Cats are NOT safe to walk on a leash in public
Date: Wed, 13 Jan 1999 19:13:52 EST Subject: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
I have been told that the Siberian Lynx is probably one of the most "Laid Back" of exotic cats. Has anyone handraised or have Siberians that agree or disagree with that statement. I want to make sure of what I'm doing before getting an exotic and have a bad experience for the cat and myself. I'm looking for a species that is calm, enjoys people and can be allowed out of their enclosures for walks on a lesh.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 06:39:33 -0800 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
Whoa! You've thrown in some new information here. A calm species that enjoys people (I am using that terminology very loosly) has nothing to do with walking on a leash outside of the cat's enclosure. Are you talking about taking the cat off your property into public to walk it on a leash? More information needed.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 09:31:58 -0600 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
I really would not trust a Siberian Lynx or any other cat over 30 lb. on a leash or around people.
What happens if someone has a dog with a attitude, and it gets around the cat? I love my Siberian Lynx and it would be a fantasy in my opinion to be able to do what you want. there is others here that can answer your questions. just my 2 bits worth. Good luck in your quest
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:58:33 EST Subject: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
What ever your NAME is: There are a lot of people on the list that can answer your question better than I. To my knowledge most Lynx are laid back, compared to bobcats or cougars. I have to ask WHY do you want an exotic cat of any kind? DO you FULLY understand the commitment you are thinking about taking on? I read into your line of questions (AND I COULD BE WRONG) that you think it would be neat, macho, ego trip, or what ever, to walk around bragging to people you got a wild animal you take for walks.
I would never put my cats in jeopardy by walking around in public, so I could show off. People that show wild animals for educational purposes, have years of experience in handling wild animals under controlled conditions. Even then sometimes incidents happen.
My suggestion to you is to stay with the domestic kitties, until such time you have learned what owning an exotic wild animal is all about. WE do not need any more human rejects out there to take care of. This may sound HARD, BUT IF YOU ARE SINCERE, you will learn. - - TRB
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 09:52:46 -0800 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
i have canadian lynx and i would not take them out on a leash. They tend to get spooked or just get a wild hair and up a wall they go. They are wonderful but just not trust worthy to go out of their enclosure. some of the smaller cats may be better. you may have a difficult time finding a place to live that allows a person to take any wild animal out in public on a leash or otherwise. (other than club meetings of the exotic sort) you could try going to homes of those who own exotic cats and to see which one would suit you (or not) those people also should be able to give sound advice to you about the raising of a wild animal. owing an exotic is most best thing in my world. ginger
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 12:43:00 EST Subject: Re: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Robert. To whomever: After dealing with reject cats who's owners thought they were cute housepets, didn't feed them properly, caged them in undersized travel carriers during the day, and never excercised them, PLEASE educate yourself BEFORE you put another cat through the torment of not being able to walk because his/her hind legs didn't develop properly!! Cliff
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 17:14:14 -0500 Subject: Re: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx
Wow, what a flurry of messages regarding this posting. Well, I am gonna insert my thoughts on this...
First of all, we have two Siberians, they are our first exotics so we don't have any exp. with other cats, but as far as our experiences have gone, they can be very steady when the routine is kept consistent. Please keep in mind that this is always subject to the specific cat as well as events going on in the cats life at the time (re: breeding season, feeding time, etc.)
Ours don't like too many surprises, and as long as the routine is not changed to much, then we are good to go. We used to walk our cats every day. Twice a day actually. When they were small, they could be a handful, but not really to bad to work with. Our female is declawed but our male is not. The female would give us more "static" about ending the walk. If she didn't want to go in, she would park her butt on the ground like a mule and dare you to make her move. After many long nights trying to coax her back and forth, we stumbled onto a method that made the walk a little more controllable. We used to tie one of her toys onto a string and my wife would hold the cat leash, and I would run around and entice her to chase the toy. It worked 99% of the time. The male was different, as he was more "laid back" than the female and would respond to tugs on the leash to change directions. If I tried that with the female, she would respond with a flurry of growls and teeth.
Once they hit sexual maturity, they didn't really want to be walked as a normal part of their day. We take our lead from the animal, and if they don't want to walk around, then fine, we won't. That I think is the most important part of keeping an exotic, you MUST be in tune with your animal, or you will get into trouble quickly. You must learn to read their moods, the "look in the eye", and believe me, it can be done. My wife will disagree, but I can read the female lynx much better than she can, because I am the one who gets the brunt of her [lynx's] displeasure! Awww hell, I get the brunt from both, who am I kidding.
Anyways, I think that you could walk one of these guys without problems, IF you take care to mind the cat's disposition everytime you walk out the door, as well as on the walk, and if possible, always have someone with you to help out incase something goes wrong.
P.S. One other tidbit, don't walk by a road, I can't tell you how many times a car stopped and asked "whatcha got there?" We always told them its not what you think, its a cat from France....which left them scratching their head and not knowing what to say next. When we walked our male (we got him 2 years later), we walked him in the back yard and out of view to the general public. And yes, we live in a rural area, not in the middle of some city or village, which to me is asking for trouble.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 21:55:11 -0800 Subject: Re: FEL-L: given up in disgust
Has anybody else been wondering about the Siberian Lynx postings. The original post was really so vague that I almost wondered if this was a legitimate request or some AR person looking for some of us to responsed with a bunch of stupid ideas about walking cats in public that could be used to fuel the AR groups.
