I want to walk my cat. Just short distances. I think he'd honestly like it too since he likes to join me if I'm outside, and will actually meow and paw at the door to our deck when I'm out there. At the same time, he gets nervous if he's outside/separated from me for too long. Once, I accidentally locked him out after he slipped outside, and he ended up meowing outside the door an hour later. Another time, he chased a stray cat he saw outside, realized where he was, and freaked out and hid under my car.
So, I think a leash could be good for us to hang outside together. The problem is, he absolutely hates it, and goes dead limp like most cats. I recently bought a new harness that was actually marketed as a small dog harness. The straps are wider and I think give my cat less of a sense of being tied up, and he's much more relaxed. I'm training him gradually with him just walking around the house in the harness without the leash, praising him and petting him and feeding him his favorite treats to create a positive association with the harness. I hope to then add the leash at some point, then start taking him outside. From everything I've heard, training a cat takes a lot longer than training a dog, so I'm prepared for this to take months.
