Harness Training

[boney girl dad]

dustydiamond1 and bengalcatman
Thanks so much for your advice, support and experience share. You sure have some good looking kitties.
I have not asked my wife about color. What she does not know, she can't say no to lol. I have narrowed my color choices to red bandana, pink, purple and the safety green.
I do wonder how one would know if their cat has a short neck without a trial fitting.The pics I saw of the narrow collar did look more comfortable, but maybe less secure. Ziva's measurements call for the s/m size. I did see that the retailer linked to the harness site has matching leashes. Does anybody have a leash preference as far as length, material, brand, ect...?

 

[Mother Dragon]

We use a 25' retractable leash for Darwin. That way, if he takes off where he shouldn't go, all we have to do is lock the lead to stop him. He's learned that "No!" and the sound of the leash locking mean he's not supposed to go wherever he's heading and he backs off.

Darwin is a big Russian Blue guy. We got the bright yellow harness for him with the reflective stripe. He's easy to see that way. We think he looks very handsome. My photo of him been stolen by Harrigan, our poltergeist. If he ever gives it back, I'll post it.

 

[bengalcatman]

We use a Flexi small that has a 26 foot retractable lead for Makena.

The cord is rugged enough to be dragged over sharp rocks and the case withstands being dropped, stepped on, tangled in brush, getting soaked and covered in mud and snow. We get a year or two out of them before they wear out. I imagine they would last forever with a cat that didn't turn every walk into an adventure.

We started June Bug with a plain six foot lead - less to get tangled. Now that she is getting the hang of hiking she just graduated to a Flexi like Makena's - though I don't suspect she will wear it out like he does!

 

[dustydiamond1]

dustydiamond1 and bengalcatman
Thanks so much for your advice, support and experience share. You sure have some good looking kitties.
I have not asked my wife about color. What she does not know, she can't say no to lol. I have narrowed my color choices to red bandana, pink, purple and the safety green.
I do wonder how one would know if their cat has a short neck without a trial fitting.The pics I saw of the narrow collar did look more comfortable, but maybe less secure. Ziva's measurements call for the s/m size. I did see that the retailer linked to the harness site has matching leashes. Does anybody have a leash preference as far as length, material, brand, ect...?

Yeah, they are pricy, but totally worth it, I could tell Gypsy needed a narrow one just by looking at her because her neck isn't very long. There is quite a lot of velcro making a very secure closure and I feel very safe with it. Your girl is bigger than mine so you may be ok with the regular one. Email and ask if the regular collar is too wide if you could send it back to be altered, they were very nice when I contacted them about size. We use a regular 6ft leash. I had got a retractable one but the recoil was so strong it would have pulled her off her feet lol. I think the red and the safety green would go well with Zivas coloring.

 

[boney girl dad]

Thanks for the input on leashes. Thinking we will stay with a short leash for now and graduate to a retractable when the warm season returns.
You're reading my mind on color dustydiamond1 .
I mentioned before the reason I decided to attempt harness training is for the additional exercise and stimulation. Since I am among cat friends, I'm ready to confess my main reason.
My Boney Girl walked with me. No harness and leash. My only cat to do so. That is one of my fondest memories of her. She stayed with me and never ran off or chased anything. Our walks were regular and the only time she would go more than 50-60 feet from the house when outside on her own. She preferred hard surfaces over grass, except for a couple bark paths and the mulch in our flower beds. Our walks were down the gravel driveway and back. About 500 feet to a dock on one of our ponds or 600 feet to the shed. When we walked back to the house with about 250 feet to go, she would run back and hide somewhere in the flower beds and wait for me to find her. That was usually followed by a sun nap on the mulch. I wish to walk Ziva to help me remember my Boney Girl.

