This casually made video is of my cat accompanying me on my daily walk to the local petrol (gas) station to buy the newspaper. Note: I added the blizzard for fun. It was cold, dark and wet but there was no blizzard ?. Blizzards are pretty rare in the UK in the south. The north has them. I am about to leave my home with him this morning. He’s currently on my legs while I type this in bed. It is a bit late today as I have to go to the supermarket at 07:00 (opening time) to buy some stuff. There is more traffic so I am more cautious with him. Update: the event went well and I bought some king prawn treats for him.
It is a routine that we have got into. I’m sure he enjoys it. He likes to be with me when I go outside. I buy the newspaper early partly to protect him. You can see that we live in suburbia. Road traffic accidents are the biggest hazard for him. But at 6:30 in the morning there is very little traffic. After we have gone together for about 200 yards, he waits under a hedge by the side of the road for me to buy the paper and return. When I return, I call his name and he emerges from the hedge and joins me for the walk home. It’s all about routines.
I know that in a better world my cat would love to join me whenever I was outside. It’s obviously impractical although I am considering retraining him to walk on a lead so that I can take him to Richmond Park. That is fraught with problems and difficulties but I think it is viable. There are dogs in Richmond Park and deer, of course (it is famous for its deer). But I believe that with certain precautions in place it’s workable. He does walk along with me as you can see in the video. I believe that he can be fully leash trained. I have in fact leash trained him before so he is already partially trained.
It would be another way for him and I to be together exploring the outside safely. It’s all about making his life as much fun as possible while keeping him safe. An issue that I have is that cat leashes must be completely safe by which I mean the harness section must be secure. When domestic cats become frightened, they can wriggle out of almost anything. I therefore need to purchase a harness and lead which meets my strict requirements ?.
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