We moved into town last summer. Before, our much-loved cat, Kintla, was an indoor-outdoor cat. The dogs taught her how to use the doggy door, and after that, I got rid of her litter box because she went outside to do her business, including bringing us the most absurd gifts like birds and a giant mole rat bigger than her head. But, now, being in town, I’m too scared of letting her go outside. (Thankfully, you can leash-train your cat these days!)
There are stray cats and dogs here in town and tons more people. I would be heartbroken if something happened to her. Now that it is starting to get warmer, it’s becoming harder to keep Kintla inside, so I decided that she could go outside on one condition – she has to wear a harness and a leash. Here’s how it went and how it is going now.
Cats go limp at first with a harness and leash; it’s just part of the process.
When I first put the harness on Kintla, she fell over and refused to get up. This is a pretty standard first reaction for finicky felines. There is something foreign on their body; they aren’t sure if it will attack them, so why not just lay there until it is removed?
Cats aren’t made to wear accessories and do not get excited about it as dogs do. House cats prey on bigger carnivores and don’t want to draw attention to themselves. Kintla wasn’t any different.
Motivation is key
I got creative because I wanted Kintla to feel more comfortable with this strange-smelling object I needed her to wear to go outside. Kintla loves Catnip, so I sprinkled some on the harness to attract it to her. She nibbled the Catnip, rolled on the harness, and even played with it a little. I thought, ok, good, now maybe I can put it on her, and she will wear it.
So, I put the harness on her, and she wasn’t thrilled. But, lucky for me, Kintla is so food-motivated that it is absolutely ridiculous. So I shook her food container while she had the harness on to entice her to walk around with it on. This went just as I planned. Kintla got a couple of kibbles as a reward. Then, I walked around the house with her food jar to keep her moving with the harness on. After a while, she never even realized it was on.
Desensitizing
First step harness, second step leash, third step – outside, here we come! Attaching the leash to the harness set us back a couple of steps, but we did little by little. Start by attaching the leash to the harness first and having her get used to it being dragged behind her. After desensitizing Kintla to her new foreign accessories, it was time to hang on to the leash and take our adventures to where she wanted to go: outside.
Cats can be motivated and desensitized to wearing a harness and even leash training. This is an excellent way for you to take your cat to enjoy the outdoors without having to be worried about what might happen to them if you aren’t supervising.
