I am an Administrator at a retirement village of frail 80-100 yo residents. We recently rescued a cat as a companion and to help deter mice (she's great at it). For resident's safety we have kept a harness on our cat in case of emergency but I am being told this is not safe for our cat. My question is, how can we safely grab our cat in an emergency (resident falls, gets sick, etc)? Is there any humane wearable device? Thank you in advance
Thank you for reaching out and for all your retirement community efforts.
It’s unsafe to keep a harness on a cat or a dog for an extended period.
I recommend getting her accustomed to wearing a collar, and then you can attach a GPS tracker https://cats.com/best-cat-tracker .
Additionally, I suggest investing time in clicker training her to teach basic cues such as recall (come), sit, and stay. Teaching her to enter the cat carrier cooperatively would also be preferable. These skills are beneficial for emergency preparedness.
Feel free to contact me if you’d like to learn how to clicker train or voluntarily enter the carrier. I would happily offer you a complimentary session, but please remember that I’m based in Sydney, Australia.
All the best
Melina