Chapter 9 / Walking The Do.....Cat / The Walkabouts

in catsofsteemit •  6 years ago  (edited)

Walking The Dog Cat / The Walkabouts

I had learned of this other Trucking kitty named "LAVA" on an Episode of Animal Planets - Cats 101. The episode with the Bombay breed. There are many more videos of him online. DuckDuckGo Search LAVA the cat

(Coming Soon Chapter 10 / LAVA Needs Rescued) R.I.P.

Here is a Photo of LAVA when we picked Him up on our Rescue Mission. Samantha was PISSED.....

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Little did I know that our paths would cross with LAVA later in life. But as you can guess from the upcoming chapters title, that it will be about him, and our paths were destined to cross. He was also the inspiration for "The Leash"

The Video link below is for the Bit Tube sites Russian Version of the Animal Planets Cats 101 episode with Lava the trucking cat in it. Google and it's "You Boobs Tube" with the out of control bias & censorship is HORRIBLE!! They removed the American LAVA full length version. Yet all other episodes are available? Please do not traffic GhoulGhoul sites. Or any other biased, censored, socialist, social media sites.

https://bit.tube/play?hash=KmR4CjPTOmA&channel=UCqm9LnMXGws_QZlXBqaUeNg&isyt=true

At the 1:48 mark LAVA shows us what an AWESOME trucking cat He is. If your not up to speed on your Russian, just turn the sound down. The American edited version only has a minute or so of LAVA

THE LEASH & HARNESS

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These 2 things are just not usually in the same sentence as the word "CAT." But after seeing this amazing LAVA, the trucking cat, on television, we just had to try it. Putting a harness on Sammi Jo would be a dangerous task to say the least. Samantha fought it all the way, We planned ahead and trimmed her claws before attempting this suicide mission. Of course I put it on backwards the first time. With the help of my wife Kelly, and Sammi Jo being nearly 4 years old and slightly less aggressive after Her spay operation. We got the harness on. She just sat there, it was as if the harness robbed her of the ability to walk.

DISGUSTED / CONFUSED

Sammi Jo @ Billings MT 8-16-15 (20).jpg

She just sat there with a disgusted / confused look on her furry little face. It took Sam Sam nearly 20 minutes to realize that She could stand up and walk. Even then it was robotic and slow. She was NOT happy about this new harness. We had never even put a collar on her.
The harness was actually made for a rabbit. But it fit her very well and had plenty of adjustment to it as well as elastic to stretch and fit snug, but not too tight. We left it on her for an hour or so. When we took it off her, it was like a jail break. She ran from one end of the house to the other.

PURR-FECT WALKABOUT CONDITIONS

Sammi Jo @ Construction Site GA 3-29-15.jpg

We have gone on many Walkabouts over the years. I have photos of 7 or so, times that were great. There were several that were near disasters. I learned really quickly that the conditions have to be just right. There needs to be very little noise. Calm weather with little to no wind. No other pets nearby. No trains, planes & automobiles (trucks / airbrakes) These conditions are very hard to find out here in this madness that is life on the road. Now that Jessi Tux has joined us out here on the road since 2016. Samantha seems to be happy just to stay in the truck. They keep each other feeling safe. And there is so much out here on the road to scare them, and me.

(Chapter xx - Sammi & Jessi / A Love Story)

THE BUNNY HARNESS

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The "bunny harness" just did not seem strong enough, and I knew if Sammi Jo wanted to, or got spooked. She could break right free of it. So I doubled down. I started putting a second harness over top of the "Bunny Harness."

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I could not even imagine trying to do 2 cats at once on a walkabout. My Aunt Susan Butler has done this with Her 2 Boys Loki & Jasper. It brings to mind that "Herding Cats Commercial" that was shown during the super bowl 10 years back. WOW..!! Has it really been that long? One of our all time fave commercials.

FENDER SITTIN'

We have a shorter version of a "Kitty Walkabout" that is just a 5-10 minute walk around the truck. With a few minutes of fender time mixed in. This also has to be in a calmer quieter area than we normally see. If it is not Samantha will let me know. I have leaned to read her body language quite well. When conditions are wrong. we have to make a quick retreat to the safety of the truck. As seen in our latest walkabout post. There have been several times that while on the harness I let her try to get into the truck on her own, like LAVA did in some of his videos. She had trouble with the jump. While trying to do the whole distance, instead of using the steps. This was not a good idea, as I had to catch her as She fell backwards off of the side of the truck.

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I'm not so sure I would like a harness either. As far as that goes, I'm not sure I'd like outside either regardless of no wind or noise or anything. I like my indoor life just fine, but it's great you get to take your kitties with you. Enjoy and have a purrr-fect day!

Awesome post and stories!

Harnesses are pretty essential for "road cats" because it's just too darn risky out there when you're free roaming. My Hooman has harness trained a couple of the cats that have lived here, and it was easy enough because the harness was introduced when they were kittens and just 8-10 weeks old. Brady bounced around like a fish on land for a few minutes and then just settled in. Kramer took a little longer... but he got to quite like the harness because it was always associated with "playtime."

I have not personally been harness trained, but I don't get to go any further than the back deck... with Hooman supervision.

And I'm OK with that... I like my cushy, well-fed inside life!

=^..^=

I bought a cat harness and tried it on Larry when he was younger. Larry was more of a normal cat to listen to me then his brothers Moe and Curly. It wrapped around him fastened with velcro. He hated it and walked like a cripple but when outside he started to get the hang of it until. In the front of the house a vehicle went by that made Larry want out of the harness no matter what. He turned around and twisted back and forth straining on the leash until he broke free. Luckily I was able to get him back in the house. Great post @krazzytrucker

Thanx @manorvillemike and you are right. My Aunt Susan had Her 2 Boys Loki & Jasper freak out several times and "back" right out of thier harness.

Lucky i have been close enough the several times to Scoop Her up B4 the Freak Out Show starts.

And what is kinda cool is SammiJo will run to me when scared. Ya don't see alot of that from a "Cat"

That makes me feel kinnnnda special. But not in the mentally challenged sort of way..... MOL (meow out loud)

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Gonna have to tell the story of Mommy cat and her outside mishap.

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I've always wanted to walk our cats, they refuse to wear any leashes, lol. They sort of just collapse on the floor and demand I remove it.

They have us trained and they don't even have to use a leash on us :-)

haha so true.

Howdy again sir krazzytrukker! Sam Sam is rather particular when it comes to conditions to be outside isn't she? lol. But two harnesses is a smart idea. Did you guys ever talk about getting your pets tagged with that GPS tracker or whatever they call that?