Indoor Cat Does Attitude 180 When On Walk Outside

[sooser]

So my kitty Spooky wants to be an outdoor cat, but I prefer he be an indoor cat. I figure a good compromise is to take him on walks with a leash on a harness, and we did this today. He doesn't overly like the harness (though he's not unfamiliar with it) but after about 10 minutes of slinking around and adjusting he seemed to relax - his posture grew taller, his tail was up, his ears and whiskers were forward and he was sniffing lots of stuff, and seemed to be getting more adventurous. Then pretty shortly after he relaxed he got aggressive, I think overstimulated? Hissing, tense, soft biting as I got him inside and got the harness off. I gave him some kitty nips right away, and now he seems pretty relaxed, but I'm wondering if I'm doing the right thing by taking him outside in this way? Did I misinterpret his body language? He's so delicate health wise that the last thing I want to do is introduce unnecessary stress, and the mood switch was so sudden I got whiplash!
Does anyone have any advice? Thank you!

 

[Furballsmom]

He's so delicate health wise that the last thing I want to do is introduce unnecessary stress,

I'm sorry this happened, maybe you can try a different area to walk in? I'm guessing he smelled another animal - it could have been a dog, other cat...

 

[sooser]

I'm sorry this happened, maybe you can try a different area to walk in? I'm guessing he smelled another animal - it could have been a dog, other cat...

I don't know if that's really possible, we didn't make it very far from the front patio when he suddenly wheeled about and hissed at me, just a bit down the driveway. It's totally likely he smelled other animals - we live on the back of someone else's property and they have a dog and cat who don't know our yard is our yard, haha. That said he also lives with another cat, and a dog who he's buddies with. Maybe coyote?? He still seems a little agitated but overall has calmed down quite a bit. Maybe I should bring his boxes outside with me next time :c If I can't walk him in front of our house my poor buddy might be SOL...

 

[Furballsmom]

 

[sooser]

And of course now that I've taken him out he wants it even more, nevermind the strange reaction! Door stalker, this one is.

 

[Furballsmom]

Oh my, he's GORGEOUS!
Would an enclosed buggy help to "acclimate" him to the outside?

 

[sooser]

Oh my, he's GORGEOUS!
Would an enclosed buggy help to "acclimate" him to the outside?

Ideally I wanna get a catio going by enclosing our patio but that's a ways away yet. Not sure how well a buggy would go over but I'll definitely keep that in mind! Thank you for the suggestion
And yes he's my pretty pretty boy, my lil coffee cake! I love him to bitssss

 

[Furballsmom]

wow, just LOOK at that eye color