Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Keeping My Cat Safe - Part II

Adding The Leash

THE first time I clicked the leash onto the harness, she turned into a swayback. Once again she would barely move - that leash was soooo heavy. I didn't attempt to walk her, just left the leash attached to the harness and went away for 10-15 minutes.
DID that for a few days leaving the leash on longer each time, until she decided she could walk after all. That's when I picked up the leash and walked around the house with her.
IT wasn't fun.
THOSE walks indoors taught me some very important rules of walking a cat.


FIRST AND FOREMOST

ALWAYS REMEMBER THIS RULE

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER WALK AHEAD OF YOUR CAT


EVERY cat learns almost immediately that if she plants her front paws on the ground and stands firm or pulls back, the harness will come right over her head, and she's FREEEEEE!

SECOND RULE
FOR WHEN YOU FORGET THE FIRST RULE


And I did, many times. I'm a slow learner.

NEVER chase your cat, they will run, and they can run faster than you.
ALWAYS carry some of your cats favourite treats in your pocket. (My second cat's favourite treats were salmon or sardines. You can imagine what I smelled like.) We soon had the street to ourselves.
WALK TOWARDS THEM SLOWLY, offering them treats, and when they do finally respond, PRAISE LAVISHLY.

The progression.
Walk around the house.
Walk around the enclosed Backyard
Open the gate and let them decide if they wanted to go out to the street.

WHEN I opened the gate Luna stuck her tail straight up in the air and pranced out like a Queen. She then expected to be taken out every day.
WALKING a cat is nothing like walking a dog. When I walked the dog for half an hour we covered blocks. Walking Luna for the same length of time we barely made half a block. She was out to explore, eat grass, sniff something, move on, decide she better go back and sniff the same spot again, and again. Sometimes she decides she'll just sit down and watch the world go by. It can be really boring walking a cat.
WHEN I first started walking my cat, she was one of the few. People pointed her out and came over to pet her. She loved it.
AFTER a year or two I started noticing other cats in the neighbourhood, cats that had either been totally indoor cats and some that had been free to roam, walking around their front yard on a leash.
IN the beginning, my cats only went outside when I did, so that I could keep an eye on them. Later on, when I knew their habits, I would let them out when I was working in the kitchen where I could see the whole backyard and could just glance out the window to make sure all was well. Once when I went for walk I saw a cat that had been put out on a leash and then left unsupervised. He had decided to dig a hole to China in their front yard. It was huge, and he was systematically going round his creation making it bigger and bigger.
MULTIPLE cats on long ropes in the backyard means multiple entanglements. I've spent a lot of time untangling ropes. I wish I could find the picture I took of what looked like a giant spider's web in the back yard. The 3 cats had intertwined their ropes so many times and then all pulled in different directions. It was actually quite beautiful and a horror to get undone.


I have started a website with more information about keeping cats safe outdoors. Please have a look. http://www.catsread2.info/














Monday, July 16, 2007

Keeping My Cat Safe - Part I

Harness Training

Part I
THIS
is my cat Luna, the first cat I trained to wear a harness. She will go for walks, or go outside in the backyard on a long leash - long enough that she can walk the whole perimeter of the yard.

LUNA is now 7 years old and has been wearing her harness outdoors since she was 8 months old.

WHEN I first got her - she had been passed around 3 owners before she found her permanent home - it was at the beginning of a cold Spring and she had no interest in going outside. I thought I had an indoors cat.

BY the time Summer weather rolled round, and with people coming in and out of the house, she was either wailing loudly to go out, trying to escape or actually making it out. That's when I decided to give harness training a try. For her - fresh air, exercise, new sights, interesting smells. For me - not having to listen to her constant whining, and letting her go outside without having to worry that she might get hit by a car.

SURPRISINGLY, the process was not as difficult as I had imagined. I read a lot before hand to familiarize myself with the process. She acted just the way I was told she would.

THE FIRST time I put the harness on her she flopped on the floor and went into "the dieing fish" routine. I was told that on the first day the harness should only be on for 5-10 minutes and during that time to give her a treat. This I did. She stopped flopping just long enough to eat the treat.

DAY 2 The harness stayed on for 20 minutes. She flopped, she crawled on her belly (couldn't I see she couldn't walk?) and she got many, many treats.

DAY 3. The harness stayed on for an hour. She lay on the floor not moving, she couldn't walk, couldn't move. I got a piece of chicken (her favourite) and walked into the living room with it. A miracle, she found she could just make it that far.

BY DAY 7 she was wearing the harness for a couple of hours at a time without even being aware of it.


THE SECOND cat who came to stay was about the same age as Luna when she went into training. The process was exactly the same


THE THIRD cat moved in at Christmas time. When Spring came round the other two cats started going outside. She would sit on the cat perch watching them get into their harness. One day she jumped down and sat in front of the door waiting her turn. Luckily I had extra harnesses, and she was fitted into one and out she went. No training involved.


I am now living in another part of the country. The last two cats live with my brother, they are inseparable - the cats I mean.

A friend has taken in an abandoned 6 year old male cat. He is lovely. Right now he seems happy to stay in the house - he was hurt and starving when he turned up at her door, and he may always stay an indoors cat. But just in case he gets the urge, he has started wearing a harness for an hour or two most days. He will be ready if he decides he wants to venture out.

My website: http://www.catsread2.info/

My EBay bookstore: http://stores.ebay.ca/Mycatsread