Cat likes her walks... too much.

Raeyin

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Cocoa, an indoor cat, likes to be walked on a leash. Lately, she's been begging to be walked. She'll meow at the door persistently, and it's getting frustrating. She can't be enjoying her day this way.

We tried to calm her down with a distinctive alarm every morning to signal her walk. This way, her walk is at a consistent time with a consistent signal. She gets to go out while the birds are active, too.

The alarm didn't help at all. She understands what it means, but she seems to think she can talk me or my son into more walks. I'm afraid that changing the routine will only make things worse.

Letting her outdoors unattended is out of the question. We have quite a few birds of prey, and people lose pet cats to them regularly. I can't build a catio because I rent the lot.

Cocoa tends to be a thinking cat, she communicates more than most cats, and she's extremely persistent when she has an idea in her head.

Does anyone have any suggestions?
 

Furballsmom

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The only thing I can think of would be to distract her, not just with toys but try picking her up and carrying her away from the door, repeatedly...
 

Talien

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Could you set up a temporary enclosure outside? You can buy wire fence sections that can attach to eachother, then you can put whatever Cat furniture in it and she'd be safe from birds or anything else.
 

di and bob

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I would look into a larger wire portable dog kennel and either have it accessible from a window or close by. that way she can spend more time outside and doesn't have to be watched so close. I have lost too many cats to argue about keeping her in and on a schedule, good job on being so patient! she may have a lot of Oriental in her background, any points, longer nose, or blue eyes? Every one I have had can be the most stubborn, talkative, determined little one I have ever seen!
 

danteshuman

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I have a stubborn & clever kitty that loves being outside! I think you are going to have to ride this stubbornness out.

I would give her more time outside. If Jackie gets his 2 hours outside everyday, he is calm. I don’t walk him for 2 hours. I put him on a long leash and sit down to reads while he hunts. I get while you are worried, though for me it is coyotes (& hawks.... but here we don’t hear of hawks eating cats thank goodness!

In the meanwhile when Jackie screams his head off, I like to pretend I misunderstand him. “What is thatJackie, you want your belly rubbed?” So responding you her meows with picking her up & carrying her around a bit might work. I just annoy my cat with a quick belly rub then scratch his chest (which he loves.)
 

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Sylvia Jones

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It just takes time When Cocoa realizes you won’t give in things will calm down I did have to increase outside time to twice a day It gives me some good reading time too If that’s possible for you it could help
 
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Raeyin

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I would look into a larger wire portable dog kennel and either have it accessible from a window or close by. that way she can spend more time outside and doesn't have to be watched so close. I have lost too many cats to argue about keeping her in and on a schedule, good job on being so patient! she may have a lot of Oriental in her background, any points, longer nose, or blue eyes? Every one I have had can be the most stubborn, talkative, determined little one I have ever seen!
She doesn't have the physical traits of an Oriental. Black cat, American Shorthair, ordinary face shape, yellow eyes. I didn't mention that she's also very affectionate. Quite an unusual kitty.
 
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Raeyin

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Thank you all! I'm going to try to arrange for a portable outdoor enclosure. I think that fencing might be best for getting a good size in my budget. The dog kennels often lack floors or have gaps. Then we'll go for someplace to get shade, feel safe, and some soft stuff. I'll put her near my window and keep an eye on her. Thank you all very much!
 

danteshuman

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I don’t know about orientalists characteristics. Jackie an obvious half breed is my lynx with silky soft fur. Nick is his brother. Though Nick has black fur & the ragdoll barrel chest ..... he has lots of short course hair. So what traits a cat will get when they are mixed can’t always be predicted. So I think you black cat could theoretical have some siamese in them. 🤷🏻‍♀️
 

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Talien

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Thank you all! I'm going to try to arrange for a portable outdoor enclosure. I think that fencing might be best for getting a good size in my budget. The dog kennels often lack floors or have gaps. Then we'll go for someplace to get shade, feel safe, and some soft stuff. I'll put her near my window and keep an eye on her. Thank you all very much!
That's the thing, it doesn't need a floor, just the grass would be fine. Cats aren't diggers like Dogs so she's not going to escape by digging under the fence. You'll need a top for it though because she absolutely will escape by climbing out if it's not covered, but that's easily done by fastening another section of fence above and either attaching a piece of sheet metal over that or tying a tarp over it if you aren't in a windy area.
 

Sylvia Jones

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There are some pretty cool pop up play areas that I’ve seen online The ones I saw were mesh and soft plastic I think it was wayfair I will post again if I can find them They were definitely something you could move in and out easily and not expensive
 

Furballsmom

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If you type cat mesh tent into your browser, there is quite a variety of results and a wide range in costs.
 

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What age were your cats when you started walking them on a leash? I have a five-year old female I'm trying to get comfortable with a holster harness. She wants to sneak outside but she doesn't like the harness. I'm not sure how much longer I should try to leash train her.
 

Furballsmom

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My Poppycat wasn't thrilled with his harness at first either, --he'd do the flop on the floor/aauugh this thing is horrible LOL for a while, but we just kept working on it, a few minutes at a time, inside the house. Finally we moved outside in a safe enclosed space, and he became a champ at it. He was about 12 years old, I think.
Harness And Leash Training For Cats – TheCatSite Articles
 

daftcat75

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Krista and I were going to do it last year. But we had fleas to get rid of first. And then we got caught up in one health issue or another for her last year. 😿

If I was to do it with her or another cat, it might look something like this.

