Thread: Training Maine coons on a leash?

Have had some experience with cats on leashes...

We had a MC mix that we took in (was stray) and was found to have HCM, so he was not allowed to run loose again (needed medication several times a day). Since he loved the outdoors so much, we got him used to wearing a harness and he spent most of his days outside on a long clothesline rope with a pulley system (i.e., a dog run). He had a reach of like 150' in front and in back yards. People always said that you cannot put a cat on a rope, but it worked just fine. Anyway, I also got into the habit of walking him around the neighborhood each night for 30-60mins! Had a 25' retractable leash. Now I have to caution that he was great at heading away from the house, but not nearly as good about coming back. Eventually he got very used to me carrying him home. During the winter when he would get cold (I was usually freezing by that point) and was ready to head home, he would rub on my legs and mew, I would pick him up, he would snuggle against me, and home we would go. He was only 14lbs however. Our new male MC is probably too heavy for such a scenario. He is not currently that interested in going out luckily.

We also have a female that started wanting to go out because of the above cat, and she was trained to accept harness and leash/rope. Definitely takes some time and patience. She did not like the harness at first, and even when they get used to that, having a leash and being tugged can make them freak out. I would suggest starting with a very short bit of cord after they are used to harness alone. Female once came in front door with rope on, got freaked, and took off racing around the house--but since the rope was dragging and making noise she got more and more freaked. Not good. Luckily she stopped before anything bad happened, but this is an issue. Also had one bad experience with her outside early on when leash rubbed against something, she freaked and took off, jerking leash from my hand. She raced around the side of the house before me and vanished. We had half the neighborhood out looking for her. Turned out she had just ducked in some bushes next to house, but it took some time before she "talked" and we found her. At this point, the cat is fine with the whole process and I am very confident in her. She wears her harness outside with me (with a tag on it), but often is not on a leash or rope. If she is in the mood to just sit and watch birds, etc., or I want to get something done, we have various ropes around the yard that I can attach her to. I will note that brown tabbies are quite camouflaged outside, so you have to keep a close eye on them if they are not on leash/rope. Note also that all of our cats are microchipped just in case.

So anyway, certainly doable, but not necessarily a trivial process. Should take it little by little, and have a helper with you the first few times you go outside, in case cat freaks out and you need assistance. That was one of my big mistakes with the girl. Probably also have to be prepared to carry the cat a bit at times. The walks for the male were the highlight of his life, though. When I would go out at night and ask him if he wanted to go for a walk, he would race to end of the driveway and wait for me. The girl also loves going out. When I get home from work she is waiting in the front window, pawing madly at the glass, and she then comes racing to the front door as I try to get inside.

There are at least a couple of harnesses made for cats available in the US. The Lupine ones are probably the nicer ones and they come in a larger size. We found that the "figure 8" style harnesses work much better for cats than some of the small dog harnesses that have a link going between the front legs--those are pretty hard to get on a cat. You do have to play around with how tight to adjust them. Too tight and the cats hate them, but too loose and they can get out of them--by backing out. If they get frightened, this is what they can do. You may think they could not get out of it, but they can do things with their front legs that streamline their bodies in a way that no dog could. Wikipedia says: "Unlike human arms, cat forelimbs are attached to the shoulder by free-floating clavicle bones, which allows them to pass their body through any space into which they can fit their heads." So you need to be aware of that.