Walking the Cats

Harvey by the canal

Yes, yes, yes.....I do walk the cats, well more precisely one cat mainly. My stance on this comes from a couple of angles, Louis, our cat from a few years ago was certainly allowed out as it seemed the right thing to do. He was a BSH and after around a year of having him we allowed him the chance to wander. Unfortunately we live close to a canal and the surround has barbed wire etc, one morning we came down to a bloody kitchen and a very unwell Louis who had pulled himself through the cat flap and was resting on the kitchen table. We could only see a couple of cuts but on taking him to the vets, he lifted his stomach to reveal, unfortunately in front of the kids, a cut straight down from between his front legs to his hind legs the skin was totally open. He was a very lucky cat to survive. 

We do live in a quiet estate however we do have a public path by the house making our knowledge of the people around us limited. Therefore I do feel, for my cats, that I am happier knowing they are in the house with a cat proofed garden and if they need a wider experience they can happily be walked. I know they are not going to get into accidents, get poisoned, tortured, or stolen. I am also far happier that I know I am not going to be sued for any accidents that occur with cars etc. Cat walking just seems to be far less common in the UK than on the continent or in America, where it seems far, far more of an accepted practice.

Walking the cats

For all the cats we have purchased a full body fabric harness, and not the gladiator type. This ensures complete safety in that our cats are unable to escape should they be spooked on our walk. I have also used the harness to pull the cats at least three times out of the canal!!!

Harvey is our great walker, he learnt from 16 weeks to walk on a harness and now waits by the door to tell me he wants a walk or comes running if I rattle the lead and harness. It is never going to be like walking a dog, we meander slowly wherever he wants to go. We have limits ie no trespassing into peoples drives and he seems to acknowledge where the boundaries are. If we walk by the canal he jumps on the lock and runs over and we have walked at least a couple of miles along there. He dislikes dogs, runners, walkers and cyclists so as you can imagine our walking gets hindered many times. Each time he stops, lies down in the grass to the edge or between my feet. Reuben can walk, and will if you insist but he is as happy lying in the garden quietly. Monty hates the world outside!!!! and Bertie well he already seems to be taking to it quite well. Maybe a pal for Harvey on the walks???

The jackets come from Maria at Mynwood cat jackets, she makes them individually from your measurements, so around the neck and behind the front legs (around the chest area). She also needs to know the breed of cat ie if you have a Bengal, this cat has a long neck so a wide strap here would be best whilst a BSH like Harvey has almost no neck so a thin strap is required. She is lovely to talk to and at £12.50, they are a bargain. So far we have a blue kitten harness, a red, a red tartan and now a skull design for Monty. We do actually use them also as a car harness around the seat belts. Our cats lie down with them on and are far less freaked out than in the travel box, also there is no way we could transport all four of them for their monthly trip to the inlaws if we didn't use the harnesses.

On the canal lock

What's over there....