Cat loves walks but she's afraid of the harness

Tcatmaher

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She used to have no problem with the harness and would stand proudly as I put it on her. But then six months ago she had a scary encounter with another cat while outside and ever since then she's acted like she's afraid of her harness. She still demands walks twice a day but now I have to run after her and pull her out from under furniture to get the harness on her. Once it's on she doesn't have any problem and she'll just walk around like normal but before then if I even walk towards her like I'm about to take her on a walk she'll go hide.

She clearly still loves walks because when I take her out she walks around for a very long time and seems to be enjoying herself. She waits at the front door every day until someone takes her on her walks.
 

Furballsmom

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Hi!
Something that occurred to me might help, what if you utilize different times of day, lay the harness on the floor and have a couple treats for her. Try this again and again, with different locations and times to see if you can desensitize her.

After a while maybe try putting it on her and just leave it on for a few supervised minutes without actually going anywhere.

Hopefully eventually she'll become more relaxed :)
 

NikSibeMom

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My cat loves and demands walks too, but will not hold still for me to put his harness on. He's fine once it's on but gives a good shake when I take it off. I think it's a real "love walks, hate the harness" situation.
 
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Tcatmaher

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Hi!
Something that occurred to me might help, what if you utilize different times of day, lay the harness on the floor and have a couple treats for her. Try this again and again, with different locations and times to see if you can desensitize her.

After a while maybe try putting it on her and just leave it on for a few supervised minutes without actually going anywhere.

Hopefully eventually she'll become more relaxed :)
I'll try that thank you!
 
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Tcatmaher

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Found a weird solution! I tried leaving the harness around and even carrying it around with me but she didn't care. So now when she hides i pretend to do dishes until she gets fed up and yells at the door for walks! Then if she hides again i just repeat that until she doesn't
 
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