Walking a cat?

Dublin21

Hi all,

Just looking to find out if anyone has tried to walk their cat? And if so have they any tips?

We have an overweight kitty and no matter how much we try to get him active he just has his quota and will refuse to move.

We have therefore purchased him a harness on Zooplus and are considering taking him for a walk once he gets used to it.

My problem is he is an indoor cat, not used to the outdoors at all.
Im afraid he will be easily spooked and not able for a 'walk' as such.. will prob just want a bit of a nose around and then get fed up.
That - OR he will get too used to it and then pine to get outdoors constantly
We live in an apartment on 2nd floor so its not an option for us to let him out.

We are in the process of clicker training him just incase worst case scenario is that he gets away from us.

Any thoughts/tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

kylith

Just that it's good to see someone looking into doing this. Good luck with it, and I'm sure he'll love it.

Outkast_IRE

Overweight Cat needs to be fed less thats the best solution.

I wouldnt be a fan of trying to train a cat to walk on a lead, it would be easier with a kitten etc, but training a cat for something like that is tough, and walking a cat could lead to alot of trouble with dogs etc.

SillyMangoX

Cats generally won't go for a steady plodding walk in the same way a dog does. It is more of a 'take 2 steps, lie down, be dragged' kind of momentum! Have you a stairs in your apartment? I found trying to get weight off my cats, the best thing was to shine a laser up and down the stairs and they would go tearing after it. Cream is so active he doesn't need to lose weight but peach could do with shedding half a kilo, and even though she is the laziest cat in the world she always goes ape for the little red dot!

Dublin21

We are feeding him less, for the last 4 weeks and it doesn't seemed to have made any difference.
He is due back in the vets in 2 weeks to see his progress but if its still the same i would prefer to get him more active than to change to the diet food that was recommended.

He's only pushing a year now - not a baby but not an old cat either so im thinking its possible to at least try him with it.

I realise we may look absolutely bonkers walking a cat but what can ya do! If he needs exercise he needs exercise!

Dublin21

SillyMangoX wrote: »

Cats generally won't go for a steady plodding walk in the same way a dog does. It is more of a 'take 2 steps, lie down, be dragged' kind of momentum! Have you a stairs in your apartment? I found trying to get weight off my cats, the best thing was to shine a laser up and down the stairs and they would go tearing after it. Cream is so active he doesn't need to lose weight but peach could do with shedding half a kilo, and even though she is the laziest cat in the world she always goes ape for the little red dot!

That seems to be what hes doing atm when we try play with him!
He will bat his Da Bird toy around for a few seconds and then lie down and watch the other guy go mad for it.

We've tried playing with them seperately and together - doesn't make a difference.
He will play with a laser but again its limited.

The most exercise he gets is when he and our other kitty run around for awhile OR he is on his own with a bottle top... So we try encourage this as much as possible!

No stairs in Our apartment, there are stairs in the complex but not sure the neighbours would be too happy about him scaling the stairs

The Vet has suggested half a kilo to start with but tbh i want to nip it in the bud now. He has such an appetite he would eat himself sick as often as he could.

Walking him is a last resort.

fredweena

Teaching a cat to walk is really hard. Even when they do want to go the same way they just pull against you and lie down. You'll be the one loosing the weight with all the dragging and then carrying him back home! But good luck all the same, I hope it works. I have a fatter cat here too and getting him to slim down is a nightmare so I feel your pain. Don't approach it like you would if you were teaching a dog to walk on a lead. The lead has to be sort of incidental at the start. Get the cat moving in the direction you want first by holding out a toy, laser dot etc and gradually introduce the feeling of the lead and work up to putting pressure on it. Go very slowly, any sudden pressure on the lead will cause the cat to pull in the opposite direction like their lives depended on it or else lie down. Oh, and try not to use treats when training, won't help the weight!

Dublin21

Thanks

If all else fails i will stick a treat on a stick and attach it to his harness!! (Ala Honey i shrunk the kids/ Father ted - getting Father Jack to go for a walk!)

Alun

We had two slightly overweight cats, and on the insistence of the vet put them on a diet of Royal Canin "Obesity Control". I have to say, the weight just dropped off them, but then they're semi-outdoor cats and were fairly active anyway, despite the extra weight. What food do you have them on?

My only experience of trying to put a cat on a lead was when we were transporting one of them from Holland to Ireland in the car, and we had to stop every now and then to let him out to do his business, and that wasn't a huge success. You can't really control where they're going using the lead, it's just a means to stop them escaping if they decide to make a run for it.

