OutdoorBengal Houdini™ Escape Proof Cat Harness and Leash (Black, M/L)

Hello, I have changed my review seen below( published 7/24/24) from 1-star to 5-star because it is upgraded & the new version is definitely much improved. The principal designer contacted me after I contacted him by email (not the website). He offered his apology for my issue with the harness. He said the harness had been modified and the neck clip had been upgraded to resist 100lbs of force at the beginning of this year, and he was surprised that the old version was still being sold. He sent me a new one & my 14lb all muscle male Bengal has tested it thoroughly in his efforts to catch chipmunks in our yard. He is quite strong & an amazing gymnast. I like the Houdini harness more than any of the others he’s tried mainly because it offers much more freedom of movement. I do not allow him to backout of it by always keeping the leash behind him, because most cats can escape from most harnesses using that move including all the other escape proof or resistant harnesses we tested (3). The Houdini is lighter weight than the others I tried, and that, and its unique design (it tightens with extra forward strain) are what makes it more comfortable while still being secure. 7/24/24 review follows: This is very hard to do because at first, I loved this harness. It fit well and in early training my Bengal cat Loki tested it well with incredible acrobatics to try and get it off. When I finally left our house with complete confidence that he was secure. We had very pleasant walks until something spooked him and he leaped and twisted in front of me several times and I finally got him calmed down. He was still in the harness but when I bent down to examine him, I found the loop around his neck was very loose and I soon realized that the clasp at the top that keeps the band around his neck that attaches to the leash had snapped. He was seconds away from dashing into the woods. I got him safely into the house and wrote a note to the seller at his "outdoor Bengal" website asking for help, because they don't offer support via Amazon but I did not hear back. So bottom line I can’t recommend this harness because it can come apart releasing your possibly frightened cat into a potentially dangerous situation. Hopefully this review will result an upgrade in this critical component.

I absolutely love this harness. It is very comfortable for my kitty. He adjusted quickly with training and loves romping outside daily. This harness allows for maximum mobility so my kitty can jump, run, leap, lie down, and walk with ease and comfort. It is very easy to put on and extremely secure as long as you’re keeping your harness leash in the “harness safety zone”. That is true for ALL harnesses. The leash safety zone is anywhere from above the cats head to behind the cats head, with slack on the leash ideally. Walking a cat is not like walking a dog. It is for enriching your cat. If you want your cat to be highly mobile while using the harness, it is best to pair it with a form of mobility. Either training your cat to go on the shoulder. Use a backpack carrier. Or Stroller for pets. My cat loves all of these! That will keep your cat moving forward when you want, but also the harness will give you safety and protection for your kitty and allow your kitty to romp and explore along the way. THERE ARE NO ESCAPE PROOF HARNESSES. So you must use proper harness safety technique when walking your kitty. If your harness goes in front of your cats head with a tight leash they CAN pull themselves out of any harness potentially. So you must prevent that position as much as possible. Also, never force your cat. Sometimes my kitty loves going outside (almost every day!) But there are days where he prefers to stay indoors. That’s OK too. I highly recommend watching. Albert & Mia’s YouTube channel @outdoorbengle for additional training instruction, tips & great advice! All of their products are high-quality and amazing. I especially love the Feastfuls kitty chicken treats for daily clicker training. Very healthy and low calorie. I also have the Albert & Mia clicker training kit with cards. And the travel litter box. All excellent quality and highly recommended This harness comes with a 6 foot leash. But we very quickly graduated to a 15 foot and 30 foot leash. I prefer my leash to be brightly colored. You can see in the video how quickly my kitty learned to love the harness. I used gogurt-style treat tubes for training during the first couple weeks. Now I only use the healthy chicken when putting on the harness to keep him still. Which he loves also.! I have a 1 1/2 year old adult Devon Rex male who is 7 1/2 pounds. I purchased the medium. He wears it on the smallest setting. Enjoy!

I was desperately searching for a cat harness that would actually keep my cat secure without being bulky, uncomfortable, or ridiculously easy for her to escape from. I’ve tried other harnesses that looked more like tiny vests and somehow still allowed my cat to wiggle her way right out of them. This one was completely different. The biggest thing I love is how discreet and lightweight it is. It doesn’t have all the extra bulk that so many cat harnesses have, and once it was on my cat, you could barely tell she was wearing anything. In fact, she wore it during our wedding, and you couldn’t even see the harness in our wedding pictures. That was honestly a huge selling point for me because I wanted her to be safely secured without having a bulky harness distracting from her appearance. Even better, my cat seemed extremely comfortable wearing it. She acted as if nothing was on her and wasn’t constantly trying to get it off or fighting against it. That’s a big deal with cats because they can be incredibly dramatic about wearing anything unfamiliar. Most importantly, it feels much more secure than the other harnesses I’ve tried. I was specifically looking for something that would prevent my cat from simply backing out or wiggling free, and this one gave me much more confidence that she was properly secured. Overall, I’m extremely impressed with this harness. It’s lightweight, discreet, comfortable, and much more secure than the bulky harnesses I’ve previously tried. If you have a cat who is an escape artist and you’ve struggled to find a harness they can’t easily wiggle out of, I would absolutely recommend giving this one a try.

