Teaching a cat to walk in a harness

[Quantumcat]

My annoying neighbours object to us letting Sugar outside (apparently she sits outside the glass part of their door to tease their dog who goes nuts with barking at her). I got her a harness and lead, hoping to take her for walks and let her have at least a taste of the outdoors. But she will just sit there for ages, then suddenly dart off, only to be pulled short by the harness (OUCH!). I was hoping she might just trot around and I could follow her about and make sure she doesn't do anything naughty. So anyway, how do you teach a cat to walk in a harness?

 

[Aussie Ben]

I'd imagine the same way you would teach any animal to wear a harness. Try using it during play time, let you cat fiddle with it, smell it, touch it. Drape it over her back (if she is comfortable), treat the harness as if it were an extension of your hand, simply to get her used to it being around. THEN you can move onto actually putting it on. Being a cat, I imagine she is a sucker for head scratches, use this as your positive re-enforcer.

 

[Quantumcat]

She has no objection to wearing it at all. Not like the bloody bird

 

[Aussie Ben]

She has no objection to wearing it at all. Not like the bloody bird

lol. so i guess the problem is actually getting her to understand she is restrained and can't 'bolt' away? I guess I missread the OP. I'm not sure how to fix that hmmm. Maybe reduce the slack, so she feels more restrained. Once she understands she can't run away, then you can let the leash loosen a little

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I'd do the exact opposite of what AB suggested (sorry).

You want her to learn what the length of the leash is: it should not change. It should give her plenty of slack so she isn't always fighting - she should have plenty of ways to 'do good' and only a few ways of 'doing bad' when she pulls to the end of the leash.

How long have you been working on this? When she 'bolts' how does she react when she hits the end of the leash - or more importantly how do YOU react?

 

[Aussie Ben]

I'd do the exact opposite of what AB suggested (sorry).

LOL. thats okay, like i said, not quite sure how to fix that problem. I actually asked the same question about harness training for parrots in another thread. I understand how to get an animal 'used' to wearing harness, but actually teaching the restriction of movement is the part that gets me. Your info makes sense for this part thanks.

 

[Quantumcat]

After she's bolted and been pulled short, she usually lies very close to the ground like she was sneaking up on something. I react by running after her, sometimes I'm faster than her and she doesn't get pulled short, sometimes I'm not. I think she gets a fright by my sudden movement, sometimes even if I am faster she stops suddenly and lies close to the ground.

Where we live there are loads of trees and narrow gaps that she likes to go through and I can't follow. Sometimes I've had to pull her by the lead to get her out of a particularly hard-to-reach spot, and that looks so painful!! The harness really doesn't look very comfortable. I tried taking her to the park nearby so she could run and not have anything to squeeze through, but she was scared of being in an unfamiliar place and wouldn't move (or maybe scared of being in an open place with no cover).

We are investigating some kind of bird wire or netting to put round the backyard (it's only really an oversized courtyard) so she can go just in the backyard. Does anyone have any experience with this? It would be awesome to get some sort of tough fabric netting that would mean we could let Scarlett free-fly around the backyard too!

 

[Aussie Ben]

If you ever go into the big smoke and visit Taronga zoo (from memory) they have big nets over their aviaries, like many zoo's/sanctuaries do. I'm not sure if it is a special grade or if its 'chew proof' for large parrots (doubt it), but it is worth considering. Also, not sure how it would stand up to cat claws lol. I googled 'aviary netting' and it came up with some good links.

Maybe an indoor/outdoor caged play area would be better suited for the cat. It might be a little costly, but i imagine netting the backyard would not be cheap either.

Few years ago we put a big veranda off the back of the house, we sealed it in with roller blinds a few months ago and Eddie enjoys flying around out there. It's a big area, although it doesn't receive much sunlight. Its kinda cold atm so he stays indoors.