I used to have two cats, Fritz and Tasha (both have since left for the bridge). Fritz was an indoor/outdoor cat I got from a neighbor many many years ago. When I took him in I tried to convert him to be an indoor cat only, but I gotta say, he was stubborn and he eventually won that fight. All the pheromone sprays in the world wouldn't stop him when he wanted OUT; and to show his displeasure he would urinate anywhere, and
everywhere.
When I moved from an apartment into my current home, I decided to try to meet Fritz halfway by putting him on a harness and lead in the backyard. Whenever I did so I stayed out there with him; after all, cats are notorious at getting tangled and ensnarled in just about everything. They can get tangled up even where nothing else exists...a single twig poking up from the soil will surely serve to cause a leash jamb-up of epic proportions. I swear they do this on purpose, too; sort of a "Do you see THIS?!! I'm stuck
again, and it's all because of YOU!" protest.
Anyway, Fritz took to his harness well, but it did nothing to curb the yearnings within him to roam free, the big grey lion who wanted nothing more than to prowl his 'hood. As soon as he was back in the house after a couple of hours outside on his harness, he'd return to the door once more, plaintively demanding his release from the master's dungeon RIGHT NOW! And if I didn't comply, I was once again greeted with various discoveries of urine-scented objects (clothing included) throughout the home.
Tasha, on the other hand, was a little calico kitten who'd originally been found wandering in a field, in the middle of a rainstorm, starving, covered in fleas, soaked to the bone, and terrified. She took to homelife instantly, and when I moved to my house she wanted nothing to do with the great outdoors. Her idea of imitating a great patchquilt-colored lioness was to splay her tiny body across the nearest sunspot, either in a window or on the living room floor. I had to literally cajole and entice her to step foot outside into the great backyard, and while she eventually did learn to come outside with me on hazy, laidback summer days, she was never fully keen on it, adn would head back for the safety of the house within 10-20 minutes or so. She never needed a harness, obviously; for her, she was a princess whose realm didn't involve dirt between the toesies or flies landing on her windblown coat.
So I'd say it all depends upon the cat, and the cat's nature. Yes, taking a cat who has the desire to go outside runs the risk of creating a feline monster, one who YOWLS and protests and demands to get his (or her) way once indoors again; or the cat might just start to enjoy the little forays outside and not crave any more than that which he is given. Or he may just be too scaredy-cat to enjoy it at all. You'll only be able to tell once you've tried. And yes, of course, never leave a cat unattended on a harness (as you already know, I'm sure), because they can get themselves into trouble in the blink of a battycat eye.
*P.S. Just wanted to share with you what my Fritz managed to do the first time I ever tied him outdoors on a harness. There was a big old laundry post at the back of the yard, a huge thing that looked as if it had spent it's youth working as one of those old hydro poles. The previous home owner had used it to hang his laundry from, and the line running from the post to the side of the house was still there. So that's what I attached Fritz's lead to; thinking he could run the length of the yard with that setup. I hooked it up, then got a lawnchair and sat back to enjoy a book while Fritz explored. He was thoroughly enjoying the spectacle a few feet away of a bird feeder I'd hung for the local sparrows and cardinals; certain, as I could tell by the straining of his lead, that I'd done so for his sole pleasure...nature's potpourri of yummy temptations right there for him to observe.
About half an hour later my reading was disturbed by a most ungodly *CRACK*...I looked up just in time to see the post, obviously giving up on it's struggle to remain functioning, come slowly crashing to the ground...and just ahead of it I saw a glimpse of a huge grey blur go flying ahead of it. The post careened and tilted, then with an ear-splitting *
WHUMP* fell to the ground. I dropped my book and ran, fearing the worst...a grey crushed kitty lying beneath the pole's now-prostrate corpse...but (thank the KittyGod above!) Fritz had managed to make it to a back step, just a foot or so away. Bigger eyes on a cat you'll never see, let me tell you (or on a human either); but to this day no one in my family believes me when I tell the story of how Fritz the cat managed to pull down a 20-foot post all on his own, in his stubborn attempt to catch a bird. :biggrin2:
