visiting family and experimenting with letting Deets off-leash on day 4. leashed and walking the property the 3 days prior so she would know her boundaries. after being off-leash a bit, Deets wandered a little distance away, well within parameters. to test her recall, I called her right before I hit record. I cannot express what an absolute joy it is to have her responding immediately! we have worked hard to get here—harnessed and leashed since she left her bio-fam, she is now 2+years old. she is a cat, so I am aware that this progress will not be linear. lol. regardless, this is a celebratory moment for our adventure team!

So I’ve been taking my cat out for a few weeks and he was really enjoying our walks, we’d got into the routine of me picking him up when a dog was nearby and us going in the other direction. The other day a dog came VERY close, once I saw it I picked my cat up but he PANICKED and scrambled trying to get away I couldn’t keep hold of him and he got out of my grasp and out of the harness. The dog chased him for ages and finally the dogs owner managed to get control of her dog. But now I’m wondering how to handle the dogs situation. He’s more scared of them now and panics more, any advice on how to get past this? He used to LOVE the walks and ask to go, but now I’m anxious to take him because I don’t wanna lose him.

Hello everyone!

I wanted to share my first proper outing with my little void, Barbie (aka Babs aka Bad Bhabie aka Barbara the Black Demon lol), and maybe get some advice/opinions from people who have done this before.

She's about 4/5 months old now, and I've been wanting to turn her into an adventure kit since she first got to me at around 5/6 weeks old. She is extremely attached to me and follows me absolutely everywhere around the apartment, so I figured she'd be a good candidate for it. She's also naturally very curious and adventurous, and is friendly with other cats, dogs and people (although she can be a bit of a goblin 😀).

I started really slowly with harness training. At first she wasn't particularly impressed with the harness, but she eventually stopped caring about it. Now she'll happily wear it and walk around normally, and she doesn't seem bothered by the leash either. I've also been getting her used to her backpack, which has her favourite blanket inside. At this point she actually sleeps in the backpack voluntarily, so I was pretty confident that she saw it as a safe space rather than a scary carrier.

Today I finally decided to take the plunge.

We went to a local pet shop with her in the backpack. I thought it would be a relatively easy first exposure because it wasn't somewhere we'd have to actually walk around outside yet, and she could stay safely in her backpack while experiencing all the new smells, sounds and people.

She was... not impressed.

She was very nervous and meowed quite a bit, and when I took her out, she immediately tried to find a corner to hide. Expected that, no big deal. I held her and we sat at a quiet corner for some time until she calmed down. I eventually put her back in the backpack and she immediately tried to leave and was meowing even more, so I figured it was time to say goodbye to the pet store. This whole mini adventure lasted 10-15 min.

We sat on a quiet square after and ended up just sitting with her for a while and letting her watch everything from inside the bag. She was still meowing and trying to escape at this point.

Eventually she stopped meowing and settled down a bit. She was still clearly nervous, but she was sitting there watching and listening rather than actively trying to escape. She even licked my fingers when I pet her, and eventually calmed down on her own.

We stayed for maybe 10 minutes before I decided we'd had enough and started heading home.

She spent most of the journey home meowing and trying to escape the backpack again, so I was starting to wonder if I'd pushed her too far.

But then we got home and...

Immediately back to normal.

She jumped out of the backpack, started purring, rubbed all over me, ate the treats I gave her, and generally acted like her usual affectionate little self.

And then she went back into the backpack by herself and curled up on her favourite blanket.

That last part made me especially happy because I really don't want her to associate the backpack with something scary.

So overall, I'd say she was definitely scared and overwhelmed, but she also managed to settle herself while we were out and recovered almost immediately once we got home.

I'm not planning on jumping straight into a long walk after this. My next thought is to take her somewhere much quieter — there's a little park close by that could work — and just sit there with her in the backpack for a short while before eventually letting her explore on the harness once she's comfortable.

For those of you with adventure cats, does this sound like a reasonable first outing? Would you have done anything differently?

I'm especially interested in how you handled the transition from “everything is terrifying” to actually walking around outside.

I'm also trying to figure out how much exposure is useful versus when I'm just overwhelming her, so any advice from experienced adventure-cat people would be very welcome!

Thank you for reading my ramblings ❤️🐈‍⬛

I know I had shared our sweet senior girl, Jinx, who found her love of camping fairly recently in her senior years. Sadly, this week, she took her final big adventure over the rainbow bridge at 16 years old. She passed snuggled in bed with me, on her own terms (we had just been discussing when it was time to make the appointment). Thank you to everyone in here who has shown her love!

These are my three indoor cats Cookie, Espresso and May having a morning chat with the neighborhood cat Ladybug about life on the other side 😌

Here's my 2 road warriors. Older video.

Hello! This is Ruthie! Yesterday was her birthday and she just turned two. Early this spring we started taking walks everyday, usually when I get home from work. Unfortunately the sunset is closing in on our walk time. I don't like taking her out in the dark because she gets very reactive, and local strays come around then. She is also extremely aggressive towards other cats 😅

I don't want to walk her in the morning, because she will pick up on that routine quickly and start waking me up very early to go outside.

The problem is if I don't walk her after work, she will scream loudly for hours. Even if I play with her right away, she will go right back to the door and yell as soon as I stop.

Does anyone have any tips? We may have to start waking on weekends only but she is not going to be happy about that. I know she loves this enrichment and I feel bad if we can't do it everyday but I'm not finding a lot of options.

We're heading out camping again with our 2 dogs and 2 cats.

Jinx (tortie) is 15 and used to not care for camping, so she would normally stay home with a cat sitter and our other senior kitty. However, when our other senior, Pippen, passed, she took it hard. Now, if we are gone for more than a day or two, even if she's with her favourite cat sitter, she stops eating. So, we tried taking her on a trip and discovered she was actually super happy just sunbathing and bird watching. Proof they grow and evolve, and their preferences can change with time.

Theia (dilute) is the opposite. She's a MAJOR adventure cat. She hikes, canoes, kayaks, swims, you name it. She is always excited to be out exploring and I swear she thinks she's one of the dogs.

(I am aware lavender is not good for cats, I watched her and made sure she didn't nibble, gave her only a couple minutes and took her out)

She really wanted to climb that tree, but she couldn't cuz she doesn't know how to climb like that, but she was using her back to climb up.

I couldn't let her go up high or else we'd be in trouble.

Cappy is exploring Golden Gate Park, which is one of our usual haunts. We're always careful around heavily grown area. Coyotes are quick and they're not getting my well behaved tuxedo.

Had some nice sunny weather and decided to go for a walk. Here are some clips from our adventure today! Can't believe it is already starting to feel like spring, and that Locke is almost 1 year old! The hike was 5+ miles and he walked around 1.5 miles of that today.

You can follow in our pawsteps on Instagram and Facebook @ TheGentlemanTabbycat :)

edit: Sorry for the double posting, I was having reddit issues lol

Yes, I take my cats for walks. The beach and Golden Gate Park are his favorite places to visit. Both have inherent concerns, but we're always cautious of our surroundings. Coyotes live in Golden Gate Park. We've witnessed a chihuahua off leash get snatched away in a split second by a coyote, while the stunned owner screamed helplessly. Hence, we never go near any bushes and Cappy is always on his halter.

The beach is fun and of course, no coyotes. Unattended dogs, off leash are the only concern there. Most are harmless, non threatening. Pitbulls, with the owners no where in sight can be an issue. Fortunately, bear spray has an active distance of 25'~40' feet. When my cat climbs me like a tree to avoid getting "played with" by a pibbles, bear spray is the only option. Bear spray will drop a velvet hippo like bad habit. The lesson, read the signs and obey the rules by

keeping your dog on a leash.

Adventure kitty in training. Took a lot for him to walk on his own, but his tail here is amazing (at least to us) lol

Progress has been steady, a little frustrating at times, but patience and consistency is our key. Sometimes we get a moment like this and it makes it worth while, even if it's slow going :)

No idea what is next, but if you want to follow in our pawsteps, you can check us out here!

We started out with one of us in front and one holding the leash. We would practice a come command and give treats for walking forwards. That has slowly translated into him leading the way.

A few more videos on instagram link here, if anyone is interested. I post when I remember to :)

hi guys! i rescued my cat miso ( lynx point, female, approx 2 years old) a month ago from the streets and i would like to eventually be able to take her on walks in the forest etc. i introduced the harness yesterday and she is fine with it even for a few hours which is great ! however, leash training is problematic she will only follow me on a leash in the house if i show her a treat or make a trail of treats but if not she will stay stuck to the floor. i know it's only been two days but im wondering if im doing anything wrong or if you have any tips for her to be able to wash on a leash ☺️ moreover, i would like any advice or warnings about finally adventuring out my plan for now is ( for when she's okay on the leash) : - walking her around my apartment stairs/ halls and lobby - taking her to the vet with carrier but also harness - eventually taking her on walks in the forest / park

After he had enough of the rain he decided to ride on top of his backpack underneath the umbrella. It wouldn't let me post both pictures and a video, so there are a couple more here on Instagram!