Q1.
It is possible to walk TWO CATS together on harnesses/leads? A1. Can't imagine two cats at the same time, but I am sure it is possible. Tigerwood climbs trees, chases leaves and is VERY brave about dogs while on his leash. He seems to know we won't let him be eaten !! In "new territory" he does not walk fast, too many new smells and sights. On familiar ground he is good for at least 3 miles or more. Don't know if there is a limit. As you walk them and their "home range" becomes larger, you will cover more ground each time. We also like the unattached leash. If we drag a rope or leash on the ground TW can't resist following it. That way you are not "attached" to every sniff-stop. Keep in mind
that each Bengal (like each person) is different. You will have to
experiment with yours to see what works best. The best advice I can
give you, however, is to get him/her used to wearing the harness around the
house for a couple of weeks before venturing outdoors. This helps get
the correct fit so he/she doesn't slip it (Houdini Bengals!) Then you
should not venture beyond the confines of your own yard until you're sure
both you and the baby are comfortable with the harness and the lead!!! A2. I can only speak from my personal experiences. I have only tried to walk Ash and Zade together once -- it was not a successful attempt. I probably should have tried again, but since Peter is around most of the time when I am wanting to walk the kids, it is way easier to walk them separately. I have not found walking cats to be anything like walking dogs. They certainly do leash train, but their idea of taking a walk is stopping and sniffing EVERYTHING, batting and jumping at any thing that moves, be it a bug, a leaf or an imaginary friend. When I attempted to walk two at the same time, one wanted to go right when the other wanted to go left. Trying to "steer" them at the same time just created two annoyed cats who both just lay down, refused to walk at all and glared at me. As to how far they can walk? Hard to say? To the corner of the street and back is probably about what we do. We wander around our yard, or when traveling, go exploring around the RV Park. Again, they don't really "walk" like a dog. Seems to be hard to get them to do that. They just want to mess around. We do walk around in front of our yard and even down the street a little bit, but they don't seem to want to go too far from the security of our yard -- We do have a large yard however -- our parcel is about 2 acres. Zade's highlight of our walk is if we encounter our neighbors Dachshund. She and Maxie are great buddies and she wants to play. Ash is not so amused. He does not care for dogs and wants to go home and into the safety of the indoors when he meets one. Even more frightening to these cats is encountering a car. I am glad they are afraid of cars, should they ever get out, but it does make it challenging to walk them out of our yard at times. "Your results may vary"! A3. Of course we walk our highly-trainable <gg> Bengals on a lead, together with our Norwegian Forest cat, Tigi. First of all, it is important to use a safe harness. My Aby manages to get out of an ordinary harness meant for cats. And also Jaguara almost got out twice. So we don't use these. For Tigi we use a harness that is used for small dogs. This has a strip of leather or nylon that runs over the breast and between the front legs. For the Bengals we use the walking jackets Holly Webber sells. Not only are they the safest harnesses in the world (in my opinion) but your cats will look smart in it as well :-). You can see them on Holly's web site (picture below). They are worth every penny!! We use the harnesses in combination with flexible leads (5 metres). Next ... we tried to walk two cats together, but it proved to be quite an ordeal. When my daughter and I each have a cat, they more or less walk into the same direction, but when one person holds two cats they go different ways. So we stopped doing this. Especially the Bengals like to run and climb into trees. So when one decides to run and the other just stops for sniffing... you have a problem. I can guarantee that you are toooooooooooo late to pick the sniffing cat up and follow the one that took of. But if you use a safe harness no harm is done when suddenly the flexible line is rolled out completely. We let the cats decide where to go to and at what speed. Sometimes they need a lot of time checking every bush and corner, especially parked cars seem to be very attractive! and sometimes they just love to walk and run and climb. Sometimes they won't go any further that the corner of the street, but sometimes they cover quite a distance. Jaguara loves to walk through the bushes where kids have created little paths. It must be funny to watch the two of us, crawling through the bushes, or see me or my daughter running & trailing one of the Bengals <ggg>. But in this way we keep them healthy! Tigi is much more steady, although he also likes to run and climb, especially when it is windy. It depends on the cat what we or the cat does when we encounter a dog. Tigi just sits down and waits until the dog has passed. Tomkinson is a bit more alert, but Jaguara hates dogs. She sits still and presses her body against the ground. If it is a big dog, I will lift up the cats. But as long as the cats don't run away, most dogs find them not interesting at all. Hope this helps! Q. Would cat jackets be too hot in tropical climates? A1. I would
not worry myself about the jacket and the temperature. We have them for three
years Holly herself lives in Sacramento, and as my memory serves me well..... is not it hot over there as well?? Although I don't know whether she uses the harnesses herself, of course <g>. Maybe she is far too busy. For walking cats does not work if you are in a hurry! A2. Unfortunately,
the walking jackets are too big for really small kittens. But we still have the
small cat's harness and we use these to make the kittens familiar with the
feeling around their necks and their chest.
A3. Figure-8
harnesses with a sliding clip work well on Bengals. Just take them for rides in the car !!! They might be most comfortable at first with their open cat carrier as a nest to retreat to. But they will be bonded to you and seeking your company. Ash and Zade both seem to like to car travel. I think the key to this is to take them out frequently when they are young, so that the car isn't connected with the vet. The politically correct response is to tell you to make sure they are always crated while in the car. This may work for you and your kitties and certainly is the safest. However, I will confess, ours are not locked in their crates when we travel. They strongly object to the doors being closed. Ash generally will ride in his crate happily -- if the door is open on it, or he will curl up in my lap. Zade is content to curl up behind the seat. However, when you get your kits they will be small, so I would think insistence upon them staying in the crate would be a good idea. It is a real pain in the behind to try to get a little kitten out from under the seat of the car without opening the car doors! When the weather is cool, we take them out to breakfast with us now and then and make them wait in the car in their crates while we eat. Then we will take them to Petco (large pet supply store that encourages people to bring their animals in with them) and socialize them with other animals. Or we will take them for a "walk" in the park. That way they associate the car ride with a fun treat. Of course, since we travel with them in the travel trailer, they don't have a whole lot of choice! When we do that we just stuff them in the bedroom of the trailer. We put their crates on the bed and their litterbox, food and water in the bathroom, and off we go. They have the whole thing figured out and are always real excited to see what is going on when we get to our destination.
|
now, and believe it or not!! we did have some very hot spells here (30
Celsius and higher) for a couple of weeks in two successive summers. ......and
never one of the cats complained. The jacket is made of nylon and it is not necessary
to adjust them so that they fit really tight. It is OK as long as the neck part
is adjusted so that it can't get over the ears.
