Leash training cats......hopefully

[Trainrick]

Hi. I am going to be moving into my RV and hitting the road at the end of this month. I will be bringing my two cats, Dick, who is around four years old and Morgan who is over fifteen. Both have always been indoor/outdoor cats and come and go as they please. This will of course not be the case once we start travelling and I want to be able to take them outside for walks on leashes. I have no idea how to go about this so if anyone has some experience with leash training their cats I'd like to learn how you did it, thanks, Rick

 

[Weight]

My late cat, Jellybean, was hand raised after the mom abandoned him. I used a small dog harness and leash. he was very comfortable on the leash. All our cats are total indoor and never allowed outside. Except JB as he was the only one hand raised to the leash. I don't think you can change behavior in an older cat.

 

[Weight]

As Mark Twain said; "... carrying a cat by it's tail will teach a person something they can not learn by any other method.".

 

[Trainrick]

As Mark Twain said; "... carrying a cat by it's tail will teach a person something they can not learn by any other method.".

Now that is funny

 

[DLTooley]

Make sure to always keep your animals inside at night, the risk of predation is very high.

 

[Sunny1]

My aunt taught her cat to walk on a leash. First, she put a collar with about a foot of cut off leash and left it on the cat. The cat went ballistic, but eventually learned to ignore the leash. Then my aunt replaced the short length of leash with a 5 foot leash. Again, the cat went ballistic, but, again, gradually accepted the leash. After that, the cat learned to walk on the leash with my aunt. Not sure it would work with every cat, but it's worth a shot.

 

[phleeb]

Our cat, after a few attempts, has gotten used to his leash and tolerates it well. He does act different and tends to walk slowly and low to the ground when it is on him.

Make sure you keep the leash taunt when walking him around as he can get out of it easily by backing out. I've tried cat and dog leashes and he can figure out how to get out of it if given the leeway.

 

[Trainrick]

Do you guys recommend a harness or collar? They get locked in every night before dusk here at the house and they will be on the road too. Going to build an enclosure that will mount to the side of my rig that will allow them to be outdoors, but not roam freely.

 

[AMGS3]

I lost my cat Harley in Bismarck when my now ex-husband and I were driving cross country. He was a country cat and used to having his choice of being in or out. He'd been miserable the last 700 miles and crawled out the rear passenger window that was open just an inch and a half at a drive thru when we stopped for lunch. He was 21lbs, solid muscle, and body shape-wise often confused for a bobcat. He should not have been able to get out of that space.

A week later he showed up at the Bismarck humane society. They held him for about a week until a family member picked him up on the way to come see me. He lived with us for another 7 years. So we were lucky with that.

The lesson I learned from that was that an unhappy cat can be really really determined, they can get through spaces you will not think they will fit, and cats that are used to having free reign don't change easily.

Best of luck to you and your kitties. I hope you find something that works.

Angie

Sent from my VS501 using Tapatalk

 

[whitewolf]

We were parked in Florida last month at a horse ranch. I took my cat over to meet a stallion. He peed on me and has not wanted to leave the RV since.

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[allofJules]

I heard that the vests work better than harnesses. I am going to try one with my cat and hopefully start with some short trips to see how he does.

 

[wmyers4u]

Harness is better than a collar.

Put it on until they get used to it 24/7.

Baby steps on the leash and walking. They may never learn to follow like a dog. They are more independent.

 

[Weight]

Some cats will come when called. Some will not. Harness training works better with cats that come when called.

 

[phleeb]

Harness is better than a collar.

Put it on until they get used to it 24/7.

Baby steps on the leash and walking. They may never learn to follow like a dog. They are more independent.

Yes, harnesses definitely work better than a collar.

 

[BobKat]

Hi there,
Don't know how it's going for you, but I just want to encourage you to keep trying to get your cats used to a leash. Except, You don't walk Them, THEY walk YOU-- at least that's the way it goes for us and our 20-pound Russian Blue cat. He was leash-trained slowly over a period of a year or so, and is fine now, but get used to a lot of starting and stopping-- he likes to stop and smell things, or roll in things, or--well you get the picture. He IS fine with the leash now because he knows he doesn't get to go outside of our 17-foot travel trailer without his leash. So don't worry about that, they will adjust. Just be calm and don't try to drag them along-- they will hate you for that. Be patient-- it will happen.

Good luck!!
Bobkat (traveling with Blue, the 20-pound cat) from Oregon

 

[NellyTheRoadWitch]

Do you guys recommend a harness or collar? They get locked in every night before dusk here at the house and they will be on the road too. Going to build an enclosure that will mount to the side of my rig that will allow them to be outdoors, but not roam freely.

My pets wear collars full time for hanging tags on, and are microchipped. The cats I've leash trained wore harnesses, because if they freak out about something they can dump a collar and be gone in a flash.

 

[martina21953]

Has anyone built an indoor cat crate?  My cat is an indoor cat but loves to sit out on my screened-in porch at home.  I was thinking of building a cat crate on wheels so I could put him in front of an open door when we're parked.

 

[maki2]

The harness that my cats have adapted to is the Gooby brand soft mesh harness. It is made for dogs. The panels on it press against their chest and that seems to calm down the cats. With anything new around their body a cat will typically plant itself and not move and/or try to get it off. At first be sure to let them wear it for an hour or so, then gradually build the time up to all day. It takes time to get them used to walking on a leash. But that was not too difficult as I already took my cats for walks without a leash. They like to tag along with me.

But most of all remember different cats do have different personalities. Some of them are social,outgoing and adventerous while other cats will always be fraidy cats who only want to be inside in a space where they feel safe. You can not force a high anxiety cat into enjoying being out for a walk on a leash. But most cats fall somewhere in the middle between the two extremes, those are generally trainable to walking on a leash. Be sure to have treats in your pocket for the training sessions. I start training my cats the day I get them. They will walk on a leash, they have been trained not to go out a door when I open it unless they are invited to go out. Not bolting out a door is extremely important training for the cats safety so don't neglect to train them to "wait", which is of course the same as training them to stay.

 

[MrNoodly]

Eighty percent of leash training a cat is about not giving up and accepting you're going to be seen as the bad guy for a while.

 

[abnorm]

Has anyone built an indoor cat crate?  My cat is an indoor cat but loves to sit out on my screened-in porch at home.  I was thinking of building a cat crate on wheels so I could put him in front of an open door when we're parked.

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