Any tips from those of you with wheelchairs?

[danteshuman]

Today my first electric mobility chair arrived. I’m super excited because it gives me freedom. (MS) My cat Jackie is skittish of it. It is quiet.

So any ideas on how I can help get him used to it? Ideally I would use it to take him on a walk every day.

 

[danteshuman]

Well he sniffed around the base. I called him up onto the chair and gave him treats. (I trained him to get up on the footstool so he knows patting a chair or footstool means “come up here & get a treat.”) I put his binkie on his chair to kind of help him feel more comfortable on it.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Sounds like good progress. Get him used to the chair for a while, then call him up on your lap while you are sitting in it and do that a few times before the next step which would be moving just a few inches very slowly while he is on your lap and see what he does. With any luck, he will be fine and then you can proceed with making each 'little' trip longer.

 

[game misconduct]

Today my first electric mobility chair arrived. I’m super excited because it gives me freedom. (MS) My cat Jackie is skittish of it. It is quiet.

So any ideas on how I can help get him used to it? Ideally I would use it to take him on a walk every day.View attachment 378225View attachment 378226

I dont use a powe chair but what you can do is just park it in the house let jackie climb crawl sleep on it you know claim it did that with my transport chair actually its kinda better for her to be skittish of it and run from it less chance to be run over by you as you get used to driving it around i know that would be my biggest fear is running over a tail or legs cause those things are heavy and would cause serious damage for sure to a cats body parts.a friend of mine suffered a broken ankle when his power chair rolled over him so a cat would be crushed

 

[dustydiamond1]

Do you think maybe putting a couple of small bells on it to make noise when it moves might help?
Rub Jackies binkie and something with your scent all over it.
You're doing great.

 

[sweet jane flash]

I don't use a wheelchair, but I know quite a lot of people who do. The cats just get used to it after awhile. I think dustydiamond1 has an excellent idea about putting a few bells on it is terrific! Good luck to you and we'll keep our paws crossed!

 

[CatLoverOnWheels]

I use a wheelchair and while I don't walk my cat with it, she is very aware of it. She knows to be away from it when it moves and that's safest for her imo. She's comfortable with it in the sense she will sleep, sit and walk all on top of it - probably because of my scent!

 

[danteshuman]

Catloveronwheels thank you so much for your reply! I don’t have to use the chair inside my apartment..... I just basicallly am on bedrest or lazyboy rest and after a minute of standing; I want to sit. The chair is to give me the freedom to get to a bus stop or go to the grocery store on my own. The plus side is it will allow Jackie to dawdle all he wants on his daily walks & I won’t be looking for a place to sit when I walk him.

I decided I’m going to get him used to me using it inside first & then outside. I probably will just plop him on my lap and wheel him about outside.