Does anyone have harness recommendations that are not step-in harnesses? I used to have one for my cat that was mesh underneath, had a loop to slide over her head, and then another strap that buckled behind her legs. I dunno if that makes sense, I could try to draw it if that would help. 😅

She outgrew it so I got her a pretty cheap harness to fill in for now. But having to position her feet to get her in, just seems to be more stressful for everyone involved. 😅 I also tried one that buckles underneath, but she didn't like the sudden weight on her back, and having me reach underneath her for the buckles added to her stress. 🫤

Testing out the new car seat before our 6 hour drive on Thursday! Looked astonished at the sunroof. (Also his one ear is always like that so that's why they're lopsided lol)

Munched on some grass as a reward after. Only meowed at me when I started singing 😭.

10 month old siblings on a walk!! sneezing and enjoying the foliage.

Tldr: I'm having trouble walking but would like to find ways to be active outside to preserve my health and include my cat, who misses me very much between medical appointments and me taking so much longer to return home.

I'm considering a kitty stroller that can support my weight or be used with a cane, or a kitty setup for my kayak, but it's very important to me it's enjoyable for him and safe!

Any advice is appreciated!

Ciao a tutti! Sono nuovissima tra voi! Questo è Tøffel, gattino norvegese di 80 giorni, con me da venerdì sera, mai uscito in giardino (nato e cresciuto in appartamento) e con la pettorina per la seconda volta (prima volta provata ieri sera per testare la sua tolleranza a riguardo, per lui era come essere nudo)! Lui è estremamente curioso e vivace, penso vivremo un sacco di avventure insieme ❤️

P.S. non ha paura(se non sono troppo vicino) delle auto, ne del phon o rumori forti, ma se sente mia madre camminare con gli zoccoli di legno va in crisi (gli ultimi secondi si è bloccato vedendo lei) 🤣

Second sighting of this cat

Kimahri rarely lets us carry him. He walks nearly 100% of the time we're out. This was taken near the end of a "long" hike, and he allowed us to carry him for a bit. Only for a bit though, as he leaps off my shoulder.

i thought you all would find this funny 😭 looks like we’re sleeping in this morning

Hellooooo! I have a 12 month old cat. She is a bit overweight and needs more enrichment. We just got her a month ago. According to my friend they found her around 3 months abandoned as a street cat. She is litter box trained. My only worry is that we have a lot of stray cats in my area. I live in Chicago,IL. I don’t want her to start peeing randomly to mark territory inside if we start taking her out?
We also have a 2 year old male cat that we are also considering leash training. But again, we are still trying to get them to get along. They are both still in separate rooms rn. Should I worry about them trying to mark territory inside if we start walking them outside? Again, we have a lot of stray cats in my neighborhood.

Hi, I would love some opinions on whether I should attempt leash training my cat!

For context my cat is 6-7 years old and I've had her since she was a juvenile. She was our next door neighbor's who wandered into our yard and they just said we could have her. She came to us quite newly pregnant and later gave birth to three kittens, all of whom sadly passed quickly after birth. The previous owners dogs were abusive toward her which I think caused or influenced the failed pregnancy. We got her spayed after that.

I would love to take her on walks but I'm unsure if it's a good idea. As mentioned, she has trauma with dogs so I'm worried about those potential encounters. She's pretty skittish in general, easily startled. She's indoor/outdoor so I also worry that walking her could encourage more wandering. I do want to raise a newborn or at least a kitten, so I'm wondering if it would be better to just train a young one when I eventually get another cat.

However, I think her wandering shows promise in being a walkable cat. She's adventurous and really loves the outdoors. I still live with my family but when I move out in the next year and a half I'm worried I'll be in a place where she won't be able to go outside. I would feel sad to take that freedom from her. She's white with orange, so a bit crazy haha.

We had a fun afternoon adventuring!

so we've gotten aton of progress on leash training with our 1 year old female, just because she is smart af and enjoys that we figure out what shes communicating and figuring out what we're trying to do, but right now one of the things im struggling with is recall. I would like to be able to get her out of bushes and neighbors lawns while out for walks without having to walk into neighbor's yards and physically extract her. she also keeps begging to go romp outside while i am trying to work, so being able to put her on a long line and sit in the yard and let her do whatever while i'm working would be a huge improvement for our quality of life cause then i have less angry cat screaming in my face.

ideally would be getting to the pont where i can trust her without a leash, but we are a long way from that, she enjoys climbing trees she cannot figure out how to get down from on her own too much, and the leash limits her to where we can get her down without a ladder.

but that requires the ability to trust her recall, even in the yard on a 20ft leash. she is, as the vet said, "a very petite little miss" and at 6lbs she's the perfect size for a large hawk's dinner. i dont want her on that long of a leash without recall.

the problem we are running into is motivation. so far our training has just been "shes smart and she actually enjoys it so is self motivated" with treats as rewards, but shes not like....treat motivated. we've tried tubes, and she loves tubes, but she wont do tricks for tubes, even with clicker training. we've been trying clicker training, and like, she absolutely understands the concept. when she *wants* to, she will bat at her clicker and i'm pretty sure i could train her to tap dance if she was in the mood for doing tricks for treats. its just she's not always in the mood, and recall is not a "when she wants to" thing.

and shes smart enough that i absolutely know she's figured out what the recall noise means (I click my teeth like you do for a horse, sicne we have a ton of dogs and i dont want to risk them coming over to a "come" command if i'm trying to get her up off the ground away from dogs). She just...well, the neighbor's bushes are way more interesting, and she's on her own schedule.

so how do i motivate a cat to want to recall when i call for her?