Leash Cats: Doable?

One thing that I've regretted not teaching my cat when he was younger was how to go on quick walks outside on a leash. I remember seeing a community neighbor go on walks with her two dogs and three cats daily and thought that it was the most adorable family gathering I have seen yet. The cats were aware of cars that come by and would have fun within the plants, but still keep up with their owner.

One thing I have noticed is that cats are easier to train to walk with a leash when you have dogs. It's almost like cats look up to the dogs and want to be just like them or even better. So if you happen to have a dog and adopt a cat, then you can definitely have an easier time training!

Has anyone taught their cats to walk on a leash? How long did it take you? Did you also have a dog at the time?

Our cat is 3 years old right now, and our dog is just a bit over a year old. We thought that when we got our puppy, that it would be nice to be able to go on walks all together as a family, so as well as getting a leash and harness for our dog, we got one for our cat too.

Unfortunately though, it didn't go as well as I would have hoped! They play together really well indoors and do follow each other around, but as soon as we put the harness and leash on our cat, he just plopped down on the ground - completely disinterested and didn't want to go anywhere!

I'm curious though as to whether you'd really have to start leash training them when they were kittens. At the point in time when we got our puppy our cat was already 2 years old, and I think perhaps a little set in his ways already. Also, maybe if the cat was younger than the dog, so that the cat did look up to the dog more, perhaps? Since our dog is the younger one, it's almost like he looks up to our cat, rather than the other way around!

Yes I have tried with that and yes I did had a dog that time but sad to say it really didn't work with my katty that time..

This can actually be done, and how well the cat responds probably depends a lot on the nature of your cat.
If you have a cat that just loves attention, and follows you around already, then they will probably be fairly easy to train. However, if you have one of those more stand-offish kinds of cats that only like attention when HE wants attention, then he would be more likely to resent having a harness and leash put on him.
When I was a young girl, I had a favorite cat, and she was one of the kind that you can dress in doll clothes, or do just about anything with, and she enjoyed it.

First, I put the harness on her and let her get used to wearing that. Then I would call her to follow me along; so she got used to wearing the harness and following me.
When I first put the leash on the harness, she didn't know what was going on; but I called her and she just followed me, like always.
After walking around the yard with her for several days, she got the idea that she should follow me around with the leash, and she was fine with having the harness on.
I could then take her outside of the yard, and she would come along on the leash just like a dog would do.

I had one cat that used to travel with my ex and I when he would work out of town. Because of that, we would use a leash on her.
We trained her well in only a few weeks using a harness. She did very well on it.

My grandma had a cat who was leashed when he was outdoors. She did not take him for walks though. I really wish she had because he could use the exercise, but they didn't really think about that I guess. They had a dog as well and so they would put both of them on leashes which were clipped to a long taught line that went across the entire back yard so they could run around in the yard but were unable to get out of it. They did this because they were concerned that the cat, who was 3/4 Siamese, would be stolen if he was allowed to roam outdoors.

I've seen a few people in my town walk their cat and dog together and they don't seem to have any trouble with it. Initially it did look odd to me because cats are usually so free spirited that leashing one seems to be very contrary to their nature, but since none of the cats I have seen walking on a leash seemed unhappy, I think it is fine to do it you don't want to let your cat outside to roam.