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Post by bergere on Apr 5, 2015 19:20:08 GMT
Ya, I know, I am weird,, but I have harness trained many of my cats. Now I live in the middle of dog hunting central, I will have to be careful. Latest one is Rose, I brought her home from a local animal shelter as a 3 week old.. she is now about 8 months old. She wore a tiny harness, under supervision of course, for months before she was big enough to start the next phase of her training. She is doing very well. Here she is on her Car ride yesterday..... not the best photo as we were doing a selfie with the kindle.  Photo from an earlier ride...  Walks like a champ next to me... but I will have to get a family member to take a photo of us. Here she is playing with her harness on.  |
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Apr 7, 2015 2:39:18 GMT
How cute! When my girls showed cats in 4-H, they had to harness train their cats. My older dd had a tortie that went from being a feral 12 week old kitten to riding on her shoulder in a crowded show barn and kissing the judge in the final group. She ended up going Reserve overall Champion at the 4-H state fair, and I think it was the kiss that did it.  |
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Post by mollymckee on Apr 7, 2015 18:49:18 GMT
We have had cats that loved to ride in the car, but have never tried to harness train them. Can you train an older cat or do you have to start them as kittens?
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Post by bergere on Apr 8, 2015 12:19:09 GMT
Way cool, Manygoatsnmore! On both the harness training and the win!
Molly, yes, you can train older cats. Might take a little more time. Find a harness that fits your cat, and him/her, wear it during the day, just to get use to the feel.
They might flop and be all dramatic at first. Could take between a week and a month or two. Once they walk around with it on, with no issues, plays, eats and so on,
then they are used to the harness enough to go to the next step. Leash training. I attach the leash, but I don't use it, its just there. I use a treat or the red dot to have them start walking with me.
For Rose, it was the Red Dot!
Just takes time, but it can be done.
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Post by mollymckee on Apr 9, 2015 3:47:01 GMT
I'll have to get one for Fritz, it would be a good thing for him to be comfortable on a leash just in case it was really necessary. I took a cat to the vet years ago in the car. By the time I got to the vets I could not find her. Two of the vets helped me look, even took the back seat out could not find her. I went home, got out of the car and she hopped out! I bought her a crate after that.
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Post by whisperwindkat on Apr 9, 2015 11:21:53 GMT
I haven't but my sister trained her cat because it was the only safe way for pumpkin to go outside. They lived in an area where coyotes and feral dogs were a big problem.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 11, 2015 4:30:48 GMT
I like that harness you show - only used the leather strap ones. What brand is it?
I adopted an adult Burmese female cat and she would jump in the car with you and loved going for rides. I thought I had her trained to know that she only got car rides when she wore her halter, but she had other ideas. One morning I pulled out of the garage and down the road going North, looked over at my VW Bug shadow and there she was, perched on the luggage rack like a sitting sphinx. Come to think of it, maybe she was trained, she had never tried that one before.
She never liked the leash though, and would go along in that pitiful crawly slinky walk so I never pressed it. Good thought for including in kitten socialization.
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gardenelf
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Homesteader in training
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Post by gardenelf on Apr 17, 2015 5:23:14 GMT
Rose is a very pretty cat! Do you keep the harness on them all the time once they are used to them?
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Post by manygoatsnmore on Apr 18, 2015 19:43:07 GMT
I like that harness you show - only used the leather strap ones. What brand is it? I adopted an adult Burmese female cat and she would jump in the car with you and loved going for rides. I thought I had her trained to know that she only got car rides when she wore her halter, but she had other ideas. One morning I pulled out of the garage and down the road going North, looked over at my VW Bug shadow and there she was, perched on the luggage rack like a sitting sphinx. Come to think of it, maybe she was trained, she had never tried that one before. She never liked the leash though, and would go along in that pitiful crawly slinky walk so I never pressed it. Good thought for including in kitten socialization. OMGoodness! I'd have paid cash money to have seen her riding on the roof rack, lol. Like a feline wing walker! I know that pitiful crawly slinky walk of which you speak. |
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Post by vickilynn on Apr 18, 2015 19:54:22 GMT
Rose is beautiful! I love tabbies. She kind of looks like she has Maine Coon somewhere in her background. I read somewhere that Maine Coons are the easiest cats to harness train.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 23, 2015 2:01:43 GMT
Many Goats More, it was a vision to see her sitting upright like that, as still as could be. How she kept her poise in the bumpity bump right turn out of the garage and acceleration, still amazes me. She was the smartest cat I've ever known, too. When I opened the car door and got out, she just gave me a look like "What are you stopping here for?"
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