!!:lol::lol::lol::lol:
You broke your cat!
Haha seriously, they will flop, roll and act like they are dieing. Just stick it on and walk off. And if that doesn’t work, pick them up (leash attached) walk outside and drop them in the grass. They will then forget they are paralyzed from the leash and harness.
Nero HATES the leash and harness and will actually run from me, but the moment that sucker is on he is dragging me to the door.
[QUOTE=Leather;5764503]
Nothing of value to add other than whenever I think of cats on a leash this comes to mind:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/2008/02/28/funny-pictures-civil-disobedience-cat/[/QUOTE]
Oh. My. God…who stole my kitten and took that picture. That is HIM color and all. :lol:
Thanks for all the comments/stories…I’ve enjoyed laughing at some of these stories/comments.
Now for the ones who have done it, did you just use a regular cat harness and leash or did you use something like the Come to Me Kitty leash.
And to the poster who lost her kitty for a short while…this is why my husband is not in favor of my leash training.
walking jacket!
You need a cat walking jacket!
I have posted here before about my mom and her weird tortie who go on daily walks. This is what she wears:
http://www.catwalkingjacket.com/
And whatever you do DON’T use a flexi leash. (search the flexi leash thread for story of cat being chased by flexi leash) :lol:
The cat loves it so much and will get pissed off if she doesn’t get her walk.
Nero gets attached to a long light tie line and a Toy sized dog no pull harness. XD Nothing special for him!
I attached a thin white string to my cat’s elizabethan collar when she was recovering from being stitched up and insisted she needed to go out and lounge around. It was about 30 feet long. She ran from me, hit the end of the string went up in the air and boom down. She did that twice and then she accepted the leash.
This method was not my intention, she just ran from me.
Years later when she had a leg surgery and cast, I could tie her with the same string (and length) to the side porch.
Looking back I would put her in a harness, rather than attach it to her collar.
My old siamese would walk on a leash - on pavement. Put her in the grass, and she’d climb me and sit on my shoulder. What a prima donna! LOL!
I have another cat that would do the combat crawl until one day I had him outside and my SO started the circular saw. I have never seen a cat whirl like that EVER! He was a little black tornado. After that, he figured out that he could move in the harness. 
PaintPony - I thought it was your MOM who wore the jacket and I was really interested to see what sort of jacket would be appropriate to wear when you walk your cat.
My only experience with cat + leash was our barn cat, Dice. Trainer had never had a cat and declared that she wanted a friendly barn cat who would kill mice and that she could walk on a leash. Well, two out of three ain’t bad, right?
We were keeping him locked in the office for the first few weeks and he looked pretty worried about the horses so I figured that maybe an outing or two on a leash would help him get acclimated to the barn. And demonstrate the futility of cat + leash. So, I got dispatched to the store to buy a cat harness and flexi leash. I am assuming it was fortunate that I was unable to locate a flexi leash? Put harness on cat and snap leash on harness. Hang out in office. OK. Walk outside (holding cat, not trying to lead cat) and hang out with cat outside. OK, tho he did retreat under a large bush once or twice. Then my phone rang and, in the middle of the conversation, something happened to alarm Dice, he went flying to the end of the leash and then kind of flying back like a boomerang. Convinced person that called me that now was not a good time to talk as I had to unwind leash from assorted structures and retrieve cat before someone died. Trainer gave up on the leash idea after awhile and has come to realize that cats are not little dogs.
My mom had a DOG who, at her first obedience class, did kind of what the LOL cat is doing, except she rolled over on her back. My mom is used to horses so, no problema, she just dragged the dog along on her back. The instructor did a double take and then commented “very good!” After a few rounds of being dragged around on her back, the dog righted herself and proceeded to heel perfectly.
[QUOTE=dalpal;5764178]
I have a young kitten who likes to bolt outside at any given chance…so I bought him a Lupine harness and decided I would take him out on a leash…
Here was our leash fail…
Kitten plop, roll, stand up, plop, roll, stand up walk three steps, plop, roll…lays down…stands up walks three steps, plop roll…rinse repeat.
I saw a Come with Me kitty leash at Petco and was curious if that one worked any better.
So…anyone successfully teach their cat to walk on a leash?[/QUOTE]
haha! I had the same experience when I tried to teach my ‘heart’ cat to walk on the leash. My mother thought it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen.
[QUOTE=Peggy;5765751]
PaintPony - I thought it was your MOM who wore the jacket and I was really interested to see what sort of jacket would be appropriate to wear when you walk your cat.[/QUOTE]
:lol::lol: Well my mom is weird, but not THAT weird.
The cat however does wear a coat over her walking jacket when it is cold out. Yes - the cat even goes outside for walks in the snow.
I don’t think the tortie is a normal cat though - more like a cross between a dog and a ferret. 
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