I maybe paranoid but this post and some of the posts that are placed by ASKADAM are suspicious looking to me. Please correct me if I am wrong about these postings. I am not assuming anything; just saying that I am wondering.
If you look at it I could see some AR folks sitting back reading all these posts and thinking: See how easy it is to get them fighting among themselves. It is easier to let us tear ourselves apart than for them to do it.
Everybody needs to check their attitudes and play nice. I don't think any wild cat should be subject to the walking around in public thing either. This person can't do better until they know better and even though it really sounds like a stupid thing to say I would defend the person's right to say it. We cannot control every stupid person who wants to get a cat but we can control how we respond to that. And we should respond to that with the best interest of all animals at heart.
Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 23:47:55 -0800 Subject: FEL-L: leash walking
Two comments here: First, let's remember that these are *cats*. The idea of walking any of my domestic cats on a leash (let alone in public) is unfathomable, let alone one that is *not* domesticated.
Second, in defense of the original poster, it is very nice to have a cat that can be walked. Maybe they didn't mean on a public street, but just around their property. Our bobcat gets to go for a walk around the property once a week, more if we have time. It's wonderful enrichment for the senses for a cagebound wild animal. Leash training is always desirable, in the right situation. Just not always easy, or even possible with all cats. IMO, lynxes are one of the better ones.
Date: Fri, 15 Jan 1999 11:26:41 EST Subject: Re: FEL-L: leash walking
>First, let's remember that these are *cats*. The idea of walking any of my
One of my domestics will walk on a leash. I didn't really 'train' her, she basically came that way. The public always stops & stares when we're out on the streets. The other two are more normal, plop down and be dragged cats. But Sprite loves going for walks, and can even be directed to some extent. For the most part, walking cats means the cat walking you, and you need to follow wherever the cat wants to go. This is true for most of the exotics I've walked. Peaches the ocelot loves her walks, and we've walked her in public a lot, but she's an exceptional case. All the leopards I've walked on leashes had a tendency to lie down a lot, you could get them walking again sometimes by picking up their tail. That wouldn't work so well for a lynx...Other than that, I've only walked cubs (<6 months) of various species (tigers, leopards, clouded leopards, cougars, bobcats, fishing cats), where you could pick them up and carry them back to their cage when they decided they were done walking. A few of our cats can be moved to new cages by walking, which is the only reason we leash train them in the first place.
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1999 10:25:06 EST Subject: FEL-L: Siberian Lynx Post - Elaborations and Reflections
A few days ago (Fred) posted this message to the FEL-L list. It was called "Siberian Lynx". There were quite a few replies right away, and a few were "nasty" (my word) in that they speculated that he was going to walk the cat in "public areas" or "malls" to feed a "big ego" or was a "stupid person" or an"AR person" etc.
I let him know that there were quite a few posts that said things in response defending the right not to be attacked or presumed guilty of some bad thing, especially someone new to the list who posts something for the first time.
Comments were made like "Being nasty is NEVER productive.", ". . . he was sincerely seeking some information and advice." and "You don't teach people very well by hitting them with an attitude,"
Out of a bit of compassion for a stranger, I wrote privately (and to puma Gary) and said that:
"It would be too bad if the rudeness of a few caused a good person to leave a list that has so many good mannered folks. (I believe the apparent rudeness on the part of a few people is on behalf of protecting cats from harm.)"
Fred wrote back and mentioned that he is very new with computers and had not read the replies, was still learning how to do that, though was glad a few people let him know what had happened.
He then elaborated to me about his situation. When I suggested that he post his elaboration on his original question, he asked me to post it. (I don't know if he is still on the list.)
Below is his original question and his subsequent eloboration.
>> can be allowed out of their enclosures for walks on a leash.>>
Fred's private elaboration reply to me, posted here with permission:
"I'm a novice at E-mail and (neither) saw nor knew how to read any of the nasty comments that you and a couple of other very courteous people informed me that was directed in my direction. I had to try and put myself in another's shoes to understand why someone would object to walking a cat on a leash. The only thing I came up with was that some people thought I would be walking a cat in a public area to "show off."
"Actually my intention is exactly the opposite. I live in a very secluded, rural area. Other than my brother, the nearest house is a mile away. My walks would be on a private drive to my residence in the middle of a large tract of land we own. Even the largest enclosure would appear to me to be a prison to an animal with wild instincts. I thought walks would allow the cat to see and smell things not within the enclose.
"The leash is for the cats protection and not me submitting the cat to my domination. I will be 55 next month and well past the showing off stage. . . . I do want to learn as much as possible before making a decision about getting a cat. Many things to consider and foremost, will it be best for the cat and can I give the cat what it deserves from life in a captive situation."
Hoping for more kindness and understanding on our list, Kelly