 

[dustydiamond1]

Thanks for the input on leashes. Thinking we will stay with a short leash for now and graduate to a retractable when the warm season returns.
You're reading my mind on color dustydiamond1 .
I mentioned before the reason I decided to attempt harness training is for the additional exercise and stimulation. Since I am among cat friends, I'm ready to confess my main reason.
My Boney Girl walked with me. No harness and leash. My only cat to do so. That is one of my fondest memories of her. She stayed with me and never ran off or chased anything. Our walks were regular and the only time she would go more than 50-60 feet from the house when outside on her own. She preferred hard surfaces over grass, except for a couple bark paths and the mulch in our flower beds. Our walks were down the gravel driveway and back. About 500 feet to a dock on one of our ponds or 600 feet to the shed. When we walked back to the house with about 250 feet to go, she would run back and hide somewhere in the flower beds and wait for me to find her. That was usually followed by a sun nap on the mulch. I wish to walk Ziva to help me remember my Boney Girl.
View attachment 203915

Boney Girl loved and trusted you very much. I once had a very special horse I loved and who loved and acted more like a dog than an equine towards me. You are definitely on the right path with Ziva, she trusts you very much. Keep up the great mutual training and keep us updated with lots of photos. Boney Girls photo is beautiful, really shows her personality.

 

[boney girl dad]

We've been out the last 2 afternoons. If I crouch with one or both of my thighs parallel to the ground/floor, Ziva climbs on up. She gives her daddy kisses too.
Order the blazin red bandana cat holster tonight and a couple more scratchers. She seems to prefer horizontal. Hope the new ones settle our cardboard vs sisal debate.

 

[dustydiamond1]

View attachment 204354 View attachment 204352 We've been out the last 2 afternoons. If I crouch with one or both of my thighs parallel to the ground/floor, Ziva climbs on up. She gives her daddy kisses too.
Order the blazin red bandana cat holster tonight and a couple more scratchers. She seems to prefer horizontal. Hope the new ones settle our cardboard vs sisal debate.

You are such a great cat daddy
Red is an excellent choice, it will go wonderfully with Zivas coloring and also match your vest Gypsy prefers cardboard and has one horizontal and 2 vertical. She's so smart and sweet, 1 of the horizontal & 1 of the vertical are next to her potty box and she wipes her paws on the vertical before she jumps out onto the horizontal to finish wiping her front feet.

 

[boney girl dad]

We went out today. She had some salad as she now knows where the best grass is. She had a big scare. The fed ex truck came up the driveway. She was just on alert and listening at first, but got real scared as it got close enough to see. She jumped and ran for the front door. We did a 50 yard dash with a stretche tight leash and cinched up harness. She is much faster than I. She was fine once we got inside and was up in the window to watch Mr. Delivery.
Suppose I should've picked her up as soon as I heard the truck. Just hate that she had a bad experience. The package was from Chewy. Ziva's new holster is here. It has been on the floor now for 7 hours and she has not even looked at it lol. She has however been in the box it came in a few times. We are going to take it slow. Give her a few days to notice it before a trial fitting. Kind of starting over. I'll post our progress hopefully soon.

 

[NewYork1303]

Our cat loves to go out on a harness. Make sure not to rely on the Kitty holster harness too much either. Our cat was able to get out when a bird startled him suddenly. It also is possible for cats to back out of them. It is much more difficult though. If Carrot hadn't scratched me out of fear I probably would have managed to grab him. Luckily he just ran right back to the front door.

 

[boney girl dad]

Monday night when I got home from work, Ziva jumped over my foot and got out when I opened the front door to come in. She ran down the sidewalk to the slab. I followed and called her. Torties definitely disappear in shadows and darkness. I couldn't see her until she was in front of me and headed back to the front door. She now obviously has the desire to go outside. I told her I was cross with her but that she was a good girl for coming back in.
She has been at the door expressing her want to go outside today. After it warmed up this afternoon, we tried a holster trial fitting. It went on fast and easy before she realized what was happening. She laid flat on her tummy. I connected the leash and opened the door to see her reaction. She chose to go out. She noticeably walked a little funny. She even fell over sideways twice. I continued to praise and pet her. She went over and had some grass, noticed and chattered at some birds and pounced on a grasshopper. Holster was slightly off center after 10 minutes of movement, so I probably can make a little tighter next time. We were out 15 minutes. She didn't like the Velcro noise when we removed and immediately began grooming where the holster had been. I gave her lots of attention, praise and some food. I'm quite happy with our first try.

