Dunas & Cats

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Chipiona
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Dunas & Cats

Postby Chipiona » Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:43 am

:wave: We are moving to Spain for the coming winter with our Bengal cat girl. She takes daily walks outside wearing harness, never running free. She usually walks about 2 kilometers at the time. We will settle first to the beach little further away from swimming beach, near dunas. It will be September already then. We are thinking that it would be so great to take her for walks to the dunes but ...
Is it prohibited by law to take cats/dogs to the dunes for a walk (if they are wearing harness and leash) :?:

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Trooperman
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby Trooperman » Fri Apr 20, 2018 9:18 am

Here's some info for you:

https://www.ruralidays.co.uk/blog/dog-f ... cia-spain/

Can't vouch for its absolute accuracy, but sounds about right from what I know and have seen on notices whilst walking my dog near Casares beach.

As for cats.... :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?:
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Gasman
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby Gasman » Wed Apr 25, 2018 4:52 pm

You will find that out of season dogs are tolerated on beaches even, and most places will allow exercising under control (off lead but with good recall) on the dunes and public walkways away from the beach itself. Never seen any notices about cats though ... you will probably get some surprised looks with a cat on a lead, but cant imagine any protests!
The reason for the ruling against dogs - it goes for childrens play areas too - is that their excrement is supposed to be prone to carrying a nasty which children are particularly susceptible to, hence keeping dogs away from areas that are frequented by infants ... If there are no holidaymakers on the beach the dogs can have free access - at least that is the theory. I do not believe cats carry the same nasty!

MartinBeard
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby MartinBeard » Tue May 29, 2018 7:25 pm

OP, I have a question in regards to your cat. How long did it take you to get it to walk comfortably outside for about 2km a day? I've been trying with mine, but it seems extremely skittish outside. Is there anything special that you did to make it easier? I would love to travel with my cat and have it explore the way it seems your bengal cat can

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costakid
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby costakid » Tue May 29, 2018 9:12 pm

Well cat Sh=t is a lot worse than dogs. Also where are you heading for? You mention dunes but not all of the coast has dunes.

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Chipiona
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby Chipiona » Sat Jun 16, 2018 10:52 am

I'm mostly worried about bird life and nests in dunes. If dogs/cats walk there in leash they still can cause distraction to bird life. That was my original concern about cats taking walks in dunes and if the dunes are protected by law because of birds nesting there.

Trooperman, thanks for your answer and the link.
Gasman, thanks for your answer. I don't think our cat goes to the beach because she doesn't like open spaces and she's a little bit scared of sea. If there are rocks by the sea she will go there voluntarily jumping on rocks. But she would be walking fine near dunes.
MartinBeard, I try to answer some of your questions below:
>>How long did it take you to get it to walk comfortably outside for about 2km a day? - We got her at the age of 3 months. It was then cold outside and since she was so little she didn't go outside immediately but after the first week I started to dress her a tiny harness that I had made her and she had it on few minutes per day at first. She accepts the harness on because the reward is: getting to go outside! When she's outside she doesn't even notice she has harness on. So, one answer could be little by little and by giving rewards and your cat might learn to wear harness easily. Our Bengal cat has endless interest to walk/run so she just goes ahead, there was no special teaching for her to walk long distances. Sometimes (mid day) she just likes to sit down and watch something, walking is easier early in the morning or later at night when it's cooler. I remember before I dressed her the harness outside, I did take her to the park and by the sea (in the north) in her carrier box where she felt safe. If we go to a far away, strange place with lots of noise we still take her carrier bag/back bag so she can go there and feel safe if needed. But in general she's very brave.
Sure it would be nice if you could travel with your cat. I hope it works out well for you both. Bengals are extremely brave, curious, muscular, they need lots of activity. There are two major reasons why we got a Bengal cat and not a rescue from shelter: one is that I'm extremely allergic to cats but not to Bengal cats and two: Bengals are known to go walks outside easily in harness and leash and we wanted just that (almost) like dogs do.
costakid, we're heading to Chipiona. We might spend some time in Matalascañas also, it depends how it all works out.

Thanks everyone for your answers.

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patricia
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby patricia » Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:56 am

Well I adopted a cat aged 14 at the time - her owner had died - I was told that she was an indoor cat but that is obviously not so and she looks for ways to get out. So what I did was at first buy a harness for the Chinese shop just to get her used to wearing one and then I purchased a harness which is more robust and fro which a cat cannot escape. I have taken it very slow with her. I put the harness on for a little bit longer each day and the I attached the lead to it and let her walk around with it on. I have now been taken her out for a little walk and I make it longer each day. She is a lot happier for having been outside. This is only my first week and although at first she was nervous. I just took my time and eventually she began to explore her surroundings. I will up the time each day until it is about an hour. I am also getting her used to travelling in the car so she can get used to being in and going off for a few juants. There are too many ghastly things that happen to cats and as stated the do kill a lot of mammals and birds.
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Chipiona
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby Chipiona » Wed Jun 27, 2018 12:53 pm

Patricia, thank for the photo and story.

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patricia
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Re: Dunas & Cats

Postby patricia » Thu Jun 28, 2018 9:12 am

costakid wrote:Well cat Sh=t is a lot worse than dogs. Also where are you heading for? You mention dunes but not all of the coast has dunes.
If they are indoor cats they go in a litter tray so there is no problem with cats on a lead doing a poo in the sand or anywhere else come to that. I do not think cat poo is worse then dog poo, however I do think that cat owners should use a litter tray whether they go out or not to stop them pooing in other peoples gardens, not to mention that owners are able to stop if something is wrong with their cat. Only sensible way to go.
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