I've never seen a cat on a leash. Why? Most cats I know of are left outside to fend for themselves at night. This doesn't appear to be safe; the animal could injure itself, meet up with another less friendly cat or be flattened by a car or, God forbid, bring home a dead mouse or other critter in its jaws.

I'm sure you can tell I'm not a cat fancier though I still think a leash is a good idea. And there is nothing cuter than a kitten. But kittens grow up and that's when the trouble begins. When returning home, a dog greets you with a wagging tail and kisses; a cat greets you with a look that says "it's about time you came home." But, to each his/her own.

But I still don't understand why you don't put your cat on a leash.

There's no such thing as a cat owner. As has been truly said, dogs have owners (or masters), cats have servants.

I've seen pedigree cats walking on leads, but non-pedigree cats ("real cats" to people like me) love their freedom too much, and it's that love of freedom that endears cats to me. I don't want to own another creature; I prefer having to work at a relationship with a cat.

Hah! If only the offerings they do bring home were actually "dead in its jaws" I'd be a much happier cat-owner.

I have both cat and dog, and thoroughly enjoy their diverse natures and behaviours.

As for leaving a cat free to roam at will, it's actually much kinder than keeping them cooped up in an itsy bitsy house, no matter how many square metres it may measure. Cats do not need to replace their feline family by a human one, whereas dogs most certainly do attach themselves to their human owners and identify the key members and pecking order just as they would in their canine pack. I don't think it would be fair to impose a domesticated dog's life on a cat, nor a cat's life on a dog, both would be miserable.

Actually in our Photo-a-Day threads you will from time to time see a cat on a leash and in a harness, SpanishLiz's cat, Precious, isn't permitted to free roam.

Here in Jersey when homing rescue cats our animal welfare organisation will normally state if the cat is an indoor or outdoor cat, they will often state that the cat must have access to the outside.

If you look at http://www.jspca.org.je/contents_home.htm then on the left at the link for cats and dogs looking for new homes you will see what I mean, only a few of them are called indoor cats and some say they need to be able to hunt!

I had five cats at one time, three were deliberate in that I acquired two cats so they could keep each other company, then I let the female have a litter before having her spayed, we were going to keep one of her kittens. We ended up keeping two of the kittens and then a stray cat adopted us until I was forced to find him a new home, or a new home for the other four! They all hated him and he was so lovely.

One cat, the first one, never hunted, he left his mother when he was too young so wasn't taught. The little female cat was a good hunter and mother, she taught her boys to hunt and they would bring all manner of creatures home, including live rabbits, mice etc. They let a baby rabbit go in my sitting room and it hid behind a bookcase. I don't know if the stray cat hunted, we had him a year but I wasn't aware of anything from him. After finding the live rabbit in the sitting room I shut them out of that room at night, they only had access to the kitchen and the outside. Most mornings I had to clear up the entrails of various sized animals which were left on the kitchen floor. Ewk.

I've had both cats and dogs, and love them both for their different ways.

Tried to turn an outdoor cat into an indoor one once... he hurled himself from a fourth floor balcony trying to escape - and not just once. I was outside looking for him once after he'd managed to get the window open while I was at work and escape, and the woman in the basement apartment directly in line under mine told me she'd heard him land - "there was a big thump, and he lay there for about half an hour - I thought he was dead. Then he got up and ran off".

I've had both. Overall I prefer dogs, but cats are certainly interesting creatures to live with. I had two sisters who were half Siamese (Mum strayed!) and they were very vocal, and certainly could not have been kept indoors. I wouldn't have a cat where we live now, the road is just too busy and fast. People round here have had cats but quite honestly they don't last long.

I had both cats and dogs when I grew up in the mountains. Neither ever walked on a lead. I have seen many cat owners now that walk their cats on leads. My mother once took a vacation to the beach in the Gulf of Mexico and took her cat. Poor cat had never been on a leash before and Mom told me one day that she would take Shadow each night to the beach for his "nightly drag".

LOL ClaraSue. When I was in junior high our family had two cats (not related, adopted from the SPCA). One was a really huge black male (who we called "Shadow" as well). The other was a small runt of a "tuxedo" female with socks. Dad called her "Sin" because he thought she was the devil in disguise from day one.

Shadow had no problem walking on a leash, he would even go get it off the hook by the front door if he thought you might actually take him out. Otherwise he was quite happy to just snooze in the best chair we had - all day, thank you very much.

Sin, on the other hand, was the hunter/adventurer, escaped frequently if you opened the door to go get the mail, milk or the newspaper and absolutely HATED the leash. She'd just flop on her side and refuse to move, so yes she got "dragged" quite a bit. Was embarrassing really lol, so I actually paid my little sister some of my allowance to take Sin for "drags".

I think many cats would be fine on leashes, but if you don't have the patience of Job, I kinda think you have to start them on that when they are very young, not after they're half/full grown, or have had previous owners who let them run wild.

I've had both dogs and cats, and love them both, and my cats have been indoor only for over 30 years. If cats are always indoors, it really isn't an issue. With all the hazards they face free-roaming, I wouldn't have it any other way. I've also had cats willing to walk on a leash, but it takes time and patience to train them to it. Most of my cats have beenbSiamese--very intelligent and extremely dog-like in behavior. If you want a cat to follow you around like a dog and constantly beg for attention, get a Siamese. Of course, you have to be willing to put up with their constant loud 'talking'!

Of the five cats I've had in my lifetime only one was ever allowed to go outside. This cat we did leash to the front porch, and as soon as the cat was put on the leash, it thought it was paralyzed and didn't move at all. Not much fun for us or for the cat. Our other four cats were/are never let outside the house. Keeping them indoor solves a lot of problems...we never have to worry about them not coming home (they're always home!), they don't drag things into the house (mice, rats, ticks, flees), and they do not get in fights with other animals. Of all the dozens and dozens of people I know with cats, only one lets the cats out of the house (on purpose). The cats that are outside, are certainly in more danger, but the ones I know have lived quite happily that way in our neighborhood for quite some time, without a leash. The cats are all in their late teens and have been outdoor cats their entire lives.

All but one of our many cats over the years have been outdoor/indoor hunters. Some of them learned to hunt on their own, some ate their kill and others just showed it off. I don't really like finding innards on the front walk. My current companions go out even on snowy days, nature and fresh air are things they enjoy and they live up to their wild side at times. But they come in when called and are very gentle, even scaredy cats, most of the time. Not one of our cats ever saw a leash. I had an abandoned, and perhaps abused, little calico I named Chutzpah, in New Orleans. She hid under my bed for days, and I put food, water and a litter box nearby for her. One night I felt her crawl across my pillow and settle down purring heavily into my ear. She was a very sweet little girl, but terrified of the outside world, she didn't even want to leave my bedroom. In all, cats are great company and much easier to keep than dogs. But the greatest thing about dogs is their unconditional love.

Anyone seen this?

Great film, ren!

Savannah cats seem to be the only breed that can reliably trained to walk on a leash.

I have tried to train a few of mine to get used to a halter and walk on a leash. The last one I tried it with was Quentin. He was a stray that had been dumped in the neighbor with his sister when they were four weeks old. (A neighbor got the sister.)

I put the halter on him within the first week, and it was an adjustable one so it fit him. He let me put it on without a fight. Then I turned around to get the leash and when I looked back, he already had one front leg out of the halter. Then I watch him wriggle out of it the rest of the way. It took him less time to get it off then it took to put it on.

The previous cat I had attempted to use a halter on to leash train let out a death howl as soon as it was on and refused to move. And she sat there howling until I decided my hearing was more important than having her on a leash.

My cats greet me when I come home. They rub against me and purr. Well, except for Princess. But she is royalty and I am expected to go to her.

We don't put our cats on leashes and take them for a walk because the large majority of cats refuse to participate.

They bring us their gifts because they love us. They, according to those that study cats in an attempt to understand them, think of us as their lessers or even children. And, as their children, they are bringing us food. Or for those times when the gift is still alive (like the starling I found flying in the bedroom), it is because they are trying to teach us to hunt so us silly beings can feed ourselves.

I currently have two cats, both indoor-only. They have toy mice that they like to carry around and the one cat, Henry, will always bring it over and set it down at my feet. At which point I will throw it across the room and he will it bring it back to me in an endless game of fetch. The other cat, Oscar, doesn't bring presents (even toy mice)...he just sits at my feet, looks up at me with sad eyes, and begs for food...mostly cheese.

My definitely not a hunter cat lived longer than my other cats and became an only cat once more. Imagine my amazement and amusement to find a dead creature which he had bought into the house, it was very obviously a long time dead and nothing to do with him. Bless his little heart, a gift me me I guess. Sparkey's mouse

So true. I've tried with other cats, but Precious is the first who has been willing (even eager) to don the harness. She can't free roam because she has no front claws (not my idea, by the way) but she loves to get outside and meet the neighbourhood dogs.

I'm down to one 14 year old male Blue Point Siamese ( from another Blue pt and a Golden Retriever) and this cat could never have survived in the wild--no hunting instinct at all! He doesn't even bother to catch bugs--just looks at them with less-than-mild interest. He will occasionally watch the birds, squirrels, and chipmunks on the deck, but they don't hold his interest for long. He'd much rather find a lap to sit on and someone to pet him.

Sue--it looks like Sparkey found himself a rat! Yuk!

Come to think of it, yes it is a rat, fortunately a very dead and small rat. Live mice in the house is one thing but rats would be quite another thing and not something that I could tolerate.

My Muffin had been a mighty hunter in her day, but that day was pretty far in the past by the time she was fourteen years old. She hadn't brought home anything for several years when we came home and found a dead gopher (Richardson's ground squirrel) in the basement. Now, we live right in the centre of town - the nearest place she'd have found one of these would have been at least a kilometre away. And they're *big*! http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AurjFbssbkU/T2...nd+squirrel.jpg

My ginger tomcat used to be friends with everyone - apart from other cats, he bossed them around - whereas my little tabby female was a bit shy and nervous but they were both great hunters so I've no idea which of them was to blame for this... My next door neighbour was one of their favourite people, he used to feed them when I was away, so whenever he was in his garden the chances were that one or both of my cats would be there too. One day he came home for lunch and made himself a cheese sandwich, took it out to the garden then realised he wanted a beer so went indoors to fetch one. When he came out again, his sandwich had vanished. He told me he had begun to doubt his sanity, perhaps he hadn't made a sandwich after all, or perhaps he'd forgotten he'd eaten it already, but there it was, gone. When I came home from work that evening, there was a dead cheese sandwich on the kitchen floor. Bits of cheese everywhere and two slices of bread curling up in the corner. I told them that next time they should wrap the food in cling film before dragging it through the catflap, that way their loot would stay whole!

Must have been cheddar--no self-respecting cat would steal boring cheese like American.

I overheard someone at a party I was holding.
"My dear , only someone of class would serve Roquefort!"