Questions Starting Harness Training

I decided to try and harness train Olive. She’s excited about the outside and I’m not thrilled about her being eaten by coyotes. I got an H harness for her, and I started exposing it to her with treats. After that I started putting it loose around her neck. She wasn’t a fan but - OH TREATS! So I’d say so far so good. She just writhes around and purrs, only occasionally wondering what this loose dangly thing on her neck is. I’ve also clipped the buckle near her so she is familiar with the sound.

The problem I have is I don’t know how to proceed to the buckling stage. I think she would actually be happier if I could buckle it so it doesn’t move around so much. But she gets very squirmy (although the goof doesn’t stop purring) when I try to go for the buckles. All the guides mention is go slow, but should I forcefully buckle her in or stay patient and keep going with the exposure therapy?

I will mention that nothing really traumatizes her, so if I went too far and she was not ok with it I don’t think it would derail her too much. Just wondered how other people have gotten over the buckle hump since all the guides I read just say “now buckle the cat in”. Or maybe I’m just really awkward with it

Well - I feel bad. I just put the harness on my cat and plunked her out on the grass. After 2 minutes she was fine with it, and we take her on walks daily. She gets excited now when she sees the harness because she knows it means she gets to go. BUT>>>> she was an indoor/outdoor cat before we got her (she was abandoned by a neighbor outside with 2 other cats when they got evicted).

Thanks, sounds like just going for it worked for you! Olive actually has a very similar background, she was adopted as a kitten from a shelter and then abandoned twice before we took her in. No idea why, either, because while I love all cats she is just a joy to be around. Spunky, adorable and playful as well as super loving and cuddly. So she was an outdoor cat for a few years, which is why she is so excited about the outside.

I might try going to the next level.

BertyRiley said:

Well - I feel bad. I just put the harness on my cat and plunked her out on the grass. After 2 minutes she was fine with it, and we take her on walks daily. She gets excited now when she sees the harness because she knows it means she gets to go. BUT>>>> she was an indoor/outdoor cat before we got her (she was abandoned by a neighbor outside with 2 other cats when they got evicted).

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I still dont get how people can abandon their pets, taking them to a shelter is just one drive away.... to me it is cruel to do that

So I just went for it last night. She didn’t stop purring, lol, although that’s probably because of the Vital Essentials Rabbit treats. I got her buckled in, and let her writhe around unbothered for a few minutes before I released her. It’s still a bit loose, but I’ll adjust it next time.

It sounds like you're doing everything right I've tried harness training in the past with Asha, but she hated it so much that I didn't push the point. My boys have never been outside, and I don't want to give them any ideas

I think just keep doing what you're doing with Olive. So long as the experience is a fun and happy one for her, you won't go wrong
Harness And Leash Training For Cats

I just slipped the harness on over Krista and buckled her in the first time. I have this great video of her sitting in her harness on her cat tree wagging her tail back and forth below her like a cat clock. Looking both comfortable and annoyed at the same time.

I've been so exhausted just trying to keep up with her five-or-six-a-day feedings that we never really tried again. I'm also stuck on flea prevention. She's super-sensitive to anything she has to ingest, and I'm just not sure about topicals anymore. I'm thinking something natural but I haven't put much research into this yet.

You are all lucky. When I first buckled Chrissy in her harness, she just fell over on her side and laid there, for a full 5 minutes! She did this for quite a few days until she finally figured out I wasn't going to immediately take her out of it. It was comical. Buckle in,stand back and 'thump' over to her side she fell!

We are half lucky. Olive is a champ if there are treats to be had. Gohan is another story. We had gotten him used to the harness smell and had laid it on top of him. Then we tried buckling him in.

Did we get him buckled? Yes. Did he take it well? No. He flipped out and ran under the farthest reaches of the couch, terrified. He wouldn’t come out and we couldn’t reach him to unbuckle him for 30 min. This ended the harness training adventures of Gohan.