Arnie
Arnie started exploring as a kitten and loves cuddles and her unicorn.
What is Arnie’s favourite thing to do?
Snuggle on her Dads chest in the morning!
He'll get up and do her some breakfast (and a cup of tea) and then come back to bed for ten minutes. After Arnie has finished her food she'll run into our bed and snuggle under his chin for ten mins!
It's the cutest thing you have ever seen! Lots of purrs and wet nose bumps to the face!
What is Arnie’s favourite food and toy?
Arnie has just started transitioning on to raw food and she seems pretty stoked on beef right now!
Her favourite pre-made raw brand seems to be Red Dog Blue Kat right now and her favourite canned food is Merrick.
Her favourite toy is a Unicorn!
When we first met Arnie we had Unicorn already in her carrier for her to snuggle on the way home!
What kind of catexploring does Arnie do?
Arnie is being harness trained so little walks at the park and lake right now but hopefully we can progress on to hikes when she's older.
She is also getting trained to ride in a little backpack too!
Arnie loves our adventures to the pet store too and we always let her look at the fish tanks and birds!
Tell us about your most memorable adventure
We tried the kayak for the first time last weekend - that was pretty special! She did so well!
We played pretend at first and just sat in the kayak on the beach, and eventually, slowly, made it onto the water!
Why did you decide to train Arnie?
We wanted her to be able to join us when we do things, we camp a lot and wouldn't want to leave her behind when we go so often.
Also, we live in Canada and it's really not safe to be an outdoor cat here! Way too many things that can eat you!
But we think it's sad for them to not be able to experience the outdoors because they love it!
We came to this decision after fostering a couple of beautiful, but pretty feral, cats for 9 months - @ira_and_dougie_cat .
Ira came round much quicker than Doug and I was able to start harness training her. But Doug couldn't even be in the same room as the harness let alone wear it! This mostly made me sad for Doug, knowing that he would never get to go outdoors ever again.
We decided that when we finally got our own forever fur baby we would do our best to let her experience the outdoors safely.
How did you train Arnie?
As soon as we got Arnie we brought her a ferret harness as it was the smallest thing we could get.
I still had to sew a few extra velcro patches into it and sew up the neck but as she grows I can unpick the stitches so it'll probably last her nearly 12 months!
We started clicker training with a target stick at about 6 weeks. At this age operant conditioning is easy!
She is challenging it a bit more right now (14 weeks) as she's developing more of her own personality now!
But just training in very small bursts.
Going at her pace and never forcing her to do things, if it's not happening, it's just not happening! Leave it and try again another day!
We only take small trips and adventures right now!
What has been the most rewarding part of having a catexplorer?
Just seeing how well she is doing and how much she enjoys to run!
She likes saying hi to people - she will approach strangers if they make a fuss over her!
She seems to be enjoying herself and that was the main goal!
What has been the hardest?
The hardest part is that we have had so much hot weather recently - I feel like I'm constantly worrying if she is okay!
Worry she'll bee too hot and then I'm worried she'll get too cold with the AC!
In hindsight, what would you do differently?
Nothing yet but it's early days! Lol!
What advice would you give other humans training their cats?
Start early, start young!
Lots of exposure to car journeys and shops and people very young!
She comes everywhere with me, lots of little trips in the car, always in stores and the farmers market!
The only place she can't go is food places - supermarket and cafes, pubs etc.
Take them everywhere young to desensitize from all the noises out in the big wide world!
Is there another Catexplorer that inspires you?
@sukiicat stunning photography!
Never stop exploring! The world is a beautiful place!
Follow Arnie on Instagram (@arnie_theboss)
Luna lives in paradise in Bermuda, visiting the beach, watching turtles and showing that cats are capable of anything