on cats, leashes and farmer's markets

[dragonofdispair]

went to the farmers market and ate breakfast with smoke on my lap, as usual.



had a fresh roll and tea for breakfast.

didn't buy all that much this week: smoked salmon, pear cider, brownie.

i did have to cut the walk after shopping short because it started to rain -- which there was no real sign of when i left the apartment.

this week though, i got a lot of "how do you get your cat to do that? mine would freak."

well, explaining exactly how to get a cat to behave on a leash is ... a lot more complicated than can really be explained in a five second conversation with a stranger, but it got me thinking, since a lot of what i do to get her to go on walks is just an extension of everything i've learned about cats since i was born. literally, since my first three cats were my parents' they had them before they had me.

so... in the interest of saying it so it's no longer buzzing around in my head -- Taking Your Cat Out On a Leash 101:

trust is absolutely required. and cats don't trust humans easily. sure they love us, and most are willing to depend on us for food, water and comforts, but the type of trust that lets an animal trust that you know how to react to a situation better than he/she does is very rare in cats and needs to be deliberately cultivated.

learn to read the cat's body language as accurately as you can a fellow human -- believe me, waving the tail, does not mean the cat's happy the way it does with dogs. neither does it always mean unhappiness.

pay attention to your cat and to your surroundings.

decide before the first walk what constitutes misbehavior -- including, but not limited to, agressive behavior with other animals, going places where you can't follow and/or the leash will get tangled up (like under chairs), and attempting to slip the leash -- how you'll discourage it, and be prepared to enforce it every time the cat attempts it. because if you allow it just once, your cat will never again accept that it's not allowed. how you enforce those rules depends on the cat. yowling at dogs i force her to look away from the dog until she stops, going under chairs i pick her up, etc.

rewards are more important than punishments. what constitutes a reward also depends on the cat in question. for example: mine will not eat while on a walk, so rewarding her with treats doesn't work, but she loves being pet so petting while on the walk is a reward.

don't let any part of the experience become a contest of wills. you can't win with a cat. dog's are pack animals and you can win a contest of wills, but while cats will occasionally live and hunt in groups, they don't have a pack mentality. this applies to everything from what direction you're going to how you react to things going on around you. so if you want to go a certain direction and your cat wants to go another, don't just yank on the leash until the cat obeys, use the fact that you are bigger than he/she is and pick him/her up.

accept that dogs are going to be more common than cats on your walk and decide before hand how you're going to deal with other animals you'll encounter. this is where trust comes in.

don't blame the cat for things that aren't his/her fault in regards to other people and animals. for example: if you're encouraging children to pet the cat (which i do with mine, because she likes being petted so much) and a child grabs the cat and the cat scratches the child in retaliation, that's not the cat's fault. that's the child's fault for being rough, and your fault for allowing it.

don't be afraid of getting scratched. you can't enforce the rules of behavior if you're afraid on your cat.

bring a secure cat carrier with you. because there will be times when your cat will just freak out for no apparent reason and nothing you do will calm him/her down. so have the carrier so that you're not fighting to hold on to your cat while trying to get home.

and finally...

it does help if you start as a kitten so that the cat in question grows up with the idea that the leash is normal. but it's not strictly necessary, depending on the temperament of the cat, and if your cat trusts you. mine's fourteen and i only started taking her out on the leash this last fall.

now i don't have to rant at my friends.