Kitty Holster Cat Harness, Small/Medium, Denim Blue

Product is easy to get on your cat, it is well made and comfortable. Great quality!

First, the easy part - the seller was great!Second, the rating - I gave the Kitty Holster 5 stars because I do not believe it is possible to design a harness that can better secure a cat. With that said, I must say that SOME cats can escape from it.Third, the rest of the story. I have two cats: Pasha and Nino. Pasha is a Russian Blue and is athletic, slim and smart. I found a 'regular type' harness and after some training and reasoning, he can not escape (or at least doesn't try to anymore), It is not a problem to put him out on my deck with me as I relax - he has accepted the Zen of the harness as his tradeoff for outdoor time. Nino came to me from a shelter last Fall, and I want to let him out along with Pasha for some outdoor time. Nino has exceptional upper body strength, is stocky, and determined. He has easily escaped from every other cat harness I have (four) within a minute, including the one Pasha does not. That led me to the Kitty Holster, in hopes that this may be one cat harness that I could put on him without his escape. Alas, after a half dozen outdoor sessions trying various harnessing techniques and snugness, he can still escape. However, it takes him quite a while now, and he seems to slowly be accepting the fact his outdoor life will be in a Kitty Holster. I have included some Tips learned from my experiences with Nino below.Tips to Others with Houdini-like cats:1. Snugness - Nino is quite an actor and protested his Kitty Harness was way too tight from the first time I put it on him. He cried, and panted, and moaned, and rolled his eyes, making me fear that he could not breathe. It was a ruse. In fact, I could easily slip two fingers underneath the harness all around. When I first gave in and loosened it - he was out of it a minute. Keep it tight - use the two finger rule all around.2. Taut Leash. I attach the Kitty Holster to a line on my deck that gives Nino about 12 feet of roaming space either way from the anchor spindle.That covers almost the whole deck. I found that for him to escape the Kitty Holster he must have the line as taut as possible and use it as an assist to help him escape. To do this he roams to one of the far points and pretends to lay down to reflect upon nature, looking away from me at the trees, the sky, a bug or some other distracting point in the yard. Fall NOT for this trick. He was merely trying to lull me into a false sense of security so I would feel safe turning my attention to some complicated OPed piece in the paper or an especially engrossing dialogue in my latest summer read. When he perceives I am otherwise amused, he will immediately start his escape process. As I said, it takes him several good minutes to complete his escape from Kitty Holster, at the far end of the leash - so my advice to others is to NEVER look away when your cat is at the end of his leash. Or move your chair next to him there, but that would probably just make him go to the other side.3. Demonic-like Possession. IF you fail to abide by my first two pieces of advice, you still have one more safeguard before your little whiskerpuss can make good their escape from the Kitty Holster. For Nino, this requires him to undergo what must possibly be demonic possession, worthy of Linda Blair's cat if she had one in the Exorcist. While the leash is stretched taut, he will begin a series of rapid rolls, back and forth, around the deck, all while doing what would be Jumping Jacks if he were human. There is much kicking and scratching with his back legs at the object of his seemingly mortal hatred - the Kitty Holster. Soon, he has his front paws up over his head, shaking them in such a frightful manner, that you feel he is either casting a spell or doing his best to pray to some Feline goddess. After this goes on for several minutes, his head begins to wiggle in a manner as in common in voodoo trances - absent any foaming at the mouth. And then finally, after several more minutes, he gets on his four feet and jumps backward as if ejected from some inter-dimensional vortex, and voila the Kitty Harness lays defeated before him. If he has gotten this far, a critical moment in the ceremony has come. While distracted by the joy of his victory, he will momentarily pause to compose himself, which is the exact time you must arise from your chair, cut off his line of escape, pick up Whiskerpuss and either put him back into the house or Kitty Holster. I can happily report that his instances of possession are becoming less frequent, as he realizes that no matter how much he gives into the dark side that his efforts will come to naught. I am hopeful that soon Nino will take Pashsa's lead, take up Zen, and learn to love the Kitty Holster and the outdoor time it brings.

