#adventurecats love to surf, swim and hike
Meet Leon the adventure cat. He adores kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding and long walks on his leash. Above all, though, he is most excited about hiking quiet trails in the woods, but his owner says he is willing to go anywhere in his cat pack.
“Leon always wants to go,” says his owner, Megan Ferney. “His harness hangs by the front door, and he often tries to put it on himself because he knows that means he gets to go outside or in the car.”
Gary, a spunky, domestic long-haired cat, is particularly fond of “meowtaineering” trips and has been known to gladly trek across a glacier and join his owner on ski excursions. By that, I mean, he rides atop his owner’s shoulders – often while sporting ski googles and puffy vests – while said owner is careening down the ski slopes.
Believe it or not, these intrepid cats with a taste for the outdoors are not an anomaly. Search #adventurecats on Instagram, for example, and you’ll see more than 300,000 photos of cats accompanying their humans on outdoor excursions. Think: camping, climbing boulders, jogging and rock climbing.
Among these courageous cats are, Suki the 3-year-old Bengal who has traveled to 13 countries and loves canoeing. And Hokule’a, the surfing cat on Oahu who happily spends hours on a surfboard and isn’t afraid to launch himself into the salt water for a quick swim.
This begs the question: How exactly did these cats end up so brave and bold when so many cats are just the opposite? For Leon’s owner, who lives in a tiny house in Spokane, Washington, it was out of necessity. She knew he needed
more space to explore in order to be happy and healthy. And allowing him to roam wasn’t safe in that area. So she bought him a harness and the training began.
“I knew that I wanted Leon to associate the harness with good, fun things,” she recalls. “I attempted to give him treats as an award for putting it on, but he was so frantic for the treats, I’m not sure if he understood he got them after it was on or not. It worked though, and every time I picked up the harness he came sprinting over.”
The next step was getting him to actually move while wearing the harness.
“That can be difficult because a lot of cats flop over on their sides and remain statue-like until the harness is removed,”
she says. “I’d leave the harness on for longer and longer periods of time, up to a few hours if I was at home. It wasn’t too long until he was accustomed to it and did all of his normal cat things with his harness on.”
Since then, Leon has conquered tons of hiking trails in his home state and has done his fair share of camping in Idaho and road-tripping on the Oregon Coast.
Laura Moss, co-founder of adventurecats.org and author of “Adventure Cats: Living Nine Lives to the Fullest,” says she thinks it’s becoming more mainstream. “I’ve been writing about pets for years for various publications, and taking cats on adventures has been around long before my website or social media existed. We just became a place for this community to share stories and photos and swap advice.”
Think your feline has the makings of an #adventurecat? Moss can help you with the next step: you can find leashtraining techniques on her website.
“Some cats take to a harness very easily,” says Moss. “This is especially true with kittens who are very open to new experiences, so if you can begin leash training from a young age, that’s ideal. However, some cats, especially older ones, may take a bit longer – but it’s still possible. Just practice patience and start slow.”
“Older cats can sometimes be more difficult to train, but it totally depends on the cat,” she says. “We’ve been on walks with a senior cat named Pan in Central Park who was adopted from an New York City shelter when he was 10plus years old. He rides the subway, hikes, and recently moved to England where he continues to explore.”
Regardless, you never know what will happen day to day, so stay flexible.
“One of the challenges of traveling with a cat or training a cat can be its sensitivity to the environment,” says Martina Gutfreund, Suki’s owner. “Sometimes it’s too hot, too windy, or Suki just doesn’t like a certain place. You have to be prepared to call it quits upon arriving somewhere if your kitty isn’t feeling it. We try to look at weather conditions and plan ahead as best as we can, but there are times where we have head back home.”
So, can any cat potentially be an adventure cat? The answer is no.
“Not all cats are going to be comfortable on a harness or outdoors, especially if they’re used to living indoors,” says Moss. “There are a lot of sights, scents and sounds that can be overwhelming and even intimidating. Take things slowly.”
ACROSS
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Musketeers” author
6 Estimate the price
of
11 Taste of wine
14 Foolish
15 Presses in the
laundry room
16 Fancy notebooks?
17 Change the direction of one’s somersault?
19 Install, as carpet
20 Related to motion
21 Golf gimme
23 NBC comedy show
24 NYC home of Carrie
Mae Weems prints
27 Like a fruitcake
29 Recolored
32 What two sculpture gallery curators may do?
34 Clippers star
Williams
36 Smoked salmon
37 Zoomed along
38 Doubt some yoga
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42 Corporate ladder
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44 Opposite of max.
45 Determine the correct coverlet size?
48 Frittata ingredients
51 “John Wick” actor
Reeves
52 Saint Laurent of
fashion 54 56
58 61 62 65
66 67
68
69 70
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DOWN
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5 Splinter group
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8 “u r so funny!”
9 One may be named
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10 Seville’s nation, in
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11 Separations
12 “You’re blocking
my view!”
13 One-named K-pop
star 18
22 25
26 28 30
31 33
35 38
39 40
41 42
46 47
49 50 53 55 57 59
60
61 63
64
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CHALLENGER
Directions: Try to beat today’s challenge time. Fill in each square with a number from 1-9. Horizontal squares should add up to totals on right. Vertical squares should add to totals on bottom. Diagonal squares through center should add to total in upper and lower right.