PROS & CONS
There’s a lot of debate about it; there may be pros for some cats with the right preparation and management, but there are a lot of cons,” said Linda, who is a Certificated Clinical Animal Behaviourist and Registered Veterinary Nurse.
Importantly, it’s not just about getting the cat to tolerate and accept the process, they need to actively enjoy it.
“If you plan to walk your cat on a harness it needs to be safe, of course physically, but we need to spend a lot of time building not just acceptance, but confidence and joy with wearing that harness.”
Encouraging a cat to walk with a leash is very different from a dog, says Linda.“It’s a lot more complex with a cat because remember that these are the ultimate control freaks. Autonomy is the thing that matters. And so even if we’ve trained wearing a harness so that they’re super comfortable before they ever go outside, we’ve trained them to walk on the leash and feel safe and comfortable with that, they are still not going to be autonomously maintaining their own environment. So, if something suddenly scares them, they can only get to the end of the lead, and that’s stressful for a cat. And that’s with the best possible set-up.”
At the other end of the scale, if someone was to just put a harness on a cat with no build-up or preparation that would be far worse. Linda says:“In my experience,there’s going to be enormous distress, anxiety and frustration, and they’re not going to cope with that at all. And it potentially is going to make them feel very, very unsafe outside because the situation itself doesn’t feel safe for them.”