Dublin21

fredweena wrote: »

Oh, and try not to use treats when training, won't help the weight!

Oh believe me i know, its heartbreaking when we ask our other kitty to sit to give him a treat (he doesn't really get the 'sit' thing yet but is coming around with the clicker).. the bigger guy got it straight away and will run over and sit down even though we aren't talking to him.

I looked into low fat treats but theres no point - had to cut everything out. Poor guy.

Alun, we have them both on Porta 21 dry food at the moment.
Hes on about 70g (for his weight he Should be on around 90-120) but we obviously cut it to see if he can lose it like this.
If not the next step the vet recommends is diet food but im not a lover of the ingredients in Royal Canin..
Would like to try get him moving about first before we but him on this but obviously if we can't we will have to give it a go.

anniehoo

Dublin21 wrote: »

We are feeding him less, for the last 4 weeks and it doesn't seemed to have made any difference.

If he's only a year old, he mightn't necessarily be overweight at all. At this age a lot of cats are out of the kittenish stage and lose the sleek youthful look they have in their first year. They become less active and weight does slowly creep on but if fed the correct amount it will hover at a healthy adult weight (4-6kg for an adult male). He sounds very young to be on "diet" food, but if the vet is recommending this then its better to feed this than reducing the current amount of normal food. He'll just be hungry and more likely to scrounge or hunt if allowed outside.

What is his current weight and what food is he on at the minute?

It's difficult but not impossible to train a cat to walk on a harness, but it really should've been started as a kitten to make it easiest. He needs to get used to the feel of the harness before you even think about bringing him outside in it. Also make sure it fits him correctly and isnt too tight or restrictive. Build his tolerance up slowly by allowing him to wear it around the house for 5mins at a time (no lead). If after a week that's ok, increase the length of time then attach the lead. See how he reacts. Give him lots of encouragement and a small treat if he walks ok with it on. Then....only then...step it up to bringing him outside. He may take to it fine, but my guess would be this will take some time for him to get used to it. Its not a natural feeling for cats to be restrained and lead.

Alun

The thing about the special weight loss foods is that they are specifically designed to make the cat feel full (and therefore stop them either constantly whining for more food or scrounging food elsewhere) despite the lower calorific content and still provide all the necessary nutrients. Just feeding them their normal food but lower quantities will work as a long term maintenance solution once they've shed the excess weight, but believe me, the only way to really get their weight down quickly is with the special diets.

riffmongous

Where do you plan on walking the cat? Imo most cats and I'd assume particularly apartment cats will feel very overexposed if you try to take them for a walk in most locations. At the best of times they will just want to find a hiding place where they can sit and look around, and if you do get them out walking and in the open as soon as they hear a loud noise or a dog barks they will bolt which will be a quite uncomfortable experience if they are on the end of a leash. At least that was my experience with my girlfriend's cat, an alarm went off once at a nearby house and the poor thing was terrified.

Alun

Indeed On one occasion on our epic European road-trip with our cat we stopped at a country pub in England and sat out in the beer-garden with the cat. We decided to let him out on the lead as it was quiet ... he moved towards some bushes and suddenly a huge dog started barking from behind them. The cat was terrified, darted into the bushes on the end of the lead, and it took us 20 minutes to get him out.

Nody

Have you tried to feed him using a feeding ball? So cutting down his portion served in the bowl and force him to bat the boll around to get more kibble (and force him to be more active).

Dublin21

Hi Nody,
I actually have that dry food feeding device you recommended on my order list for zooplus!
We have a 'treat ball' which ive put food it.. i think its too easy though as he gets the food out so quickly.

He is pushing a year old now, 5 and a half kilo's and apparently at least half a kilo overweight.
We had him on the kitten applaws up until about a month ago and then switched to porta 21.
Hes getting about 70-75g of the porta 21 now.

We dont have an industrial scales but we are keeping on eye on his weight over the last month with our house scales and im pretty sure he hasn't gained any but im a tad concerned that he doesn't seem to have lost any either after cutting the food.

As said we are looking at walking him as a last resort and may have to bite the bullet and get the royal canin (hopefully only for a short period of time!).

As said in my original post, the cat being spooked is my biggest concern.
We live in a fairly big area which consisits of apartments and houses. There are quite a lot of enclosed 'private' green areas.
I haven't noticed Any dogs off the leash yet (although i realise all it takes is one bark!).
I have noticed a FEW stray/feral cats though.

Magenta

I would never walk my cat, too many dogs running around loose in the area that could attack her.
Half of the ones that ARE on the lead, are on the retractable ones and the owner is paying no attention to the dog. It would just be too risky for me.

