I took my cat for a walk tonight. And he went with me, harnessed and leashed, quite happily trotting along by my side. I'd always suspected he might be suited to it, but was too embarrassed to try. Still, I'm pretty sure we've already convinced the neighbours that we're strange and foreign, since we've been taking the cats out into the back garden with harnesses and tie-outs for a few months now, and I’ve spent a good deal of time running in circles round the apple tree dragging lures behind me. It's a small step from that to final certifiable cat-walking insanity, though notably I still needed the cover of darkness to try it. It was an entirely lovely experience.
In fact, for the past two or three weeks I’ve been taking both cats out into the garden morning and evening without harnesses, having discovered that one isn’t too quick at working out how to climb over the fence (though he makes daily forays into the apple tree, from which he has to be rescued), and the other is generally happy to sit around watching things pass by. They like being out there, and I want them to get that exercise and stimulation as much as possible - but if I can find a compromise that stops them being squished by a car or rejoining that huge lost cat population we glimpsed when we were adopting, I’ll take it. Even if I do look crazy.
In fact, for the past two or three weeks I’ve been taking both cats out into the garden morning and evening without harnesses, having discovered that one isn’t too quick at working out how to climb over the fence (though he makes daily forays into the apple tree, from which he has to be rescued), and the other is generally happy to sit around watching things pass by. They like being out there, and I want them to get that exercise and stimulation as much as possible - but if I can find a compromise that stops them being squished by a car or rejoining that huge lost cat population we glimpsed when we were adopting, I’ll take it. Even if I do look crazy.
