Walking

Have you ever tried to take your cat for a walk on a harness and leash. If your cat was like my Tyler then he must have been sniffing everything (including ant hills), sitting down in the dirt to lick his paws, then racing off again after seeing a bird. In the meantime, your arm is feeling like it has been pulled out of its socket. You probably never knew your cat had that much strength.

My family and I keep our cats indoors all the time, since our area in southern California is desert, there are desert animals, including coyotes that would love to make a cute kittie into dinner. There are other reasons why they are indoors too, but that is the main one.

Tyler is fascinated with the outdoors and will go outside whenever he gets the chance. Wiggles doesn't care as much, because he was a barn cat and lived outside before we got him anyway. Anywho, whenever my mom, dad and I would go for a family walk, Tyler would always watch us go and meow sad goodbyes. We thought about taking him on a leash with us, but after remembering the last time, plus the HOT ground we decided against that. Still, we felt bad for Tyler so we got him a cat stroller.

Now he LOVES to go for walks. He loves it so much that we actually have to spell the word W-A-L-K when we want to go by ourselves, because if we don't, Tyler will be at our feet in less than thirty seconds meowing and going by "his buggy," then coming back to us. It is very cute. All we have to say is, "Tyler, do you want to go for a walk?" and he will jump down from the couch and hop right in.

He will lay down in it and when we get home he will hop down, make a trip to the litter box, get something to eat, then settle down for a nice cat nap just like nothing had happened.


If you are feeling sorry for poor Wiggles being left alone while the four of us go on a nice walk, don't. We tried to take him for a walk many times, but when we put him in he jumped right back out before we could even touch the zipper, let alone zip it up. So instead he is our welcoming committee. Whenever we get home he is always by the door and meowing (not a sad and lonely one, but a "hi its nice to see ya again" kind).

"There are few things in life more heartwarming than to be welcomed by a cat"

Tay Hohoff