Pumpkinseeds

So long as the cat is being walked in a quiet and safe area there shouldn't be a problem. Obviously it's not like taking the dog for a long walk. When one of my cats had to have a cone on for 3 weeks, he was going mad to get out. He just would not settle, no matter how much we played with or entertained him. In the end we got a retractable small dog leash and took him up and down the street for a few minutes at about 7 am and 7pm. It was quiet and dark so it was much safer for him and more interesting at that time too.

One thing I've noticed about the Da Bird is that cats like to play with it in different ways. 1 of mine will tear up and down the stairs like a loon after it, he's a bit of an acrobat and is about 4.5 kilos. Our other chap will only really go mad for it when we play with it on our bed. He'll leap from one side of a king size bed to the other and leap in the air after it. The other guy prefers it when its on the ground. I think its just a matter of figuring out what way he prefers playing.

I think for heavier cats a softer surface for landing on, like a bed is more attractive at first. I have to say the combination of grain free Applaws and the Da Bird is working wonders for our heavy weight. I hope it all works out for you. I know its really hard and they are so good at doing the 'I'm starving, why are you doing this to me? thing.

Dublin21

Yeah it would be no prob taking him out early enough in the morning when no one else is around.
We will see if he can at least get used to the harness first before we even attempt bringing him out doors so might be a bit in the future yet!

The harder thing for us is that we genuinely have not been giving him treats and have been quite strict weighing out everything plus trying to encourage him to move about more and he doesn't seem to have lost an ounce

Ive tried him on the bed with Da Bird on your recommendation once or twice and i swear hes just not bothered. Ill persevere as the other guys loves it so will always try get him involved.

We actually have one of those motorised 'ferret on a ball' thing which neither of them are mad about. My OH replaced the ferret with a bottlecap and its getting him moving but its slow enough
Might just replace the feathers on Da Bird with a few bottle tops and see if that works!

Pumpkinseeds

Bottle tops and tinfoil balls are big favourites in our house too. Paper bags with the handles cut off work well too and ping pong balls.

reallyrose

I have a harness and lead for my cat.
I trained him into it by giving him a treat every time the harness goes on.
(The smart little jerk got the idea so well that he started trying to drag the lead out of its storage place to see if that would magically produce a treat!)

For the first while, I just had him in the harness, no lead around the flat. Then on the harness + lead in the flat, just doing nothing.

The first few times I took him outside, he was very nervous. The sky was just too big for him! He just mooched around within the slack of the lead sniffing things.
After a while, he had a go at climbing a tree (still on the lead!)

I generally just let him take me for a walk. He goes where he wants on the end of the lead, sniffs the many curious things in the strange place with no ceiling, jumping on anything that moves. If he wants to have a go at tree climbing, I let go of the lead and up he goes. (Not too high, he's a bit crap.)
He's sort of ok at going where I want him to go. I usually can give the lead a little tug and call him.

My apartment is in an enclosed area so there isn't traffic rushing past to bother him too much. The most shocking thing that happens is one of the neighbors driving out. When that happens, I usually pick him up and give him a few rubs.

It takes a lot of patience to train a cat to the lead, I've found. You just need to go really gently to avoid all that dragging and cat wailing that you see on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNe6TzA6yiA

kylith

reallyrose wrote: »

It takes a lot of patience to train a cat to the lead, I've found. You just need to go really gently to avoid all that dragging and cat wailing that you see on youtube!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNe6TzA6yiA

Very true! People who say that cats can't be lead trained have obviously seen people, or tried themselves, just put a cat in a harness and trying to walk it, completely neglecting the training that any animal needs in order to accept a collar/harness and walk on lead.

Kloecor

Absolutely you can walk a cat! I used to be in the same situation as you, I had 2 cats in an apartment and I just got a normal dog harness and brought them out. I used a retractable lead so that if they went to run all of a sudden (which always happened) then it would not hurt them (unless they went too far)

It takes a while for a cat to get used to it. I would strongly suggest putting his harness on while he's in the apartment until he's completely used to it. It won't take long, but if he doesn't like it, just leave it on him... and give him some tuna haha

You also need to take care of things like if someone is walking their dog and they see the cat.... So bring a stick with you!!!

I presume the vet has told you how to properly feed the cat. Feed him twice a day, morning and evening :-) I wouldn't suggest cutting down his food... he's simply just a lazy cat! And play with him using lasers, feathers, etc. But I presume you do that anyways but he'd rather chillax haha

Hope that helped!

SillyMangoX

Just saw this on youtube and it reminded me of this thread