About an hour ago I met two ladies in the park with their cat on a lead. It happens to be a wonderful place called Isabella Plantation in Richmond Park, Surrey, UK. Isabella Plantation is a special place, a garden within a very large park. I had a nice, long conversation with these ladies and they told me that they brought their cat to this garden because it is obligatory to have your dog on a lead in this part of the park. This naturally helped to protect their cat; excellent choice of location.
I was delighted to meet them because it is the first time that I have seen a cat on a lead in this garden. The cat’s name is Mia. She is a young classic tabby cat, quite small and coping well with being on a lead. She was a little bit uncertain of herself because she hadn’t visited this garden for quite a long time but nonetheless it was great mental stimulation for her.
This is where we met:
These ladies live in an apartment and therefore, in discussion about cat caregiving, I suggested that if people live in an apartment with a cat there is an obligation (almost) to take them outside, supervised, on a lead into a safe place and certainly this garden is safe. While I talked to them a couple of dogs came by on leads as well but there wasn’t a problem or disturbance.
Another thing I liked about these ladies is that they are switched on to cat caregiving. As you can see in the photograph above one of them had a cat carrier backpack to allow them to bring Mia to this garden which is quite a distance within the park. It also allowed them to take hold of their cat if something bad happened and protect her by putting her into the carrier. This is exactly what I would do if I was taking my cat for a walk on a lead.
It takes a bit of effort to do this. There has to be a level of commitment which is untypical of cat owners but when done a cat’s life is improved substantially provided there is attention to managing the process carefully. One aspect is to buy a really good harness to stop the cat wriggling free if the cat is spooked.
Walking your cat on a leash to explore and stimulate. A lifestyle to aspire to?
Love that,before my Grey~Grey got too old to take for walks he too was always on a lead,I miss him so much,he was 19 yrs old when he finally got his wing’s.The pic is him.
Hi Irish, I have plans to do as these ladies do. I think it would benefit my cat although he is an indoor/outdoor cat. Grey-grey looks like my Gabs. Take care.