“Were you not the tiniest bit embarrassed? It looks a bit better than the average cat carrier, but OMG”
“I was thoroughly embarrassed! But at least my shoulders don’t hurt from lifting.” (these are quotes from the photographer’s Flickr page)
So, what do you think? I’ll tell you what I think for what it is worth. I’m crazy about cat strollers….. 😉 Well, not quite, but…they do fix some cat problems if you can get over the embarrassment. One day, I might get up the courage and try one out in London.

What is probably certain is that you are sure to meet people! LOL. Imagine going to the local shops pushing your cat in front of you in a cat stroller. At first, other pedestrians would think you were pushing a rather odd looking pram. They’d look for the baby and see a cat 😉 Then they’d look at you and probably smile and begin a conversation.
It depends how much of an exhibitionist you are and whether you can take the attention – update: no one notices my cat in his stroller. They see a baby instead. On the practical side the advantages are there if your cat is a full-time indoor cat:
- Your cat gets to see, hear and smell new and stimulating things (we hope!).
- Your cat is safe while exploring new places.
- The device overcomes the need to provide fresh stimulation for your cat in safety. That can be quite hard to achieve.
Is the cat stroller slightly anthropomorphic? It looks like it! It treats the domestic cat as a baby. But I think that is just coincidental. The device was not born out of a desire to treat a cat as a baby. It was created as a practical solution to the age old problem; to mentally stimulate a cat in safety. It also allows a cat owner to be with their cat more rather than being at home alone.
Some cat strollers look like prams which is why 90% of people you pass in the street don’t see a cat but expect to see and therefore see a baby instead.
Update: I did it and went and bought a cat stroller. Here it is (below) by the Thames river near Teddigton, England. The woman is my SO. The boat is a pleasure cruiser going from Richmond to Kingston Upon Thames. It was a very fine day for a walk by the river. This was Gabby’s (my cat) first outing in the stroller.
Update: June 2002-the years have rolled by and there is quite a strong movement towards keeping cats indoors full-time nowadays. This alters the dynamic between owners and their cats. It puts greater emphasis on good cat caregiving. The owner has to do more to stimulate and entertain their cat. To create an environment inside the home which is, from the cat’s perspective, interesting. And you can enrich their life through a cat stroller as it enables the owner to take their cat outside and he bombarded with all the stimulation that your cat can take while being kept safe in their stroller.
And it is a good way to meet people so if you can pluck up the courage, I would recommend them. I have tried mine many times and they put a smile on your face an on the face of people you meet with whom you start up a conversation. You should try and make the stroller an attractive place for your cat to be so they, ideally, jump into it and ask to be taken outside.
LOL. I’d be sectioned as well.
Charlie is far too dignified to be subject to the ridicule of being pushed in a perambulator, I’d send a policeman myself to arrest you Michael for doing that to him lol
Michael,
I laughed out loud at your scenario!
~Can you imagine a grown man walking along a London pavement pushing a pram with a three-legged black cat inside 😉 I’d probably get arrested.~
Not to be untoward or unfeeling towards those hate the idea of cat strollers, but somehow your scenario reminds me of Monty Python. If you know what I mean.
Well, VG, I am pleased you don’t hate cat strollers 😉 I accept that they are a bit strange and so on but when I take Charlie to the vet in a carrier, despite being scared witless he is curious about what is going on outside. I sense he would like to see and experience more and it would probably do him good. It would take him a bit of time to get used to it but then so would I. I think the bigger obstacle to using it is the person not the cat. Can you imagine a grown man walking along a London pavement pushing a pram with a three-legged black cat inside 😉 I’d probably get arrested.
Hi Michael and all.
I don’t find the idea of cat strollers as inherently appalling as do other commenters. In preparation for adopting Tootsie I bought a cat harness and leash, thinking it would be a way to take her for walkies outdoors. I’d also seen vids of people taking their otherwise indoor cats out for exercise- maybe living in apartments, where they couldn’t build outdoor cat runs and such. By the way, where I live, there is a strictly enforced county leash law for dogs.
Well, after I got Tootsie, it became immediately clear that it would be a tough go to get her to accept a cat harness and leash for walkies. But, then I saw a great pic on flickr from a friend with his cat in a stroller. Mind you, this is not a person who has a baby fetish about his magnificent cat. I think he used it on vacations in Maine, to take the cat out and about to experience new sights and sounds. So, I thought, well, maybe I could get one of those to take Tootsie out and about, to see the big wide world, as an antidote to indoor boredom.
I think a lot depends on the motivations of the cat’s human, and where they take the cat. So, if the human uses good judgement, I don’t see cat strollers as terribly awful, and in certain circumstances, good for the cat.
Tootsie is now allowed to go outside under supervised conditions, and she somehow knows or has learned what the safe and approved boundaries are (no scolding involved).
So, I’ve given up any thoughts of getting her to wear a harness and leash, or of getting a stroller, to see the wider world around the neighborhood. I don’t want her to take it into her head that there are other interesting places she needs to explore on her own.
Still, she hates being shoved into a box for visits to the vet. (Alas, that is the only way I can get her there.) If I could get her to happily accept a harness and leash, or a cat stroller, to get her into the car for the trip to the vet, the process might be less stressful for both of us.
Because we are all English and love and respect cats as cats not as babies or accessories or whipping boys or attention grabbers for ourselves.