Have a stubborn cat who won't go on walks with you?

My cat Thomas also did the 'dead cat impersonation' when I tried to use a leash. He was even more funny when I tried to use a harness. He let me put it on him just fine, but then he tried to back out of it and spent several minutes walking around the house backwards. When he decided he couldn't back out of it he decided to try and jump out of it, so he spent some time jumping like a leap frog! I was laughing so hard I was crying before I finally took pity on him and took the harness off.

Dogs have owners - cats have staff!

Hahaha! Cute! Would love to see a video of your cat trying to jump out of the harness....

Okay, veterinarian mode <on>

If your cat, dog, or ferret goes outdoors, you need to know about heartworm disease. Heartworms are carried by mosquitoes. When a mosquito bites your pet, little bitty baby heartworms are injected under the skin. They make their way to the heart, and they grow into adult worms that are six to twelve inches long. Yup, inside your pet's heart. As you can imagine, the heart doesn't work very well that way. If an adult heartworm dies, its remains come loose and travel downstream into the lungs and block the blood vessels there, causing bits of the lung to die. This is a *very* serious disease.

The way you keep your pet safe from heartworm is to give them a preventative once a month. Heartguard is the most common one for dogs. For cats, I usually recommend Revolution, which also kills fleas. The preventative kills the little bitty baby heartworms; it doesn't work once they're older than about a month. So, if you give this medicine once a month, it kills off all the baby heartworms your pet has picked up the past month, and your pet is protected.

Cats are a little bit different than dogs. A cat is less likely to catch heartworm disease from a given bite, but if they do get it, along with all the problems above, one of the more common signs is sudden death. No warning, just boom. There's also some evidence that their own immune system killing off young worms may lead to tiny scars in the lungs and eventually lead to an asthma-like illness. Ferrets can get heartworms too, but since they're so small they're even less likely to survive it than cats are.

So, if your pet goes outdoors, you need to give heartworm preventative to cover the entire time they're exposed. If you're only outside with them in the summer, then start within a month of their first trip out, and give it once a month until after their last trip out. If you live in an area that freezes solid during the winter, then you can probably get away with not giving it for a few months. Where I live, we see the first mosquitoes in March and they stick around off and on into November, so heartworm medication needs to be given at least April through December. A lot of people go ahead and give it year-round, 'cos it's easier for them to remember and 'cos it kills some of the most common intestinal parasites, too.

If you let your cat out unsupervised, then you need to make sure they keep up to date on vaccines for Rabies, FVRCP ("feline distemper combo"), and FeLV ("feline leukemia virus"). And keep them protected from fleas and ticks. And take them to the vet to treat any bite wounds they come home with. And get them dewormed regularly from parasites they pick up eating mice, birds, etc.

Okay, veterinarian mode <off>

I've known a lot of cats who loved the leash and harness, and a lot who've hated it. It really depends on the cat's personality. If you put a harness on for the first time, pairing it with a favorite treat may help. Let them check out the harness first, and reward them. Touch them with it, and reward them. Drape it over their shoulders, and reward them. And so forth until you've got the harness on completely and fitted properly. Let them walk around inside with the harness first, so they're more comfortable wearing it, before you try going outside. This should all be spread out over many sessions, of course, not all in one afternoon. You can introduce a stroller in a similar way. Let the cat jump in and out, and discover it's a comfortable box to climb inside of first, don't start out forcing them into it or there'll be bad associations.

Personally, I'd rather see a cat getting some exercise and exploring with a human on a leash, but a ride in the stroller is at least mental stimulation so if they enjoy it, go ahead! :-)

Necromancy Bump! :laugh:

MFP will now need to add a new activity:

Walking, 0.2 mph, meandering pace, walking cat

LOL! I actually logged a walk this way once. Used the add feature. But my cats actually do walk with me on my walks... they WALK, they don't get pushed in strollers.

I love that somebody bumped this thread...made me laugh a month ago, making me laugh now. Thanks

My cat would panic if I put her in a cage on wheels and rolled her around out in the open like that. But if your cats like it, go for it and enjoy! :flowerforyou:

You can do anything if you believe in yourself

you know you're talking about walking a cat, right?
pretty serious mantra considering you're talking about WALKING A CAT.

:laugh:

Is this normal? I don't think cats like going out into the public for walks...

Sure they like to walk in public... they just don't like to be FORCED into doing so. Lol!

I wish I could figure out how to get them leash trained, but I'm thinking the stroller may be safer anyway since there are some loose dogs in the neighborhood that even I'm a bit afraid of.

Have you tried harnesses? Leash on a collar never worked with my cats, but they really can't do much about a leash on a harness. Though one cat really didn't like the harness and always crept around on his belly when it was on. Funny, but no good for walks. The other cat doesn't mind it at all.

Bump, for some LOLZ.

You can do anything if you believe in yourself

you know you're talking about walking a cat, right?
pretty serious mantra considering you're talking about WALKING A CAT.

I LOL'd so hard I peed myself a little. Thanks for the stain on my couch, Skully.

OP- THE PEOPLE NEED TO KNOW- What happened with the cat walks!?!? PLEASE UPDATE US!!!

Please take pictures, that'll be hilarious and adorable.

Not to mention, it sounds like a completely sane idea. The term "crazy cat lady" was coined for a reason.

I once tried to walk my cat, Fancy, on a leash. I was 14. She was 18 months. I was strong willed. She had claws. I pulled her behind me until she decided she would rather ride on my head and climbed me and dug those vicious little claws into my head. My little brother had to coax her off with a trail of treats after I laid down on the ground. Lesson Learned. Never again will I attempt to force a cat to do anything, that's what dogs are for.

:laugh:

:noway:

I laughed so hard at this!

You can train a cat to walk on a leash. The key is that you have to TRAIN the cat, not just put a leash on and expect it to walk.