My cat seems to dislike the idea of morning walk. Should I continue?

Question

I recent days I am trying to develop a habit in my cat of morning walk with me.

It is to be noted that letting the cat alone outside to roam independently is not an option. Here there are lots of stray dogs who attack cats. She will be dead within half an hour.

Also I live in a small 1BHK apartment, in a high rise building. So basically it's eat as much as you want with no exercise for my cat. Although she is still 7 months old, I am worried that this lifestyle might lead to cardiac and other problems in my cat.

Also when outside what my cat wants to do is to simply run to the nearest bush and get inside to hide.

So I have to make my cat wear a collar with a leash to make my cat walk.

Now when I am present the dogs don't come nearby but bark from distance and she still gets frightened.

The main problem is with cows. Here are some cows, and when my cat sees one she gets terrified. All her hairs go straight as if to make her look larger than she already is. And she simply refuses to move any further. I have to then pick up my cat and carry her away from the cow.

Now on returning my cat seems to get extremely upset with me. She won't play, won't meow and just sit at a corner.

Now what is the option for me?

Clearly morning walk isn't working out well. And my apartment is too small for the cat to play. I am worried she may develop heart diseases if this lifestyle of her continues.

Answer 1

I think it is best to stop the walks; cats have a very good memory, so you will have to change the way it gets its exercise.

If you continues to take the walks you might end up in a bad circle for both you and the cat, and this will be very hard to change later.

You say there is too little space where you are living, but cats don't need a lot of floor space, and it is often possible to use the vertical space, the walls and some of the furniture.

Putting up some shelves and maybe combining this with the furniture to make an area for the cat to climb-jump and rest. Cats in general like to have an elevated place where they can rest and view their territory, even if it is small.

I am not saying you should let the cat destroy your furniture; I am just saying there are possibilities one just have to find them.

If it is impossible or too hard to change the place where you are living you might have to change where you take the walk and hope this makes it easier for the cat.

Answer 2

Putting a cat on a leash and walking it around isn't species-appropriate. You can and should do that with a dog, but cats usually hate that. They value their autonomy.

The idea "My cat will feel safe when I am around" is wrong. Cats don't think that way. While they are social animals, they aren't herd animals like domesticated wolves dogs or humans who have a "strength in numbers" survival strategy. Cats don't protect each other, unless it's a mother protecting its kittens. For adult cats, it's an everyone-for-themselves world. Their survival strategy is to hunt anything that's weaker, hide from anything that's stronger and intimidate anything where it's unclear. Your cat will not feel more protected when you are around because it doesn't expect you to protect it. If anything, you make it more anxious because the leash limits its fight and flight abilities.

Also when outside what my cat wants to do is to simply run to the nearest bush and get inside to hide.

That's normal cat behavior. When you put a cat in a new environment, it will first look for a safe hiding spot. It will start to explore on its own when it has deemed the environment to be safe. You can't force that by forcing your cat out of its hiding spot. That just induces stress. Even in familiar environments, cats will often have hiding spots. That's because they are ambush predators. If you can't see it, the delicious mice can't see it either.

Here are some cows, and when my cat sees one she gets terrified. All her hairs go straight as if to make her look larger than she already is. And she simply refuses to move any further.

That doesn't sound like fear. When a cat is afraid, it will run away and hide somewhere. Does the cat face the cows, head down and back up? Does it hiss? That's intimidation behavior. The cat wants to demonstrate to the cows that it isn't afraid of them and that it will stand its ground.

Intimidating cows might not make much sense to you, but remember that your cat is inexperienced with the outside world and unfamiliar with its own strength. It might not realize that cows are stronger than it but still rather harmless.

So what's the solution? As the other answers said. Cats can live a perfectly happy and healthy life if kept indoor all the time. You just need to provide a cat-appropriate environment with lots of things to play with, climb on and hide in and you need to control its calorie intake so it doesn't become overweight. If you think that being outside is a more appropriate lifestyle for your cat, let it go outside by itself and let it explore the outside world on its own pace. It's a dangerous place out there and it might get hurt and killed, but there is nothing you can do about that if you want your cat to enjoy it.

Answer 3

The cow would look like a giant. If you want to continue walking her over the long run then don't stop. Keep taking her while she is used to it, it will only be harder if you stop, but for a few minutes. If you take her for a few minutes, so she cannot run into anything that will frighten her. See how she reacts, then you can gradually increase the time.

An Outdoor Cat… /... Can still go outside! Start him young with a cat harness and lead – you can take him for walks (just in the back yard if it’s too embarrassing to walk a cat!) /...

Perhaps, if you see a cow, pick her up, before it gets too close. You can also try desensitizing her to the cows, by gradually taking her closer to them while you're holding her.

On the other hand, this may be too stressful for her. There's predators lurking and cows she's fearful of. She won't come to any harm being indoors. In fact indoor cats live longer than outdoor cats.

In Australia:

An Outdoor Cat… /... He has a significantly reduced life expectancy. Cats allowed outdoors have an average life expectancy of 5 years! (Indoor cats can live for 15-20 years) This is due to the higher risk of injury, death, illness, fights, etc.

If you do decide to keep her exclusively indoors, then watching her diet and being creative about exercise will assist her health.

You can also create an indoor cat playground and get her to chase toys on string for exercise.

An Outdoor Cat… /... Less chance of obesity – indoor cats are more prone to weight problems as they don’t get the same level of exercise (though this can be combated with a cat food formatted for indoor only cats .../...)

Also it is ok to walk the cat on a harness:

Answer 4

According to my vet, whom I trust utterly, it's absolutely fine for cats to live inside all the time.

First up: make sure you feed them an appropriate amount. Read the packaging, get advice from your vet or vet nurse. There are lots of foods out there and you are probably going to be better off with one designed for indoor and/pr neutered cats(which will be lower calorie). A cat should not be getting all the food they can eat.

Second: create an environment where your cat can get exercise. Laser pointer, feather on a stick, ping pong ball - any kind of toy which gets them running around. Your cat will have their own preferences (mine likes yellow toys, especially ones the right size for carrying around with her). I've also got a "Cat TV" - a perspex box which sticks on the outside of the window and gets filled with bird seed. My day is punctuated by the thud of paws on glass. She loves it.

Third: make sure your cat has places they feel safe - a set of (very secure) shelves or a piece of accessible furniture where they can get a bit of height. My cat is scared of horses, so when a horse goes past the house she zooms upstairs to hiss at them from the upstairs windowsill.

Fourth: If the walking isn't working out, then don't worry about it. Your cat may be a bit young - mine's 4 and we have a nice 20 minute perambulation of the garden each morning. The key part is it's led by her. She tells me/drapes herself across my keyboard when she's ready, then I show her the harness and she'll come to the door and stand still while I put it on. If she doesn't do that, we don't go out. Is your cat telling you they enjoy the experience? If not, it may not be right for them.