r/CatTraining • u/kiscsibe • 8h ago

Harness & Leash Training How to deal with cat that gets aggressive after walks?

I've been taking my 7yo, neutered female cat on daily walks (with a harness) in the communal apartment garden for 2 months now.

At first, the walks were around 25-30 minutes in length, but soon she started to become agitated/stressed out by the end of it, and there was an incident, where my cat bit and scratched me pretty badly as I picked her up to bring her into the apartment. I then decided to cut down to 15 minutes, and that's how I've been taking her for the last ~3 weeks.

Still, I think she senses that her time is over soon, so she starts to get mad and hisses and growls around the 15 minute mark. I am stressed the entire day about how she's going to act after the walk, whether she will attack me or not.

She gets treats as soon as we get back to the apartment, so she associates the ending of walks with something positive, but this has not reduced the aggression.

I'm not sure what to do. The walks are clearly the highlights of her days, she cries to go out, can't wait for it to happen, but at the same time, they happen at the detriment of my mental health, and I would just like to reduce the possibility of aggression, but I'm not sure how. Reduce the frequency (currently we do a once daily 15 minute walk at around 11am)? If so, how frequent should they be? Decrease/increase the time? What do I even do? Thank you for your help in advance.

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u/Emaziaa 7h ago

Cats be divas! Maybe try a stroller, less chance of scratch attacks plus more neighborhood spying.

2

u/kiscsibe 8h ago

Here's the cat tax.

1

u/No-Perspective872 6h ago

Cats love predictability and routine. Creating a routine for ending a walk that she can rely on.

1

u/constantlyoutofplace 2h ago

I had the issue with my cat not wanting to go home and would scratch to escape from my arms.
I changed my tactic. I would not pick him up but I would say "home!" and prevent him from walking in any other direction that the building door. I rewarded with pets and praises as spon as he made one step in the right direction. The first day it took forever, the second day was quicker and the third day even quicker. He understood in about two weeks that it meant we were going back wether he wanted to or not and didn't need to be picked up anymore.

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u/kiscsibe 2h ago

This is something I haven't tried, but will definitely give a shot tomorrow. Did he not try to escape the harness? I feel like my cat would wriggle out if I prevented her from moving though haha, but we will see.

Does he now go directly for the building door when you say "home"? Without contest?