I have two cats, one a gregarious and curious Siamese (Stars), and the other a VERY easily spooked shorthair who probably doesn't have the temperament for this training. I've long suspected Stars would see a quality of life boost from being able to go outside though—she loves following me everywhere and always seeks out new intellectual stimulation. I used to carry her on the porch with me when I'd water my plants, and she'd just sit in my arms, riveted by the wind, birds, and leaves. So I got the Kitty Holster. I was a little worried because Stars has never even worn so much as a collar. I've heard older cats don't take too well to such things.I needn't have worried. This holster was perfectly designed for my cat, and by following the instruction booklet, I've had almost total success after only a few days. Here's what I did!Day one, she meowed at the door (something she does because she already wants to look around outside). I put her in the harness and immediately gave her a favorite can of food. She went flat and stressed for a few minutes. And, she tried backing out of the harness RIGHT away. After about five minutes of constant reassurances with the presence of food letting her know I wasn't punishing her, she settled, though she wasn't happy at all. I took off the harness and made sure she had lots of love.I waited a few days. She started to show signs of wanting to go out again. Right away, I put her in the harness and opened the door. She didn't like the holster still, but she didn't try to escape (I think she assumes she can't after trying and failing the first day). She was so distracted by the call of the unknown outside that she forgot herself for a few minutes, and we sat together in the doorway, just chilling. I gave her a can of food at the same time. She seemed happy to have the harness removed again, but she wasn't near as peeved.The very next day, she started showing signs of wanting to follow me out—and this time, when I got the harness, she actually RAN to me, meowing excitedly. I couldn't believe it. We shared about ten minutes this time sitting in the doorway, and she even ventured onto the doormat. I tried closing the door to keep cat two inside, but Stars saw that as closing her escape route, and immediately began to stress and paw at the door. I opened it back up. She immediately calmed and resumed sitting on the mat. And, she seemed happy enough that she didn't even need food/treats to destress from the experience.Today, I ventured beyond the doormat to show it was safe, leashing her and just waiting. She stretched out, totally relaxed, and then jogged to meet me. We sat in the grass, and it was wonderful. I had to keep my front door open still for most of the time! And she kept beckoning to cat two, who was a little too skittish to want much to do with the experience. Maybe one day, I'll be able to harness her as well, and we can go exploring. But for now, I'm stoked to have my Siamese buddy have something she actively looks forward to every day. I can tell from her behavior that it's probably going to be a few more weeks before she's comfortable leaving the vicinity of the apartment—the booklet is really spot-on about cats' comfort levels in adjusting to new places. But I'm happy to take it slow.Thanks Kitty Holster!

We have a rescue kitten who had surgery on both knees. He needed to be restrained in the house during the first part of the recovery and taken for short walks during the later part. Did I mention the kitten is a Savannah, and the boy is born to run? After trying several traditional harnesses and watching helplessly while the cat manuevered his way out of them, we finally got this Kitty Holster. The price made me weak in the knees compared to the other ones, but we would still be ahead if we would have just tried this one first! We've now had this holster in use for almost 6 months and it still works like a charm.PROS:*Kitty Holster is made of sturdy material, with well-sewn seams. There are no rough edges or any rough spots that could hurt your kitty*Kitty Holster is easier to "dress" kitty in than holsters with the straps and clasps, especially if your kitty likes to play with the straps. You just lay this open over the cat's back, pull one paw through the arm hole, then the other, and then push the velcro closed. Our other regular cat prefers to get dressed "belly up" -- that works too.*If your Kitty has unusual proportions, the velcro strip is strong enough and wide enough that you can angle it slighly, which gives you a tighter fit around the neck and a loser fit around the abdomen.*Machine washable. I washed on cold with a short cycle. It dried quickly and was ready to go. Never felt like the "strap" harnesses got clean.*Cat does not escape. If you have the Kitty Holster "applied" properly, your cat isn't going anywhere unless you let them.CONS:*I wish there was an additional size. Small/Medium worked okay for our 11-month old kitten, but it was on the larger side around the body.CONSIDERATIONS:*If your kitty is particularly sensitive to noise, this may not be the holster for you. Releasing the velcro did take our kitties a while to get used to.*To make sure you have the holster on tight enough, I'd suggest trying it out in the house with an irrisistable treat a few feet away. You just want to ensure that kitty can't escape when kitty really wants to. This doesn't emulate a stress event (dog, motorcycle engine, bigger cat), but it's the closest we've been comfortable with. Of course, kitty gets the treat afterwards.*If you don't like this denim color, search for "Kitty Holster" on Amazon. Depending on what the various sellers have in stock, there are usually a ew others available.

This seems to keep my very athletic cat on the end of a leash for as long as I want her to be. She can get out of it if she tries hard enough, but not so fast that I can't just pick her up and stop her. I've only taken her into the back yard so far, and I would probably never take her more than 50 yards or so away from my house or car with it.It took maybe three weeks (1-2 tries a week, along with putting it in her favorite spots with treats on it every other day or so) to get my cat to accept this enough that she didn't immediately try to Houdini her way out of it when I put it on her. At that point, she acted like it was so super heavy that she couldn't move in it and just slumped over defeated whenever I put it on her. I eventually got her to take a few steps, and then I took her out in the back yard. She was a lot more spooked by the wind than I expected, so we only stayed out a few minutes before I had to carry her back in. The second time, I let her sit in my lap for about ten minutes before she decided she was comfortable enough to get down and look around a bit. After that time, she started begging to be taken outside (I've really never heard her meow that much before), and she let me put the harness on her without a fight. She's still skittish, but she definitely likes to go outside and accepts this harness as part of the deal.I wish the product details included sizing info. My cat is only a year old, but she seems to be as big as she's going to get at around 8 1/2 pounds. The small / medium is way too big for her. I'm hoping the extra small will fit well enough that it won't restrict her movement and she won't be able to get out of it so easily. (It takes her about 30 seconds of effort with this size on her as tightly as possible. Like I said, not a problem if I'm standing there to pick her up, but I wouldn't want to have to carry a terrified cat very far at all.)