Diy Harness - Tailor Made For My One And Only Cat

[Suru]

I have a harness I really like, unfortunately it’s way too warm for the increasingly warm weather we've been getting. So I've been trying to find something lighter - a “summer harness” so to speak. But after endlessly online window shopping and scrutinizing review after review, I couldn't find myself drawn to the any of the commercially available harnesses! So today, after a whole week straight of trying to find the perfect harness, I thought, hey why don't I just make my own?

So here is Prototype 1! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out with only about an hour of effort. The chest restraint still feels a bit tight to me. note that it doesn't seem to bother him, but I plan on loosening it a bit for my own peace of mind anyway. The material I used is a soft ribbon elastic, the type you usually use for your hair. This stretch material is light, soft and comfortable... I made his collar with this same material, it's stretchy enough that if it catches on something, he can struggle loose.

I'm hoping to test walk him tomorrow in my yard, I'll update on how it goes! I also hope to get some feedback on how I can improve on this!


I need to make a disclaimer here. This harness is designed for my own cat only, he's confident in a harness, so it's not the most escape proof harness. I can definitely see a jumpy insecure cat struggling free of this harness with ease, so if you want to try the ideas presented in this thread, please do so at your own risk!

 

[Suru]

We walked him today... and he didn't seem to mind it at all! I don't usually harness my cat, so he's not 100% good with it yet.In colder weather I let him wander unharnessed under my supervision. But recently there's so much poison ivy around, I don't want him bringing that home!

 

[catsknowme]

That looks like it is working out wonderfully! And what handsome, confident boy you have

 

[rubysmama]

Good job with the DIY harness. It seems to be working out purr-fectly.

 

[Suru]

That looks like it is working out wonderfully! And what handsome, confident boy you have

Thank you! I really should to take him to the park, we don’t have sidewalks here and it makes it hard to fo beyond my property

Good job with the DIY harness. It seems to be working out purr-fectly.

Ahah, thank you!

 

[Suru]

Here he is today at the park. he was super nervous in the large open activity area. He is usually pretty good with open areas, but this was a very large park with little to no tree cover in the main area, and I guess it was too much new information for him. He was so nervous that I almost brought him back home, but we found another smaller grassy area on the side with much more tree cover and up his little fat tail went and he immediately switch to "explore!" mode. Sadly treecover + bushes + long grass = mosquito galore, and I only obliged him for as long as I dared brave being mosquito fodder. But he definitely had a lot of fun while it lasted! I'm hoping that bringing him out more to the park (maybe twice a week?) and acclimating him to the huge open area, will get him to enjoy it more.

I didn't bring my phone on me, and my friend who came with me took the photo for me so it's short and somewhat blurry

 

[catsknowme]

When I lived in a town, I would take my Maine Coon for harness walks. To go to the park, I would load him into his "coach," which was a large cat carrier strapped onto a discarded baby stroller frame. Once there, he was allowed out to explore and visit the children at the playground. I wonder if the same concept would work for your boy; he could use the carrier as a portable base camp. It's very useful when there might be loose dogs nearby; we found most dogs were confused and scared of the situation and non-aggessive.