I finally went and bought a 16 foot retractable lead so I take Fil on walks and not be limited by the short 4 foot leash that I had been using. More freedom for the cat, I thought. Great idea, right? Not quite.

The retractable bit makes this noise that spooks the shit out of Fil and every time I would engage it, she would flip around, get this startled look in her eyes and refuse to move forward. She was very serious about it. One time she freaked out so badly that she squirmed out of her harness and I had to track her down, which wasn't too hard since all she really wanted to do was nibble on the flowers and the grass.

I did the only thing I could which was to take the lead off, carry her down to the shore and let her run around off leash, which she loves. I think she'll get used to the new leash and over time it won't be a big problem. clearly I need to tighted her harness so she doesn't flip out into demented ferret mode and escape.