Cat Harnesses?

kaliyama

Hi all,
I've been leash training my littler cat, Kipling, since he was a kitten. It's going well. Obligatory training picture:

Very tired post-walk:

The harness in those photos was a dog harness from petco and he had the alarming ability to step out of the harness when he felt like it, which required me to lure him down from whatever tree he climbed with treats and take him home. Now, he is getting too big for his latest hoodie-harness:

.

Any suggestions on good, hard-to-escape-from cat harnesses for adult cats? He seems to like this one. He wears it around the house and gets sulky if we take it off when he's not ready. I assume it's serving a function not unlike a thunder jacket.

WiseManTobes

The one's with a bit of a cloth patch for the front, instead of just the 2 threads, are much more difficult ( and seem slightly more comfortable also) for the cat to get out of/tangle themselves up in

Gabriel_Pitt

Ha, oh man, that poofed tail in the first pic!

Other than that, I have no help to offer.

Orogogus

I don't know if it's because it's because it's a dog harness, but the first picture isn't how the stringy cat harnesses are supposed to go on (I think). Usually they have a short band between the front loop and the rear loop, with the leash attached to the rear loop, making it harder for the cat to squirm out of the harness. Plenty of images on Google Image Search for "cat harness."

They don't always work, though. Sometimes the harness triggers a cat's scruff reaction, causing them to flop over and go limp:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSKatciX3hA

But I assume this isn't a problem for your cat because it looks like you sort of got it to work before.

Hahnsoo1

D'awww! SO CUTE!

WiseManTobes

Ya, rear leash clip for sure.

Avoid the Figure 8 ones, after about a month they just pinch in the worst spots, and they aren't even that great from day one

Artereis

The harness sold here is pretty awesome: http://www.dryfur.tv/

We bought a pair for our fight from VA to CA, and there's a slim chance they'll slip out of one.

kaliyama

I just saw this looking through my comment history and realized I had never checked back in. I never found one that worked in the long term - cats are too damn wriggly, especially as he got older. So he kept getting out of it, but was well behaved enough that i could just carry him back upstairs. Though I think cat harnessing is too risky for most breeds, getting him out there early socialized him to being picked up really well, as well as comfortable with following me around. I took him out in a quiet semi-urban, semi-suburban area. I'd be really worried about taking a cat anywhere where loud noises might startle them - i can picture a lot of cats jumping out of their harness. Even though the harness probably wasn't sustainable in the long term, it's made him a better-socialized cat all told.

The only photos I have:

MichaelLC

Ha, oh my god, that puffed tail!