Should I start harness training my kitten now or wait until they're fixed?

[James&Taki]

Hi everyone!

I have a new kitten (Taki!); they're roughly 4 months old, fully vaccinated (except for leukimea, which will be given on the day of their fixing), and formerly feral. They're also a total door-dasher*, even though I've been consistently giving them 1/2 a treat every time I come in and they don't run out for about 2 months. I've heard the pros and cons of harness walking, and I think I want to do it with them.

I already have a fitting harness and a leash, and I've brought them out in their harness a few times by putting it on them (with the generous help of treats) then picking them up and bringing them out into the backyard and walking them around. I try to follow their lead and make it so they can sniff stuff they're interested in, but it's still difficult for both of us that they can't just move about on their own. I know this all goes against the ubiquitous advice to get them used to the harness, then the leash, then take them walking outside, but they aren't treat-motivated enough for them to tolerate the harness with just that as their motivation, and I wanted to build an immediate association of harness = outdoors. Plus, they're still small enough to pick up easily, worst-case-scenario, and very easy to contain in my arms (they are tiny and calm). Even in the one incident where they did freak out, I was able to contain them, calm them, and get them back indoors all pretty easily, with the worst consequence being some unpleasant scratches.

SO, my question is: I think they're ready to start walking around in their harness with the leash (this time indoors first! then backyard-only, then around the neighborhood), but they aren't fixed yet. They aren't in heat, and their fixing is set for February 25 (which the vet says should be well before they would go into heat). After they get fixed, they'll have to be indoors-ONLY (still working out how to block the doorway in that time, but it'll happen) for 2 weeks, and I think that might be harder for them if they're used to going out on walks. However, that's over a month away. I love them and I really want them to be able to enjoy the outdoors, but I'm wondering if it would be better to wait until after they're done healing from being fixed. Should I wait to leash-train them until after, or is it okay to start now?

*Please don't talk to me about enriching their indoor life. I'm already aware of options in that area and have, for as long as I've had them, been actively working to give them the best life possible. They already get daily play and have perches; it's not displeasure that makes them run out, it's curiousity.

 

[She's a witch]

I’d wait. If you start before and then they’ll have two weeks break, they (and you with them) may loose their mind wanting to go and crying by the door non stop. It depends on the cat of course, but the only times when I’ve seen taking cats for walks working without constant crying is when they were offered regular, scheduled walks, at the same time and with no exceptions even when the weather was not cooperating. So if you start and then stop because of their healing, you may break the routine and they may really demand to be let out. But as I said, this really depends on a cat.
Plus, personally I’d wait till their FELV vaccine starts working.
Good luck with it!

Edited to add: my vets were always against vaccinating together with any other procedure like fixing or even deworming. They weaken cats immune system and this combined with the vaccine may really slow the healing down.

 

[James&Taki]

I’d wait. If you start before and then they’ll have two weeks break, they (and you with them) may loose their mind wanting to go and crying by the door non stop. It depends on the cat of course, but the only times when I’ve seen taking cats for walks working without constant crying is when they were offered regular, scheduled walks, at the same time and with no exceptions even when the weather was not cooperating. So if you start and then stop because of their healing, you may break the routine and they may really demand to be let out. But as I said, this really depends on a cat.
Plus, personally I’d wait till their FELV vaccine starts working.
Good luck with it!

Edited to add: my vets were always against vaccinating together with any other procedure like fixing or even deworming. They weaken cats immune system and this combined with the vaccine may really slow the healing down.

Thank you so much! Now that you've voiced these considerations they seem obvious lol, but this is extremely helpful. I will wait.

 

[Willow's Mom]

I didn't.

My kitten, Willow, had never been inside of a house before she came home and I can't have indoor/outdoor cats where I live. Harness training was not optional if she ever wanted to go anywhere. She was so little that she never really questioned it. I started with a DIY figure-8 and then when she slipped that, I found a walking jacket style harness that was designed for pet rats or ferrets.

She was ~8 weeks old when she came home. I started taking her along in the car the first week. I forget how long I waited to take her hiking, probably only a single week. She decides when and how much walking she does (usually only 1-2 miles) and when she wants to sit on my shoulders and snooze or smell the flowers and watch the world go by.

For the city, I use an astronaut-style bubble backpack with a safety strap. I decide when to unzip the window so she can stick her head out and when to unsnap the safety strap so she can come out and walk around, but she can always see and smell where we are and what is going on around her.

Willow is vaccinated on schedule as an indoor cat. Her feet first touched the ground when she finished her kitten shots, just as our puppies' feet first touch the ground when they finish their puppy shots in my neck of the woods because of the local Parvo epidemic. Everybody makes occaisional exceptions and I am no exception.

She was spayed at six months and didn't seem to notice. The clinic said no riding in the backpack for the first two or three days, which was the hardest part for her, but she did NOT have to stay 100% indoors for a whole week, much less two.

My cat does not walk on a leash like a dog, she walks on a leash like a cat.

 

[Jemima Lucca]

I too harness trained my kittens as soon as I got them. Jemima loves it and Lucca is skeptical but since Jemima is 3mths “older” he kind of follows her lead. I’d say if you’re so inclined; harness walk them...I should add; Jemima was 8 weeks old and I had to rubber band the harness to get it to fit her