 

[boney girl dad]

We got out Friday in her holster. She slightly resisted putting it on, but was ready to go out the door as soon as leash was attached. We went down the walk for a quick scan of our familiar area. She walks a little drunk like. I followed her back to the porch. She was content to just sit for 5 more minutes. A little uncoordinated climbing on and off my lap. Out only 10 mins, but it was cold. We got a ways to go before she's comfortable.

 

[dustydiamond1]

Ha! when we first go outside Gypsy acts like she can't move in her jacket until she sees something interesting, then off she goes

Is Ziva able to comfortably bend her neck? She looks so pretty in her jacket.

 

[dustydiamond1]

You guys should check out this thread- Action Shots ( Post Them Here! ).

 

[boney girl dad]

dustydiamond1 I think she can move her neck ok. I've tried looser and tighter. Believe I need to wash it a couple times to make it less stiff. We have backed up a little bit and are wearing in the house while we play to show her she is still just as fast and nimble. Thinking it is like wearing one's first corset, although I can assure you you I have no knowledge of what that is like lol.

 

[dustydiamond1]

dustydiamond1 I think she can move her neck ok. I've tried looser and tighter. Believe I need to wash it a couple times to make it less stiff. We have backed up a little bit and are wearing in the house while we play to show her she is still just as fast and nimble. Thinking it is like wearing one's first corset, although I can assure you you I have no knowledge of what that is like lol.

Me either lol. It does soften with wear. You do need to keep it snug, if you think she would do better with a narrower neck the company may alter it for you. It cost me $5 extra for Gypsys when I ordered. Well worth it.

 

[boney girl dad]

I don't think the neck bothers her. Think the girth does. That's a lot of fabric to get used to when she has never worn clothing before. We got out for about 10 minutes this afternoon in 50 degree temps and didn't do much. She wore it another 15 in the house before we put it in the washer. Lying flat to dry. Hope this helps. I did end up keeping the CWMK harness just in case. Believe process of acclimating is about the same for both systems.

 

[dustydiamond1]

I don't think the neck bothers her. Think the girth does. That's a lot of fabric to get used to when she has never worn clothing before. We got out for about 10 minutes this afternoon in 50 degree temps and didn't do much. She wore it another 15 in the house before we put it in the washer. Lying flat to dry. Hope this helps. I did end up keeping the CWMK harness just in case. Believe process of acclimating is about the same for both systems.

She may like it more as the temp go down. lol

 

[Faerie Godess]

I’ve been wondering if I could put a harness on my Siamese. After reading about Zivas harness training story, I was encouraged. However, the question that arises, how do I handle her wanting to chase something (natural instinct) and what do I do if a dog or cat comes after her? Yes, I’m a very concerned furparent. I have had her since she was 10 weeks old. My Mystique is now 3.

 

[boney girl dad]

Thanks @Farie Godess. There is plenty of owner training besides training our kitties. I've learned positioning is very important. I use a short leash and stay beside and slightly behind. The 3 or 4 times Ziva has bolted forward, everything works and I'm in control. The only problem time is when she was behind me and the leash went tight---like pulling a shirt off over your head. Got to stay aware and anticipate. If situation is questionable, then pick them up quickly--this is easier on a short leash. Anyway we are getting ahead of ourselves, step one is just to get them to wear it or just be able to put it on. This is tougher with an older cat than a kitten. I'm definitely not an authority, but if you read back thru this thread, I believe I have done several things right and a few wrong. I'd be happy to give you any input I can and would love to hear you and your kitty succeed. We're not that far ahead of you. My step one was just to leave the harness/holster and leash lying on the floor for 2 or 3 or 4 weeks where it can be noticed. Please let me know if you start a thread to share the experience so I can keep up.