Harness safety question ...... not sure where to post it

[danteshuman]

So this is not my cat but family drama. So please skip the fence toppers or keep the bit about keeping him inside.

1) is a Velcro harness safe if he gets it caught on a fence?

2) Will said harness slow him down if he gets in a fight?

I love Nick to pieces but I’m extremely worried about ‘my sweet baby panther’ being hit by a car. He is black and almost invisible once the sun sets! He sometimes stays out until 7 or 9pm!

Since the clever guy keeps loosing his breakaway reflective collar (in under a day!!!!) I have been begging my mom to let me adopt him. I told her I would quit asking if he wore a reflective neon kitty holster harness while he patrols the block. That way cars will see him!

Does anyone have any bother ideas? Can he injure himself getting his harness caught on things? ( no leash, just wearing the harness like a vest so he is more visible.)

I bottle fed Nick (& his 2 siblings) I tried hard not to fall in love with them but Nick (the runt) snuck in & stole my heart. I just want him to be safe!!!

Nick in his vest with his brother Jackie (who is my cat.)



Other pics showing his harness from different angles.

 

[cat nap]

1) is a Velcro harness safe if he gets it caught on a fence?

2) Will said harness slow him down if he gets in a fight?

I love Nick to pieces but I’m extremely worried about ‘my sweet baby panther’ being hit by a car. He is black and almost invisible once the sun sets! He sometimes stays out until 7 or 9pm!

Since the clever guy keeps loosing his breakaway reflective collar (in under a day!!!!) I have been begging my mom to let me adopt him. I told her I would quit asking if he wore a reflective neon kitty holster harness while he patrols the block. That way cars will see him!

danteshuman ....Nick is gorgeous. (And so is your Jackie.)
Nick looks like Royalty in his purple harness vest.

I really don't know how a velcro harness would be on a cat climbing a fence or tree, or how it would interfere with him, if he needed to fight off another cat or animal.

I would think it would slow him down.
Though looking at the photos, he looks like he has quite a range of motion.

My other worry would be that he might have better protection being 'invisible in the night' versus being seen.
Other animals would leave him alone.

I understand your worry about a car hitting him, but even with a reflective collar or fabric....would cars actually stop at night.
Maybe. I don't know.

Does anyone have any bother ideas? Can he injure himself getting his harness caught on things? ( no leash, just wearing the harness like a vest so he is more visible.)

I bottle fed Nick (& his 2 siblings) I tried hard not to fall in love with them but Nick (the runt) snuck in & stole my heart. I just want him to be safe!!!

Nick in his vest with his brother Jackie (who is my cat.)

If his vest is difficult to remove then yes, I would think he could get caught on a branch, or fence.
That's why I think the 'break-away' collars are safer....even if you lose twenty of them...they are made to "break away" so he doesn't choke.

I really don't know if there are better options...to prevent running on a road.

I do like the idea of GPS collars but I think they might still be somewhat expensive, yet they are supposed to let you know where your cat is. I have seen 'gps tags' on amazon, but don't know how well they would work, and how you could prevent a cat from losing or dropping them in another yard.

How old are the two boy cats, now?

 

[danteshuman]

They just turned 3 this September

 

[danteshuman]

Oops! They just turned 2 this last September & there are 3 of them. The fluffy one is Cami, their sister.

 

[danteshuman]

All 3 ‘minions’ are 2 years old. Nick is the biggest, all muscle & weighs probably weighs 17 pounds by now!

I will try the mutiple collars. Today I found out that he has found at least 3 different paths to get up on top of the fence & over the gate. hopefully when the last vinyl fence/wall is installed the problem will be solved. But that may take 6 months.

Here are this year’s Christmas pictures & some baby pictures. Since I see them every weekend I dote on them. I buy them gifts every holiday. I think I love on Nick extra because he is just a companion cat to Cami. He isn’t my mom’s favorite though she does love him. Plus everyone in the house loves Nick. (He lost half his tail from the husky next door trying to pull him of a tree.)

Jackie wears the same vest. He can wiggle backwards out of his harness in a few seconds as soon as the leash gets tight. Nick learned how to do this to. So I don’t think he would be in danger wearing a vest. However the thing about the vest making him more visible to other animals gives me pause though.

 

[cat nap]

Wow, they are Beautiful photos.
And awesome looking cats.

What surprises me is that they are all siblings? ....but so different in their markings. Amazing.
You really take beautiful photos.

(There was a BBC Documentary called "The Secret Life of a Cat" ....in which scientists went into a small town/village and put 'gps tags and cameras' on the cats to follow them around and see where they go. It was many years ago, but very fascinating to watch. Maybe you can find it on youtube. The interesting part for me, was that each cat had their own "route" and "routine"...so they tried not to overlap with neighbouring cats. Really interesting.)

(Your photos definitely belong in the "then and now" thread over in the Photo section.)

Ps. How do you keep your cats away from ornaments on the tree? Mine like to swat them down for the dog to chase.?

 

[Jcatbird]

Just a note on the harnesses. My Lady wears a Velcro harness and, although she can get out of it, it takes a little time and if it were caught so that it was tight, not sure if she could get out unless the Velcro came apart. I agree with C catnap that the collars might be safer. Is kitty microchipped? That might be a good idea too in case he decides to wander a bit and someone else finds him. They do make fairly wide breakaway collars now that have a bit more reflective material to them.
The photos are wonderful! They are all beautiful. I’m not surprised that they have your heart. You are awesome for bottle raising them!