I need tips for walking my cat.

Siamese cats have been known to walk on a leash. It's pretty gosh darn hard to get any other breed to do it. I really suggest you abandon the idea. It will save a lot of wear and tear on you, and angst on the cats.

I'm with Roger - most cats just sit down if you try. I have seen them walk with people unleashed, but it's their choice.

I'm hoping you are just kidding. If you take your cats for a walk with a collar leash...you are probably insane...and eventually your cats will suffer sad deaths because of your instability. They will get out of the leash (unless it is so tight it will choke them to death) and run into trouble.

DO NOT DO IT!

I've got a friend who has reliably trained several of her Siamese cats to walk on leash in the city over the years ... but ... it is a lot of work to get them to go along with the idea initially.

She currently has a Savannah who goes out on a leash at their farm - he'll take a runner otherwise.

You need to start the training inside the house. It could be months (or never) before any particular cat adjusts to walking on leash.

A former neighbour used to walk her rabbit on a leash. That always seemed horrible for both the human and the rabbit.

You can wak cats it just takes time and patience I'm not kidding

Well, you specifically asked about treats and toys. No, your cat isn't going to be interested in anything other than getting out of the collar, or choking himself on it, and it won't matter which happens first from the cat's point of view.

Reminds me of something we saw in a Venice Beach parking lot some years ago.
There was a car with a small camper towed behind, parked. I don't remember if I saw the owner or not, must have. Anyway, he (I knew it was a he so I must have seen him) had a small but not tiny sized dog and a cat linked together by some cord apparatus. The dog would romp around rambunctiously and the cat would head with all its might under the car. The dog would pull it out and romp. The cat would pull back under the car. I should add there was plenty of room in the parking lot so it must have been winter or early some other time.

It was a combination of funny and weirdly cruel.

I've seen a lot of photos (probably the bunnies and otters on the beautiful animals thread) where you can tell the rabbit is on a leash. I can see the reasoning, but I think it is absurd, mostly, and as I said a bit ago, getting to cruel territory, or if not cruel, just ordinary wrong.

This is all arguable, as arguably dogs (at least) like good training, if you extrapolate this to leashing dogs - but dogs are not cats or rabbits. And ehBeth, I guess I couldn't fault your friend at the farm, as bunny at least gets to explore.

Dammit, I'm going to have to read Watership Down again.

I think my opinion is that cats by nature own the world, and seeing them on leash is disconcerting for humans who know them and hell on the cat.
With the possible exception of Siamese.

The farm leashee is a Savannah cat, not a bunny. The Savannah would probably murder any bunny he came across. Lester (the Savannah) needs to be leashed or he'd be miles away across the fields in minutes.

He's a good sport - usually - about the leash.

Sorry I mixed that up, but again, I can see the reasoning for her re Lester.

I don't know about Savannah cats. Off to look.

I used to work in immunology labs and we had rabbits. We used them to make specific antisera and they were none the worse for wear but lived dull rabbit lives. Some of us liked them and used to visit.

We were loathe to put them down, and one day my boss, a pretty sophisticated not very gruff guy, asked me if I could find a home for the rabbit. I knew one possible person, my friend B, a nurse who loves animals (still does). She said yes to the rabbit, though she lived in an apartment (small balcony). I brought bunny over in a large cage. The rabbit was much larger than she expected. The rabbit lived on the balcony for a while, with B yelling at me off and on, oooooooh, I'll get you for this!! She had connections though (her parents lived Malibu adjacent) and bunny found a better home. I'm sure bunny wasn't put down or made into dinner.


I see I've digressed but the complexity of this subject interests me.

Beth...are you talking about a collar leash...or a harness leash?

I think you might concentrate more on whether or not the cat would enjoy the enterprise than whether or not you can, with lots of time and patience, force a cat to do something it would much rather not.

If you hate the cats...and want to make life miserable for them...go for it. If you have any regard for them whatsoever...let them stay inside.

If you absolutely MUST walk them on a leash, at least have the common decency to make it a harness leash, not a collar one.

All said with all the respect in the world.

Yes i switched to harness N leash instead

Here is a link to an article I wrote for Newsweek Magazine on this issue. You might find it interesting.


http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/1994/02/20/letting-the-cat-out-of-the-bag.html

Bravo, Francisco.

A few questions... Why do you want to walk the cats? Have you ever let them outdoors? If so, was it supervised? How did the cats behave?

My cats have been outside since the day they were born and they love it my kittens have been outside too nothing ever happens