House Cats & walks

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

Hi)! I dearly want a cat, as we're finally buying our own home after 15 years of renting with no pets. It's a house, but near a very busy road - I was wondering about a house cat that I can then take out for walks on a lead and harness when I get home after work. My DH says I'm mad and there's no way I could train a cat to do that.

Firstly is he right, secondly is this a suitable way to keep a cat or would it be cruel? I'm worried a house cat without walks would not get enough exercise?

[Fluffycloudland77]

I'd just get a confirmed house cat off a rescue who will be happy indoors.

To some cats licking all four paws is exercise.

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

Haha! I'm used to dogs so that's where I got the exercise idea from.. although I'm concerned I may have spent too long looking at cats on Pinterest!

[SunnyAgain]

I live on a quiet road and several times have seen a man walking along it with a cat on a lead. The cat seems very happy, not sure how much exercise it's getting though as it mainly seems to be stopping and smelling things so they make slow progress! It's a beautiful cat, I'm not sure of different breeds but it looks like a posh one!

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

Ah that's good to hear! The cats health and happiness is my main concern

[Fluffycloudland77]

But your cat might not like a harness. They are not shy about letting you know either.

[Butterflywings168]

Yeah, I don't get the concept of taking a cat for a walk on a lead! As pp said, they kind of saunter around sniffing things. Plus I would probably bleed to death before I got a harness and lead on Madame ButterflyCat .
They do need exercise but can get it inside through play ignoring their cat toys and tearing around the place killing random household items like currently a hair clip, yes looking at you Madame ButterflyCat
Do you have a back garden that is/ could be secure? You could even make a cat run?
Or as pp said get a cat that you know is happy to be indoor only.

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

Ok that sounds sensible - we do have a garden but our neighbours' fence isn't as high as I would like on one side, and then the top foot or so is very open trellis with big holes in. Their garden is extremely neat and we'll kept, so I wouldn't want to be the nightmare neighbour who moves in and puts up something ugly like a pet run. Maybe a rescue house cat is the best idea as mentioned earlier..

[RubbishMantra]

I've just bought Little Monsieur a Mynwood walking jacket. We felt bad, because he's elected not to leave the garden, and he's such a sociable little bloke, loves to meet and greet. So far, he's happily sported his jacket around the house. Fancies himself a a bit of a dandy. We're planning an excursion to the park at the weekend.

Will post on how it pans out.

[xmaslisa]

I have a house cat- a ragdoll she sometimes sits in the garden but that's as far as she goes I did try a harness once and she went berserk! Some cats are just meant to be house cats!

[tomatodizzymum]

I have a house cat (not intentionally, he just likes it that way) and one that comes out for walks. I don't put a lead on her (wouldn't fancy my chances) she just follows me and the dog. I got both from very small kittens so they are total flops and love being around people. You could get a rescue housecat.

Fluffycloudland77 has it spot on, except sometimes they don't even get to the back paws, my housecat got pen on his back paw when the toddler took a pen to the sofa and he couldn't even be arsed to move his foot so it got drawn on as well. It stayed there until the other cat cleaned it off for him. Lazy sod.

[cjdamoo]

I run a cat rescue center in Australia 95% of our cats are rehomed as indoor only. Also you can always make a cat enclosure for outside if you want him or her to have outdoor time. Out of the 200 or so foster cats i have had so far I think I managed to get about 5 on a harness.

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

It's sounding more promising than I thought re a house cat! I didn't realise so many were kept indoors now. Thanks alpaca I am not far from London so I'll def look up Celiac Hammond

[Fluffycloudland77]

The trouble with pinterest is that the cats havent seen it so they dont know their meant to like walking on leads and wearing tu-tus.

[MaizieDaiziesxx]

fluffy I'm fully expecting mine to train itself using youtube, will be appropriating husband's Ipad. ..

[Badgerlady]

Another reccomedation for Celia Hammond. We got our two dkittens from there. CH were great and the kittens are fantastic.

Our Kittens are allowed outside but very rarely go out. We've got a patio area and they will really only go there if we are sitting out. They get enough exercise by tearing around the house.