cat leash??????

Question

we are gitting a fixed male kitten next week and he will be an indoor cat but i`m thinking about bringing him outside on a leash with a harnis. i`m wondering if i bring him outside do you think it will make him more likly to pee in the house because he is trying to mark his sent. any one have an experince like this, was he fine or did he pee.we are gitting our baby through our humain society he will be 10 weeks old.

he is already litter trained.
i`m hoping to take him outside because it is summer time and we have a hot house and he is long haired kitty.
how can i convince my boyfriend that he wont pee and that it will be fine he is against the idea.

Answer 1

Not all cats are very keen on wearing a harness, so you need to be very patient to get them used to wearing it around the home first. Once they are comfortable with it, you can then move on to taking them outside and when they begin to associate it with something enjoyable, they won't put up too much resistance when you put it on them.

Bear in mind that if you are going to train him to walk on a harness, that you need to ensure he has had all his vaccinations before you take him outside. Once he gets a taste of the outside, he may then harass you to be allowed outside more often, so it's a good idea to keep the harness out of sight unless you're about to take him out.

I've posted links below to web sites that explain how to train your cat to walk on a harness.

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissue...

http://www.peoriahs.org/catleash.html...

Bear in mind, that it will be the cat walking you and not the other way around.

Good luck

Answer 2

congrats on getting a kitten from the humane society!

Anyway, first let the new cat explore a room in your house. It is being moved to a new enviornment and that can be very scary. After about a week, let him explore your whole house (or the rooms you will allow him to explore).

When he's finally comfortable enough, put a collar on him and see how he reacts. If he likes it, you can keep the collar on him. If he doesn't, then you should gradually put it on him for increasing amounts of time. After that, add the harness gradually for longer periods of time. And then the leash. You are then able to take him outside for a short period and then you gradually let him outside for longer. It sounds like a lot of time, but you'll see why it takes so long.

Answer 3

If the kitten is still small you can train it. Get a litter box for 2 weeks and when you see the cat smelling around take it to the box, then let him do it things. Let it go on for 2 weeks, so he can get used to the place. Then you can take him outside in your garden or where there is ground, everytime you can get the chance and play a little bit with him outside then take him in back home or you can sit and look if he can find is own way inside your house. Later when he is a little bigger, leave a window open what he can reach so he can climb out and do his thing outside! And you don't have to put on a leash, just put on a tag that has his name and your adress if he gets lost, if someone finds him they can take him back to you!

Answer 4

We don't have my kitten completely leash-trained yet, but he LOVES going outside... if he sees me go into the backyard without him, he climbs into the windowsill and beats on the window so loud the neighbors can hear!

As others have suggested, you ought to preemptively treat for fleas, as they're everywhere outside. Your backyard is not safe from fleas.

Harnesses are generally safe, just make sure you tighten it down properly (following any instructions that come with it) to make sure your little escape artist is thwarted.

Going outside won't make him any more or less likely to pee inside the house. A certain percentage of cats will spray no matter what you do, but cats are less likely to spray if they are fixed, if there are no other cats in the house, or if they're female.

Answer 5

Not all cats like to go outside. I've had several cats and I've never been successful in keeping them on a leash, you can certainly try though. A harness will be tough, most cats don't like being restricted. It depends on his personality. However before you let him go outside, I would highly reccomend putting a flea treatment on him first. I just used Advantage for my kittens and it works great, another good one is supposed to be Frontline.

Answer 6

First off, congrats! =)
I take 3 of my cats out on a least, at different times, all the time. (Harness and leash)

They love it. I have never had a problem with them peeing because of the walks outside. My cats are inside only by the way.

The only time i have had problems with them peeing was before they were fixed.

I honestly do not think you should have any problems.
Good luck =)

Answer 7

Don't do that to him. I know you want to do it so that he doesn't get bored inside, I had the same idea with my cat, but:
1. They hate that. They tremble and absolutely hate it.
2. Even teh harnesses that look absolutely safe are not, a cat can get loose at any moment he panics.
3. when cats panic, they run. So this way you may lose your cat. I am lucky that when mine got away I managed to catch him before he was run over.
4. If he is fixed at this age, he won't mark in the house at all, if he pees anywhere else other than the litterbox at any given time in the future check that he doesn't have a urinary tract intection.

Answer 8

OK fist off cpinatsi is wrong. i take my cats out, some don't like it but most do. especially if they have been outdoor cats before. no he won't mark, but if he does take him to the vet there may be something wrong with him. try getting the leash harness that is one long string, there is a loop that goes over their head then you loop the portion with the hook under his belly and you hook the hook to the little place on the little plastic thing that closes the loop on the head. these are extremely safe.

Answer 9

I tried to put my male cat on a leash and harness once...and I stress the word once. He growled, he hissed, he laid down on his belly and refused to move. When he finally did move, he went underneath a thorn bush and refused to come out. 45 minutes (and several scratches) later, I got him out, put him back in his carrier and promised him I would never do it again.
Cats are perfectly happy indoors as long as they have plenty of interactive toys and get plenty of exercise. I would keep him inside and turn on the air conditioning.

Answer 10

I take my cats out on a leash and harness every day it is warm enough here in Indiana and have never had a problem with this.