Thread: Out walking ...

So, I know there are a lot of threads on here about harnesses and leashes and letting them out into the garden on them, but does anyone actually walk their MC?

I don't have a garden, but wondered whether anyone walks their lovelies?

S

I want to know the answer to this too! I've been told by my friends that we'd look ridiculous...lol! But where I live at the moment is a bit weird - there's a guy who always walks his ferrets along here. I don't know if cats would really do what you wanted them to on a harness though?

It cant look any more stupid than someone walking a Yorkie or a Chihuahua! At least MCs are a decent size ;-)

I'm hoping someone walks them :-)

My friend definitely takes at least one of hers outside but I don't know if it's for a walk or just to have a look around in their garden. We want to get Teddy used to a harness so that we could maybe take him to the park in his carrier but then let him out to sit on a blanket with us for a bit of a picnic (just for a little while though). It'll probably never happen!

I walked our now departed MC mix male, Karma, virtually every night for four years. I started it when it looked like he wasn't going to live long due to HCM, but then he survived for several years. It was the highlight of his life, which is why it continued in spite of various negatives. I would ask him if he wanted to go walk, and he would race down the driveway, but then wait at the road for me to catch up and hook him to his leash (a 20-25' leash, as cats like to explore).

We always went at night, in part because that's when Karma preferred to skulk around the neighborhood, and in part because I didn't want to be too obvious. The problem with cat walking is that they tend to like to walk a short distance and then sit and observe for 5-10 minutes. If you can't handle the standing around, you probably won't be happy taking your cat out walking (unless they are very different from my cats about walking). In addition, certain neighbors might not understand why you are standing around in front of their houses at night. We have a couple like that--who I no longer speak to nor even acknowledge their presence (but I wasn't friends with these people before cat walking). The other thing I have found is that cats are much better at walking away from home than returning. Most nights I ended up carrying Karma back, and this actually became an important part of the ritual, where he would rub on my legs and talk to me when he was ready to be picked up to head home. Luckily, Karma was only 14 lbs. This would be tough with our two purebred boys who are both over 20 lbs.

While I occasionally take our girl Bella for a short walk, she is content to cruise around the yard, and that is much easier. Karma was a stray who was used to supervising all the cats in the neighborhood, so our yard alone wasn't completely satisfying for him.

Not done it myself (except around the garden) but there's a great post on here about one of the Forum slaves that got caught in pink PJ's walking their cat!! Can't remember who, but I'm sure if you hunt around in the search engine on the site it'll come up - there can't be too many threads that refer to PJ's!

We used to take Bruce & Merlyn out for a walk on the lead round the close where we live & when I used to go visit brother & take Bruce with us we used to stop at Barton Mills for a drink & I would take him for a walk round the woods there,that provided some amusement. Once coming back from brothers we pulled into one of the motorway service stations & sat & had our drinks in the car because of him,we had parked near some grass & he decided he would like a stroll,we were then heading back to the car when staff from the service station appeared in all directions to "Try & rescue the poor cat seen on the CTV screens"before it got ran over,whoever was monitoring that screen just saw the cat not lead & person on end of it,caused quite a stir,we were there for a fair while as other staff members wanted to come & see him,so yes MoshisMum you can train them.
Since we have had back garden fenced in plus more added to the tribe it is something we no longer do but if you want to pick up on the pink pj's it was Jolly & her cat Paddington,as Karen says just put pink pjs into the search thread & it is under Embarrassing,still makes me chuckle thinking of big slippers,pj's,cat on lead wandering around at night lost,look it up,bet you will smile too....

We've considered doing the walk thing. But I'm now the weather is getting nicer I've become more aware of the fact that many people walk their dogs and not always on a leash by where we live as there is a nature walk just next to us. So maybe not after all, I've seen people standing back from the trail with their children cause they were weary of someone further down the trail with a large loose dog.

Dogs are definitely a concern when a cat is tethered in any way. I always carried dog pepper spray when I walked Karma and I nearly always have it when Bella is out in the yard with me now--just in case. Have never had to use it to protect a cat--though only because one dog's owner showed up just as I was about to spray (one of only two dogs in the neighborhood that are cat problems). I decided to carry it because I could never figure out how else I might protect a cat from a large charging dog without risking being injured myself. Don't know what is available elsewhere, but in the US there is a product called Halt! that is pepper spray meant for use on dogs. As I recall, it is 1/100 the strength of pepper spray meant for use on humans. I also carry it on my bike, and have used it dozens of times while biking. Never has taken more than two encounters to have any dog trained to not even attempt to chase me (they don't even bother getting up off the ground). Extremely satisfying to bring a growling, charging German Shepherd to an instant dead halt, lying on the ground pawing at its face! No permanent harm to them, but it certainly does make an impression.

I've been wondering about how to handle dogs - we've got a great place I could take either of mine on the harness and was psyching myself up to give it a go as they love this warm weather. Bit anxious about how to proceed with loose dogs or those on long leads.