Is it possible to train cats to group-walk with you like a pack of friendly wolves that consider you part of their kind/group?
Is it possible to train cats to group-walk with you like a pack of friendly wolves that consider you part of their kind/group?
Probably not; they aren't naturally pack animals the way wolves are
Yeah it's not such a natural behavior for them to hang out in packs. They like to wander alone. Extremely individualistic animal. You don't own a cat, they tolerate your presence in their home...
Although I did stumble on some kind of large cat group meet in an alleyway on a night walk, a couple of years ago. Having ~20 cats sitting in a circle staring at you in the dark is strangely intimidating...
That happened(s) albeit rarely. Its like seeing rhe cat version of double-rainbow, although not as rare as a double-rainbow-guy
The cats in my neighbourhood tolerate all other humans and cats to live in their territory, oddly those others are mainly in some big, closed things they call houses. Luckily there's always a hole for the cats to get in and out.
They’re not distinctly a pack animal but feral cats often form groups to benefit their survival. A cat pack is called a clowder. :)
Have you ever heard the phrase "like trying to herd cats"?
I'm listening...
[Lol I'm being intentionally obtuse; but ya. Maybe this is more of a wish fullfillment type deal we have on our paws here]
It is possible to an extent with certain breeds, e.g. Egyptian Mau. However, they are curious and skittish so may not follow you everywhere if they find something interesting or get spooked. When you get too far from their known "territory" they may stop and wait for you to come back, (while also yelling at you to come back to the concern of passers-by!).
I used to go for walks with my gf and her egyptian maus. They would follow along like a pride of tiny lions but spread out a bit, so while we walked on paths their parallel routes would go through gardens, over roofs, fields, fences, etc.
In fact it was more of an effort to train them not to follow us everywhere, e.g. to the shops, work, etc. They would often follow neighbours' children to school and back (and sometimes follow the wrong child home and get lost!).
Maus are also more amenable to being on a leash than most breeds, although you need to get them used to it early in life.
The main problem is if they decide to run away from something they are blazingly fast and near impossible to catch and recover from whatever inaccessible perch or hidey-hole they run to. My gf's cats had been trained to return to the sound of jangling keys, but that only worked most of the time.
Im super amused that Egyptian Maus has the German word for mouse in the name. It might be interesting to see if one's amenable to catpacking but I feel like the traumatic bustling of traffic/cars are an inescapable contraindication for them
It's Mau in the singular, Maus in the plural (in English anyway), but maybe there are still some amusingly ambiguous sentences possible in German! :)
I wouldn't recommend walking cats anywhere near any significant traffic. Maybe some cats would be OK with being in a pack (I've seen YT channels with cats in baskets on bikes etc) but I imagine you'd have to train them from a young age.
I would say probably. As the internet has shown us cats can be trained to do so many things.
You would need to understand the fundamentals of cat training, the things that motivate your cats, and a lot of patience.
Actually, our cats often join us when walking our dogs. We have two dogs, and when we walk them leashed, at night, one to three of our (six) cats come along and walk around us. They dart out in advance up to ten meters, using available cover (cars) to hide, and often laag behind in those places to ensure it is clear that they are not being walked but are simply following the same route of their own accord.
Not sure how this happened, so I can't help you with training advice. But maybe it's just our regular schedule of walking that does it?
One of our cats does the same. We go for a walk with our dogs and she just trails along like 3 meters behind. We didn't train her to do this. Just decided one day that she wanted to walk with us. Sometimes it is scary since walk a bit away from home and fear that she might not fibd back when she loses us. So we don't encourage it.
Cats out at night is a severe nono in my country (they aren't native to the environment and kill the native animals) but we have done similar during the day. Less observant people probably have no idea they are being shadowed by a cat. I only ever did it in very-un-built up bush and farmland, however, can't imagine achieving that with cars and traffic and other humans.
If you can manage programmers, then yes. Everyone says that's just like herding cats.
All my Cat.exe[s] live in Texas
It's going to be next to impossible, but if you do try, I suggest attempting it with above average smart breeds that like to follow you around, such as burmese
Cornish Rex might also be a good choice. They are pretty much dog software running on cat hardware.
I tried walking my cat, it did work but the problem was other people walking their dogs and letting them loose in parks. So I stopped going since it terrified him. I tried keeping him in his carrier backpack like thingy, but he still didn't enjoy it.
Now I have a tuxedo devil kitten, maybe I'll try it again. Just have to think hard about how and where he can be safe. Maybe just start with his carrier and then move on to the leash?
I feel like the CatPack is an interesting twist. Take 'em somewhere naturey+quiet and see how he likes a 10 minute walk and maybe just slowly edge that time up. Have a way to give treats along the way
The bastards are so used to treats, it barely works anymore :). But dreamies has a new line out with catnip flavour they die for. I've been giving them very few of them, so that can help.
I'll try it out. My friend is picking me up this afternoon and I'll ask if we can scout a few locations.
Auf nature/trailz