1. Start with clicker training. Teach your cat to heel. Click. Come to me. Give a treat. If my cat were to get off leash, I would want to know that I could still summon her back.

2. Click. Come over. Treat. Click. Put on the harness. Treat. Let her wear the harness for 20 minutes. Click. Come over. Treat. Click. Take off the harness. Treat. Make the harness something to look forward to because she gets a treat.

3. Add the leash—but don’t hold it—to the routine. Click. Come over. Click. Harness. Treat. Click. Leash. Treat. Let her walk around the house with the leash dragging behind her. You can skip some of the treats now as she knows she’s got a routine to perform. But definitely reward the completion of this routine.

4. Practice indoors holding the leash. You don’t walk her like a dog. You let her walk you. Make sure heel still works. Click. Come over. Give her a treat. Don’t progress to outdoors if you can’t get her to come back to you.

5. Practice outdoors in a confined space like a deck. Make sure heel still works when outdoor distractions are present.

6. After many weeks building up comfort to the harness and leash and teaching heel with the clicker, you are now ready to harness walk your cat.

Don’t be surprised if your cat now looks forward to these walls and pesters you for them like the original poster.
 

daftcat75

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Krista and I were going to do it last year. But we had fleas to get rid of first. And then we got caught up in one health issue or another for her last year. 😿

If I was to do it with her or another cat, it might look something like this.

1. Start with clicker training. Teach your cat to heel. Click. Come to me. Give a treat. If my cat were to get off leash, I would want to know that I could still summon her back.

2. Click. Come over. Treat. Click. Put on the harness. Treat. Let her wear the harness for 20 minutes. Click. Come over. Treat. Click. Take off the harness. Treat. Make the harness something to look forward to because she gets a treat.

3. Add the leash—but don’t hold it—to the routine. Click. Come over. Click. Harness. Treat. Click. Leash. Treat. Let her walk around the house with the leash dragging behind her. You can skip some of the treats now as she knows she’s got a routine to perform. But definitely reward the completion of this routine.

4. Practice indoors holding the leash. You don’t walk her like a dog. You let her walk you. Make sure heel still works. Click. Come over. Give her a treat. Don’t progress to outdoors if you can’t get her to come back to you.

5. Practice outdoors in a confined space like a deck. Make sure heel still works when outdoor distractions are present.

6. After many weeks building up comfort to the harness and leash and teaching heel with the clicker, you are now ready to harness walk your cat.

Don’t be surprised if your cat now looks forward to these walls and pesters you for them like the original poster.
I should mention that each one of these steps takes as long as they take for the cat to understand the new step in the routine. Teaching heel might only take a week. But getting the cat used to having the harness on without freaking out or shutting down might take a month. Practice daily and don't rush it. You can also practice "jackpotting" when you reward a behavior. Jackpotting is once every rare while, instead of a single treat, she gets many treats or an extra special treat. The specialness of that treat combined with its rarity will make her work extra hard looking for that jackpot pay off. Suffice it to say, if you jackpot too often, it loses its appeal. You can also practice intermittent rewards. Instead of rewarding each step of a routine, you can reward the first and last or an intermediate step. Do this when the cat already knows the individual steps of the routine and thus does not need to be cued and rewarded for each step. She'll get clever and start performing the next step anyway. You can use this same strategy of building up the routine one step at a time to train her for all kinds of routines like brushing, nail clipping, teeth brushing, and car ride/vet trip desensitization.
 
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Lisannez

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We have a cat just like this. We also have added an enclosure on our back porch where she can be outside and not get out, it helps a little but it does not totally eliminate the pestering to be walked on the leash. If I could go back in time, I would have never allowed my fiance to walk her on the leash or allowed the cat outside at all that was our mistake. What I have learned is that once a cat goes in a particular area outdoors that becomes part of his or her territory and she must inspect and guard that territory many times a day. So letting her out on the back enclosed area while nice does not allow her to inspect the rest of her territory and so that will not suffice. We also tried the teaching her to take a walk once a day, setting a schedule, blocking the windows so she could not see, etc, it did not work. When we are not home she does not ask (We have cameras) in fat she sleeps all day, but now since we mostly are she will cry and I mean like she’s in physical pain for 15-20 minutes on and off four or five times a day, and that’s with her having access to the catio and being walked outside once a day. If not she yells it sounds like a toddler! And if someone else goes outside or heads towards the door she cries then too. She’s 13 and for the three years prior to our move (we have been her for almost two years) she was always indoors. Prior to that she had access to an outdoor enclosed balcony and never asked. Her sister cat could care less About outside. At this point I think you have two choices, one you just listen to the cat cry and ignore it and eventually the cat will stop. Don’t yell don’t look, don’t do anything, just pretend it’s not happening. I know it will get annoying but it will stop. You will have to deal with this probably everyday you are home. Your guests will have to deal with it too. Or two, stop letting the cat go outside at all, not on a leash, not in a catio, not at all. The cat will cry for a week or two, but eventually the cat will forget and not ask. However, if the cat gets outside again, the process will start all over. Someone did suggest that we let the cat outside and dump water when she went out, I thought that was cruel but a friend who just had a baby and was having this issue with her cat did that and it did work. Good luck. I would say try all of the other suggestions but don’t be surprise did they don’t work.
 
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