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 😊.
