The Storming of Area 51

Walking a cat is kind of a drag.

Yeah, like this:

http://www.misscellania.com/miss-cellania/2010/7/26/civil-disobedience.html

My cat is leash trained. The trick is getting them used to a harness early. Once that's done it's pretty easy to take them out. The only hard part I've had is getting him to come back inside. We usually go for walks about once every 2 weeks or so just to get him out of the apartment. He knows where his harness is and gets all excited when I bring it out and will even paw at the door if he wants to go for a walk. I get some strange looks walking him, but he loves it. He even climbs trees though I don't let him get too high out of reach.

Peace

We've known four cats that were trained to cope with a lead/leash. One of them is ours: she can go outside on her own, normally, but it means she can go on holiday with us.

I can't really say you take a cat for a walk like a dog. She leads, you follow. But it's doable. As Darktan says, if you start when they are young, they cope quite well with it.

Yeah, walking my cat is a drag... Actually if you put him on a leash, you have to drag him.

But I have seen a cat on a leash that acted just like a dog, leading his owner down the street.

My boyfriend has been walking his cats (a Bengal and a Siamese) for years, and they absolutely love it. They both have very different ways of behaving on these walks, but they both beg for it every weekend. They are very healthy and happy, and it's nice to see them frolic in the grass.

The right knot on the leash helps alot.

I find a short rope with a hangman knot on the end works wonders.

Usually takes just one lesson too.

My cat Harry (now deceased) walked happily on a leash for the entire 16 years I had him. Got him from an animal shelter, and since I lived near a busy street but wanted him to be able to enjoy the outdoors, I thought I would give it a try shortly after we brought him home from the pound. He just stood there and let me put the harness on him, and thereafter basically behaved like a dog in a cat suit. He liked it if I staked him out so he could watch the birds. I think he must have been trained from kittenhood.

We tried putting a harness on our cat. He did not go for it at all. He'd just plop and refuse to budge an inch. Helps that he's proportioned weird, so unless we wanted to make the harness SUPER tight, he could slip right out of it.

I agree with Darktan - leash training a cat is totally doable if you start when it's a kitten. My cat is about a year old and I started taking him out on a harness/leash when he as just a couple months old. Once he realized that the harness does not, in fact, paralyze him, and that I wouldn't let him outside without that gear, he accepted his fate and now actually likes going out on walks. Admittedly the exercise isn't as good as walking a dog, seeing as he meanders around at his lazy cat-pace, but a good time is had by all involved. :)

I live on the Upper West Side and there are a few people that have leash-trained their cats. I've only seen women, so I guess not the real estate fellow, but there is a guy who frequents my grocery that has trained his cat to sit on his head. Come to think of it, that cat might be on a leash as well. I try not to stare. Attention only encourages these sorts of things.

I have had two cats that were leash trained. First was my older cat. The first time I put her in a harness she was 10 years old. She mostly followed me around or would tug to get near people to pet her. Her entire goal was to get more people to pet her and was mostly indifferent to the experience of outside vs inside.(She lived to 19 BTW.)

My new cat was harness trained as 10 month old kitten. At first, he hated it. Now he meows excitedly when I pick up his harness and leash. He still spooks easily, which means I have to be very aware of my surroundings. (He hates cars, which I consider a plus.) But when I take him out now, he jogs along the side walk with his tail high in the air. He is familiar with the limitations of the leash and even follows when I call him. He is also clever and I had to add a strap to his harness to stop his Houdini like escapes from it.

Truly depends on the cat and the owner. A lot of leash training a cat involves hours and hours of just letting them get used to it and feel safe with you outside. Some cats will never feel safe enough outside to walk on a harness. Also, you don't walk a cat on a leash so much as follow a cat on a leash or cajole the cat on a leash a few feet this way or that and periodically untangle the leash from various items. It's nothing like walking a dog. Most cats have little interest in following you much less being obedient to 'proper leash etiquette'. A leash just keeps the cat from taking off full speed into traffic or climbing a tree you can't get them out of.