Taking Cats out in Public

[solaritybengals]

I used to do this a lot until my kitten decided she really didn't like it anymore (more the car than anything). She can be a little unpredictable and a yowling cat in a store is a little embarassing. But if someone came up to her she would be all loving and wanting to be pet. But then there was the child factor... Children would see her and run up and pet her without asking. I'd oftentimes find myself with a crowd of children wanting to hold her. Human children are just as unpredictable and she could sense it adn it would scare her (she dosen't get child exposure anywhere else). So I've had to stop taking her out. It was kind of to bad because she was awesome on a leash. She'd walk right along with me. Now I just take her out in the evenings around the house.

One funny thing that happened was a child demanding that I let her take my cat home. She was very adamant.

 

[girlieq]

I'm motivated now to leash train my babies, although Rowan makes a much better candidate for going out in public. I actually carried him over to the neighbor's house last night, because he's gotten so big since the neighbor caught him in the yard, and I thought we should visit. He was great about it, never tried to get away, wasn't worried about the traffic or the loud music. He even snuggled with Justin for a while. And I'm sure that they'd just love to watch the fishies at the store.

 

[silverbook]

I don't think Sylvester would care to go out in public. He cries in the carrier and at his age I don't think he would tolerate a harness. He prefers to be at home with familier surroundings.

 

[yosemite]

Originally Posted by Loveysmummy

Might be a weird question, but I would worry about the kits having to go to the bathroom if I had them out for hours!

If we are going out for several hours, we put a temporary litter pan on the floor in the back seat and put out food and water for them. Mika has used the litter a couple times, but Bijou waits until we are home.

 

[kluchetta]

Aw, that's cool. I was going to train my kitty, but he's gone. I can't see taking the cats into stores. I wonder if it's different here in the US?

 

[kittenkiya]

When I had Kahli, we had a halter and lead rope for her and I to walk around the neighborhood, run up and down the mailboxes and purr for everyone who stopped by to see her. Then I decided to take her to PetsMart. I put the halter on her so she knew we were going out, and then put her in a carrier for the car ride to the store. I took her out of the carrier and put her in the kids seat in shopping cart and walked up to the door. The sliding door scared her, but she trusted me enought to know that it was ok. It took her about 23 seconds to realize she had gone to heaven and the first place we stopped at was of course, the birds.

I let her run around on the floor around the cat food and kittly litter aisles, and had to stop her from jumping into the koi pool, but we had blast.

 

[cyberkitten]

Re the Therapy cat question asked by Jen:

My YY - pictured below - is a therapy cat and she works with many of my patients (most of whom have cancer or hematological illnesses) and she has recently started doing some work with children with neurological problems or those in hospital for extended periods of time unless of course they are immunocompromised. Not all cats can be therapy cats and she was a sweetheart from the time she was a kitten- she seems to be a genuinely considerate kitty. She even seems to sense children who are extra vulnerable or lonely and begs them to pick her up. Of course they do and she has made another friend!! She had to become certified of course!!

I have taken YY to many places with me - not so much shopping though but she has flown to Florida with me and sometimes does rounds with me. She loves to walk on her leash (she likes to be independent even more mind you but tha is not safe of course). Some of my friends - at the hospital joke and suggest that one of these days there will be a Code YY and I am going to be in trouble, lol (meaning she will have escaped to somewhere she should not be like surgery!!)