She *can* be taught!
Oct. 20th, 2005 12:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kickahaMy cat, Bob, is deaf in one ear, and we live in a fairly car-filled neighborhood. Our street is a 'shortcut' for a lot of folks, who take the narrow two-lane unstriped road at double the posted speed to get between St. Mary's St. and Glenwood Ave. Because of her dead ear, she always turns one direction to find the source of a noise, like, say, an oncoming car, and half the time she's wrong. So, Bob doesn't go out.
This really saddens me, because she was so much an outdoor cat when I lived in Utah. She grew up romping around the block, but it was kind of unique - all the backyards butted up against a dirt 'alley' road that, at one end, was a massive bramble patch, and at the other, was a city park. She *loves* looking out the windows and doors when I have them open six months of the year.
So I finally decided to tether her in the back yard.
Yeah, I know, seems like utterly the wrong thing to do for a cat, but it's a very thin nylon cord, and a nylon cord harness that goes around her chest, and doesn't have the opportunity for strangling her. She has a 20' lead that lets her have the run of the back yard (with three chipmunk burrows and two rabbit holes) without letting her go running off into traffic. It's better than nothing.
The first time I put the harness on her about two weeks ago, she *HATED* it. But, she got to go outside.
Gradually, she's been walking taller while wearing it, and not doing the low-slink walk that screams "I will take out your trachea in your sleep, you bastard", and seeming to adjust.
Well, just now, she wanted to go out. Did she go to the open door, as usual, and meow until I took pity on her plight?
No. She batted at the harness on the back of the door and meowed. She even purred when I was putting it on her.
Good kitty.
This really saddens me, because she was so much an outdoor cat when I lived in Utah. She grew up romping around the block, but it was kind of unique - all the backyards butted up against a dirt 'alley' road that, at one end, was a massive bramble patch, and at the other, was a city park. She *loves* looking out the windows and doors when I have them open six months of the year.
So I finally decided to tether her in the back yard.
Yeah, I know, seems like utterly the wrong thing to do for a cat, but it's a very thin nylon cord, and a nylon cord harness that goes around her chest, and doesn't have the opportunity for strangling her. She has a 20' lead that lets her have the run of the back yard (with three chipmunk burrows and two rabbit holes) without letting her go running off into traffic. It's better than nothing.
The first time I put the harness on her about two weeks ago, she *HATED* it. But, she got to go outside.
Gradually, she's been walking taller while wearing it, and not doing the low-slink walk that screams "I will take out your trachea in your sleep, you bastard", and seeming to adjust.
Well, just now, she wanted to go out. Did she go to the open door, as usual, and meow until I took pity on her plight?
No. She batted at the harness on the back of the door and meowed. She even purred when I was putting it on her.
Good kitty.