Critter Alley

Critter Alley

Monday, November 30, 2009

House Cat Strut



What to do when the fight to keep your cat from getting outside becomes the obsession of each day to the point that you're ready to tear your hair, gnash your teeth, and shake your fist at the completely unrepentent culprit?

Here's what I did with Bogey. I decided to let him go outside...on a leash. I bought a harness and rubber band-like leash for him. It only took about half a day for me to figure out how to get him in the contraption. While the harness fit wasn't the greatest, it seemed he wouldn't be able to do a Houdini number on me once I finally got him securely buckled in.

Next I carried my prisoner outside and deposited him on the lawn. I expected there to be an initial lack of cooperation, but, to my surprise, he was perfectly willing to walk...as long as I let him go where he wanted to go, that is. The minute I tried to pull Bogey in my direction, he'd simply collapse in a pile of kitty bonelessness and sulk for a while. Then he'd rise to his feet and repeat the process of walking where he wanted to go.

We stayed out for about 20 minutes doing this strange dance to the delight of the neighbors. But I'm not worried. I know there's a learning curve involved here. And once I've learned to let him do what he wants, things will work out perfectly.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Harnesses are a terrific idea for pets. Floyd has a new one that is a very simple and easy to use design. He cannot pull this one off, as he could with his old one:)

The Word Place said...

Now if you could just come up with a viable idea for my disobedient, unrepentant dog...