Can I go for a walk with my cat?

Can I go for a walk with my cat? Of course you can also go for a walk with your cat. But this is not comparable to walking a dog. A cat has its own head and we cat owners are rather the companions and protectors. Also you need patience, because the cat wants to discover everything and will not necessarily follow the path we would like.

Why go for a walk with my cat in the first place?

You can go for a walk with your cat for various reasons. For example, if you live in the city and want to give your cat a run out, a walk can be a good idea.

But also young cats, who will later be free-range, can get used to their surroundings with short walks and show you how to find their way home. Through a clicker training you can also be taught to come home on a certain command.

But even if you want to take your cat on holiday, it makes a lot of sense to get you used to different environments through small walks. Actually, it is always stressful for a cat when it has to adapt to a new environment. If you have in mind to take your cats regularly on holiday, you should start preparing them as early as possible by taking small walks.

Another reason to go for a walk with your cat can be that you don’t want to let your expensive breed cat run around without supervision. It is often the case that in some breed cats the instincts are no longer as strongly shaped as for example with a European shorthair cat.

To walk in the city with a cat, you should have a park or a green area nearby. Traffic-related roads or the like should be avoided as much as possible. The unbearable noise for cats would mean stress for them, even to fear and panic.

Which cat harness is recommended?

This sounds trivial at first, but we made a false purchase. Unlike dogs, cats only have so-called chest harnesses. Collars as in dogs are not possible due to the cat’s anatomy.

What is important for such a cat harness?

First of all, such a crockery must fit properly and not be too tight or too loose. There should be another finger in between. Of course, it is especially important that the cat cannot simply get rid of the dishes and then go its own way.

Our cat harness mis-purchase

Since we didn’t want to let our Josie walk around without each other, the purchase of a cat harness was inevitable. We then searched for a suitable product on Amazon and other online shops. We then bought the crockery shown below, as it looks visually appealing and also had many good reviews. We bought the size S.

The workmanship and the material can really be described as good. However, it is not so easy to put on if the cat does not want to participate. You have to somehow “thread” the leges through the recesses, that’s not so easy if the cat doesn’t feel like it. Let’s close the cat harness with a Velcro fastener, so quite simply. When the whole thing is laid out, it looks quite ornafter.

Now we come to the problem with the dishes, which is why we no longer use it. The article description says “breakout-proof” and that’s not what it is. Our Josie has it meanwhile to get out of the harness in 5s. We suspect that the dishes are not tight enough. Since the Velcro is relatively short, it can’t be tightened much. A size S, for example, will only fit a few cats properly and fit tightenough enough.

After our mis-purchase, we used a tried-and-tested version that really works. It consists of a collar and a chest strap, each adjustable. They are connected to each other and a eyelet is attached to each other for the running line.

The decisive difference to the other cat harness is that with this simple harness you can adjust the collar and the chest strap independently of each other. It is also easier to apply the two straps than with the other cat harness. In the end, there is no additional fabric, which can also be unpleasant for the cat in case of heat. We recommend to buy a simple cat harness with collar and chest strap if you want to go for a walk with your cat. Our Josie can’t get rid of this dishes.

Conclusion

Sometimes the tried and tested things are the best. We wouldn’t have guessed that at the beginning. The first cat harness is possibly more suitable for dogs than for cats. Cats are simply much more mobile than dogs and such a construction is obviously not optimal.