Walk Your Cat With a Harness and Leash in 10 Easy Steps

Everyone deserves a chance to stop and smell the roses sometimes kitties included.

Walking on a harness and leash is a safe, responsible way of letting your curious little creature enjoy the great outdoors.

Harnessing Your Cat or Kitten

Always attach the leash to a harness instead of a collar. This way, your cat won’t be able to slip out of it if he or she starts panic.

The harness also takes the pulling pressure off of your cat’s neck – something that panics many cats.

Before training your cat to walk on a leash, there are a few things to keep in mind:

Teach this behavior while your cat is young. Few adult cats will tolerate wearing a harness and being attached to a leash but, practice does make perfect.

Develop a strong sense of trust with your cat before attempting to walk her on a leash.

Some cats are timid or nervous about trying this, even as kittens. If so, don’t force her to comply.

Patience is the watchword – take your time.

Keep things quiet. Never take your cat out on a leash in a busy area with lots of pedestrian and car traffic, startling noises, dogs, will cause unpredictable activity.

Your cat might panic if he or she feels threatened, resulting in stress and possible injury.

Only walk your cat in quiet park, predictable areas, preferably in the backyard or on a peaceful residential street.

Let the your furry friend get comfortable with his or her surrounding.

Pet them and talk to them. Then encourage him or her to walk along side of you at their own pace.

Keep your cat’s collar and identification tag on, in case she gets loose.

Here are the steps for teaching your cat to walk outside on a leash.

Don’t put the harness and leash on your cat at first. Keep them next t o him or her food dish for a few days, or treat it as one of her toys.

Encourage her to investigate, paw at it, and feel at ease around it.

Once your cat becomes accustomed to seeing the harness, pick her up and stroke her gently while sitting on the sofa.

Stroke the cat with the harness a few times, so she gets used to the feel of it on her body.

Do this for several days, praising the cat and rewarding her with a treat after each session.

Read the instructions and then gently put the harness on your cat during one of the above sessions.

Take your time, and stop if the kitten gets nervous. Make sure the harness is loose.

Reward your kitten with a treat, so that she associates the harness with something good.

Do not move on until the kitten is relaxed when wearing the harness.

Increase the time that your kitten wears the harness, up to about twenty minutes, or the time that an outside excursion might last.

Once your kitten can comfortably wear the harness indoors for twenty minutes, clip on a light leash. Praise and reward the cat with food.

Eventually, stand up and encourage the kitten to walk around the room.

Use a toy to coax her if needed. Don’t let go of the leash. Keep the leash loose as you follow her around the room, to minimize the tension the kitten feels.

Work on this for a minute or two at first.

Gradually let the kitten experience a small amount of intermittent leash tension.

Slowly increase this until some tension does not panic the kitten. Never pull hard on the leash, or yank the kitten around. Take at least a week to desensitize the kitten to leash tension.

Walk your kitten around the home once each day until he or she grows accustomed to it for longer periods of time.

Remember to reward her or him during these walks. By this stage she or he should be relaxed and confident, but back off whenever she or he becomes resistant.

Take the kitten into a quiet yard or park, then let him or her investigate while on the harness and leash.

Follow her around and keep leash tension to minimum. Work for few minutes, reward her, then go back inside.

Gradually increase time spent outside, eventually encouraging the kitten to walk back inside on her own. (That always seem to be easy.)

If the kitten is confident, walk her on a quiet residential street for a few minutes. Avoid hectic or dangerous situations!

Take your kitten out once each day. Always bring plenty of treats with you, and offer them liberally throughout the walk.

Always remember to never let go of the leash!

Happy Cat Walking