I've had this harness for a few years now, and my cat likes it overall. I was hesitant about the design being so minimal and wanted a more jacket-like harness for protection purposes, but my cat hated all the jacket ones I tried - he'd freeze in place. This one he doesn't mind, and he even runs over when he sees me holding it. It fits him well and has held up well through him rolling around in the dirt and grass. My only concern/complaint - and perhaps this is due to user error - is that when my cat flops over on his side and rolls back and forth on the ground, he can get one of his paws out of the space for them, which makes me nervous and causes me to have to bring him inside prematurely. I could probably tighten the straps to lessen the chance of this, but he doesn't necessarily enjoy putting the harness on/wearing it, so it's hard to do many adjustments. I wish the product came with a little booklet or link to an online blog where the manufacturer helps troubleshoot common problems, as I'm sure I'm not the only person who's experienced this. Still, though, my cat is ok with the harness, it's secure enough, and he's able to have his outdoor enrichment time safely. I just have to keep a close eye on him once he starts rolling around.

Especially at first, cat harnesses can seem really uncomfortable to cats, and I think that is because most of them have a lot of fabric that fit your cats like a snug vest or other garment. These harnesses are not like that, and they are just sturdy straps with a somewhat triangular piece of material where the harness makes contact with your cat's chest. Presumably, this is to dissipate any pressure (from the cat pulling) across this material for better comfort. We have hybrid cats, so we wanted to get them used to walking outside in the yard and after some unsuccessful attempts with other harnesses, we luckily found these. The cats were much less hesitant and uncomfortable, and they started exploring right away. On the first outing, we knew these were the right harnesses! They don't really impede your cat's motion, if at all, compared to other harnesses. And if you went outside in the summer with a fur coat, you would not want to be covered with more insulating fabric, so it keeps them cooler, too. They are easy to put on, because you just put it on your cat, and clip the left side together, and then the right side together (somewhere near their left and right "shoulders"). It takes less than 10 seconds from start to finish, especially if you have one person to keep your cat from squirming while you put it on your cat. These are *extremely* adjustable, and you won't have to throw it away and get a new one as your cat grows. Our cats grew really fast in the first several months, and we got about six months out of the smallest size. The female will likely be good for life with the medium size, and the male will likely be good for life with the large size. But our cats are part African Serval, so if you have normal house cats, you might not need the biggest size. Keep in mind that the male is 18 lbs at 9 - 10 months old, and he could likely use a medium-sized harness for a while. So, everyone will want to know if these are, indeed, as secure as the company claims. They definitely are. When a cat tries to pull backward, pulling on the leash will tighten the harness, and the cat will not be able to pull out. You can test this out indoors until you are comfortable with how you have the harness adjusted for the size of your cat, and when you can test its security so that you are sure you won't need to put up any "Have you seen my cat" flyers in and around your neighborhood. When you have the harness adjusted correctly, this will not be an issue at all. I would recommend trying these, even if your cat seems to hate harnesses, because they are very different than the several others we have tried.

This is an effective cat collar and does what they say, it's escape proof (so far ...). Update … my cat has escaped several times since I wrote the review so I am dropping one star. I do have a few quibbles, first off, the price. $35 for a pretty simple design seems high, especially given the knock-offs are about half the price. It's also made in China so no excuse there. The design is quite simple, not sure why it took so long to come up with it. The price isn't a deal breaker though, just a quibble. I do have issues with the tiny plastic quick connect/release clips, my old fingers have a little trouble with them. The clips must be inserted in the correct orientation and to release them requires precise placement of your (preferably small) fingers. Other cat collars have used similar clips, just much larger, and are easier to use. One last thing, I didn't use the included leash, six feet is way too short for my cat. I use a 15-foot retractable dog leash. My wandering buddy needs the ability to wander in the bushes or make a split second dash to get away from the UPS truck!

Finally a harness that works and my cat doesn't hate. There aren't any heavy straps and buckles that a clever cat can get his hind feet under to push off or climb out. If the neck synch is tight enough (one finger of slack- NO MORE) and the other two very small buckles are adjusted the same (one finger of slack) You are set! (if any of these three points are too loose, you will have a loose kitty to contend with! Remember to ALWAYS have this (or other leashes) trail behind your cat to help prevent unwanted escapes - as long as there isn't tension in the line, the escape artist has nothing to push against for leverage to get out of the harness

This is an excellent harness. My boy got out of all of the others in a flash. This one self adjusts if needed and is very secure. Not the prettiest, but definitely the only one I would trust with an houdini cat.

Confiable

Conoscevo il brand perché li seguo sui canali social. In passato ho avuto problemi con altre pettorine, magari scomode da mettere e togliere, macchinose da regolare, anelli che si spezzavano al primo strattone. Il mio British Shorthair "Momo Chan" ora è felice di fare le passeggiate in sicurezza, ci si mette 30 secondi a metterla. È veramente ben fatta e a prova di fuga! Ho preso la taglia più grande, l ho regolata e credo mi vada bene per parecchio tempo. Momo è bello massiccio, pesa 6 kg e non ha neanche un anno.

I have bought many harnesses and although some are good, this one is great. This harness works exactly as Albert has designed it to work. Thank you.

Light harness which allows cat to move freely. Easy to adjust.

Was looking for a lightweight harness as she hated ones with too much fabric. This fits perfect and is so nice and light! She also tried backing of it today and with quite a bit of strength. Safe to say she did not succeed :-) Ps her name is Blair