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T discovery that nearly a sixth of feline guardians in the United Kingdom employ a lead – if you can call it newsworthy to anyone other than cat people including me – brought forth a combination of sentiments. Similar to anything that makes me think of my mad small feline, Mackerel, they were a cocktail of regret, confusion and affection.

Let’s Begin with Regret.

The charity Feline Welfare has warned against the usage of leashes – as in, leads – due to how they induce cats undue stress by suppressing their runaway reflex and causing them to feel confined. I did not know this when I acquired a lead for Mackerel, though I worked it out quickly by her reaction, which was to feign death the second you placed it on her. Now, I didn’t buy a lead without doubts, although rather shallowly it was my self-perception that finally made me discard it. Here is what I penned in 2020 (in my publication A Cat-Filled Year, which was centered around how I adopted Mackerel during an intense period of parental longing and Covid-related seclusion):

“Occasionally I imagine myself from an outsider's view: a childless, thirtysomething freelancer with a feline on a leash that won’t cooperate, and I can’t help but note that this is not how I imagined my life unfolding.”

Cats Have a Tendency of Putting You in Your Place.

They have a way of putting you in your place, cats, though it must be said Mackerel has always been an oddball. She enjoys coffee, for instance, and once watched the entirety of that movie (approximately the suitable target-audience level for that movie, in my opinion). But let’s not stray off topic. The cause I felt bewilderment when I discovered the one in six of pet parents utilizing leashes is as it caused me to ponder: just who are all these obedient, obedient cats that meekly walk on the footpath with their owners? I see them on the roads sometimes and always marvel in disbelief. It’s the same sensation I have each time I observe a image of a cat sporting a ridiculous outfit: namely, how does its human continue to possess their vision?

In My Case, It's Certainly Not an Unreasonable Question.

For me, it's certainly not an illogical inquiry. When my son was a newborn, I was forced to attend an eye specialist clinic since Mackerel had clawed my cornea as I attempted to sleep. She perceived my uncommon period of relaxation as an opportunity to hunt my twitching eye. Considering what she’s capable of during my reclining, you can only guess her behavior if you attempted to costume her in papal attire. Thus, I've come to terms with my deficiency in authority over her.

Much Like Animal Charities, I Hold Firm Views.

Much like Cats Protection, I hold definite beliefs about the freedoms of felines to independence. Raised in the countryside, I was once strongly opposed to the very idea of an indoor cat, let alone the ridiculous idea of a feline on a leash. It seemed to me that it contradicted nature. Later, I encountered Mackerel, who – after a too-early separation from her parent and an disturbing trip to a veterinarian for spaying at which point he realized that she was missing a reproductive organ – categorically rejected to venture outdoors. This despite being given ample opportunity. The leash was our effort to acclimatise her to the great outdoors. Almost six years later, she is still hasn't step over the doorstep of her personal choice.

These Days, Consequently, I Make an Effort To Refrain from Criticizing.

These days, for that reason, I try hard to refrain from criticizing other cat people. Pet parents love to criticize each other, perhaps even more than parents do. A growing number of individuals give the impression of regarding their animals as if they are their actual offspring (not helped by the vets who refer to you as “Mom” and, comically, insist on assigning them your last name). In some instances when out and about I have gazed into a baby carrier expecting to see a newborn but instead discovered, with a start, a kitty or little pooch gazing in return. Worse, the other day my spouse and I were crossing the road and he indicated a man wearing one of those child harnesses. “What an ugly child!” he remarked. I was on the verge of rebuke him as I examined it further and noticed that the carrier held not a child, but a small ginger cat.

I Am as Guilty as Anybody.

I'm just as culpable as everyone of treating my cat as a proxy kid. However, I question if, in the same way that kids have reduced independence than they once had, the same is happening of some cats. One aspect of my personality was relieved when Mackerel decided to be an inside-only kitty. The hazards affecting kitties – cars, foxes, criminals, XL bullies, poison – haven’t changed, but maybe our overprotectiveness has. Humans aim to protect their dear “{fur babies|pet children