Thread: Training Maine coons on a leash?

Originally Posted by Roy Snell

Walking an indoor cat on a leash outdoors may make the cat less afraid of the outdoors and more likely to escape through an open door, then get lost, hit by a car, or attacked by a feral cat or other animals.

From my experience, I believe this warning overlooks the positives of the cat being more familiar with your house and yard in case they do get out--and it is pretty likely that at some point they might make it out. It does seem true that taking your cats outside on a leash will probably get them into the habit of wanting go out with you, but many cats want to outside anyway. Once a cat has been outside under your control several times, they will be better able to cope if they do get out. Two of our male MC kittens have desperately wanted to get outside, and both have succeeded despite our efforts to prevent this (one for example, jumped onto my back and them launched himself out the cracked open door while I was bent over bringing in a dog, thinking I had the doorway blocked). The only one of our current four that goes outside normally is a female, and I feel that she is much better prepared should she get outside. She knows the yard and house well, and she isn't so desperate to get out because she does go out some. I often have her out in the yard with me, unleashed (though wearing harness w/tag). I am now quite confident in how she will behave. One of the male's that got out repeatedly was a nightmare the first few times (the entire family chasing him all over the yard). We eventually allowed him out on a leash and I believe it helped reduce his obsession with trying to get out (and he was much calmer when he was out).

"Walking an indoor cat on a leash outdoors may make the cat less afraid of the outdoors and more likely to escape through an open door, then get lost, hit by a car, or attacked by a feral cat or other animals"

The above warning was listed at the bottom of the WikiHow page (see link below) and I posted it for no reason other than I thought it to be of interest. Whilst it suggests that Fear is a coons best defense and leashing may, on an unescorted adventure into the unknown, give the cat a false sense of security, I do in essence agree with you NCarver in your suggestion that it "overlooks the positives" after all, we leash our children and our dogs so why not a Maine Coon. In an ideal world, we do not own our cats and dogs any more than we can own our children. At best we are custodians and share something of our lives together. In his youth, my Bearded Collie Hope and I, needed to learn how best to walk and cross roads. To this end we used a leash and eventually, we learned the way. Mostly from there on, we could enjoy a walk together without the leash. Be it true or otherwise, I read that Maine Coons are similar to dogs, in that they are intelligent and like to be with their carers most of the time. In our togetherness, I like to think of a leash not as a shackle, but as a learning aid, and when the lesson is learned our Coons stay with us in the house or garden, because they want to*Roy


WikiHowlinkedHow to Leash Train a Cat - wikiHow

Originally Posted by Roy Snell

"Walking an indoor cat on a leash outdoors may make the cat less afraid of the outdoors and more likely to escape through an open door, then get lost, hit by a car, or attacked by a feral cat or other animals"

The above warning was listed at the bottom of the WikiHow page (see link below) and I posted it for no reason other than I thought it to be of interest. Whilst it suggests that Fear is a coons best defense and leashing may, on an unescorted adventure into the unknown, give the cat a false sense of security, I do in essence agree with you NCarver in your suggestion that it "overlooks the positives" after all, we leash our children and our dogs so why not a Maine Coon. In an ideal world, we do not own our cats and dogs any more than we can own our children. At best we are custodians and share something of our lives together. In his youth, my Bearded Collie Hope and I, needed to learn how best to walk and cross roads. To this end we used a leash and eventually, we learned the way. Mostly from there on, we could enjoy a walk together without the leash. Be it true or otherwise, I read that Maine Coons are similar to dogs, in that they are intelligent and like to be with their carers most of the time. In our togetherness, I like to think of a leash not as a shackle, but as a learning aid, and when the lesson is learned our Coons stay with us in the house or garden, because they want to*Roy

WikiHowlinkedHow to Leash Train a Cat - wikiHow

My own feeling in regard to Ownership verses Custodianship are here challenged by the CFA http://www.cfa.org/ezine/legislation.html#article