Lead training a cat?

[Katymac]

Bought a harness for my Siamese & put it on last night he wriggled a bit then groomed himself; gave him a massive cuddle afterwards

Tried again today (daylight) and he shook himself & ran straight to the front door & sat looking at the door - we never go out the front door with him because of the traffic - he goes out the back door through a cat flap

He wasn't massively interested in being walked he want to explore - but I'll have another go tomorrow; but e didn't struggle or fight or run - just sniffed and wandered

He also seems to respond to clicking fingers - do you hink he might have been click trained & lead trained before?

Leroy gets his Mynwood Jacket and joins LittleM and WeedsCat in the "posh cats" section 😁.

I recommend one (or one similar) OP. I think it looks comfier than a "snap" harness and it feels lot safer.

Oooh personalised! Might have to get one of those too yesitsme

Ooh check out handsome Leroy, doesn't he look smart!

Flynn v. handsome and distinguished looking, on his tablet. Those lovely big ears!

this ; might it be a good idea to get one of these for the holiday?

& this is the 'pretty' harness we bought

The GPS collar you linked to - the only gripe I'd have with that is that it's not a safety (break-away) collar. Cats can incur horrific injuries from getting collars caught in hedges, or horrible armpit injuries if they manage to get a front leg trapped between the collar and neck.

You can put a real time GPS device on a safety snap collar. ATM I use these, but they're not GPS. I'm considering changing to one of these, which I believe can be attached to your (snap release) collar of choice.

That one can be attached to another collar - the thing that attracts me is the temp is monitored so if the air con in the motorbike fails it will text us (I think)

We really need isofix compatible cat carriers you know, it's so much safer.

Someone should invent them.

In our spare time?

I am planning a dog crate with food/water/litter tray/bed - but although I had enviaged fixing the dog crate to the van - I haven't thought too much yet about the internal stuff which will also need fixing

"motorbike" isobviously an autocorrect - daft as I am taking him in a motor home - taking him on a motorbike would be a whole new level of daftness

Yes it fits on to your own collar, it has a spare battery & GPS & temperature control sent to an app on my phone

So it will keep him positioned & make sure he doesn't get too hot - seems a good idea to me

"motorbike" isobviously an autocorrect - daft as I am taking him in a motor home - taking him on a motorbike would be a whole new level of daftness

actually more like devastated. I was envisioning him on his leash in the side -car...

Good luck - in my experience 'training' and 'cat' do not belong in the same sentence!!

sidecar!!

I know he doesn't/won't train but he seems amenable

I need to ensure his safety - so any suggestions?

Training in a minimal sort of way is possible. My boy will sit, up, down, roll over, come when called. I started with a clicker but he's not particularly good motivated, so he mainly cooperates to please me, rather than for bribes.

Food motivated

Sorry Katy, am imagining your dignified Siamese speeding along on a motorcycle, complete with goggles and a 1950s style helmet.

Tracker thing sounds good - I didn't realise it could be attached to collar of choice.

I think from this feedback and personal experience, you can divide cats and harnesses into two categories. The ones that take to it straight away and the ones that drop dead the instant the harness is applied ( then are resurrected, Lazurus style, the instant the harness is removed).

I asked about the collar on FB & they confirmed

He has 'noodled' one day this week we went to the front door & there was snow on the ground - he put one foot out ran back in and quivered on the floor in a puddle!! So I'm guessing he is a fair weather walker!!

We have accidentally trained him to up, down & come with a double click (or he was trained before) and if we click without a word he looks at us a bit confused and I would agree he complies because of love/attention not treats

Whilst a little helmet & goggles are a little avant garde - has anyone any positive travelling advise?

I thought a dog crate with water/food/litter & bed in; somehow secured in the motor home?

Do you think he needs an outdoor pen with shade to run about in?

If you do use an outdoor run please don't ever leave him in there unattended. Could you even begin to imagine the trauma he would feel being trapped if a dog came over to have a sniff 🙀😿

Oh no! That would be awful!

I was thinking if we were cooking or setting up/packing it might keep him safe

I think a dog crate would be fine. Will he eat and use a tray in such close quarters though? You can get travel harnesses for dogs. We've got one for our JRT who is smaller than our big boycat. The harness is padded looks very similar to the ones LittleM, Leroy and Weeds big old boy are wearing) and comes with a strap fitting that clips onto a ring on the back of the harness and then has a seatbelt clip on the other end. It allows for some movement and he would easily be able to sit, stand and curl up wearing it.

At the moment his tray & food are together & he seems to cope fine with it being moved (previous cat had a nervous breakdown if you moved his litter even a few inches)

But Flynn's is in the third place in less than a year - food, water & litter together but his bed is separate....only ever slept in while we are out of the house, if we are in he sleeps on one of us

Why would anyone do this to a cat? It's complete madness.

My father and step mother have had several Siamese who happily went for short dogs with them in their neighbourhood without a leash. We have a half breed who does the same.

Why the hell you would ever want to stress a cat by taking it out on a lead or worse removing it from its territory so that you can go on holiday is beyond me and frankly cruel and selfish. Sorry.