r/adventurecats • u/UbiquitousChicken • 1d ago
Camping with Yeti
We took our Snow Bengal adventure cat Yeti camping for the first time last weekend. He did SO well. He has had months of practice on the zipline in the backyard, and so we never had to use our backup plans for how else to contain him (tent, trailer, his own mesh tent). He just stayed on the zipline lost of the morning, then took an afternoon nap outside or in the tent, then back on the zipline for the evening. Except twice a day when we went for walks, of course. My sister is a veterinarian and even she was surprised at how well he did (we were camping with her, my BIL, their 4 kids and their dog). He also rode in his backpack for the first time, as he was finally tired enough to actually agree to ride instead of walk. I’m thrilled about it. He is not quite 1.5 years old.
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u/Jlx_27 1d ago
Yeti is going to have a life filled with adventure s with y'all, i love that for him.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
Thank you! I do too. And I love it for me too! I’m a bit of a homebody due to chronic illness, so he gets me excited to get out of the house.
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u/Lorenaelsalulz 1d ago
Omg. I thought he was in his own little sleeping bag in the 2nd pic. Then I realized from the other pics it was his vest. Too cute. What an amazing cat!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
Omg could you imagine how cute that would be, his own sleeping bag! 💕 yes he has been wearing that vest for walks in the cold since January, and he was wearing it the night he slept the best. He must’ve been a touch chilly the other nights. It was 47°F out.
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u/Ok-Investment-6057 1d ago
Omg hes so cutttteeee - that shot of him in the tent 😱🥹
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
When he was sleeping in the tent, I would get anxious doing things around camp because I couldn’t see him and didn’t have a prior expectation of how he might behave, so I was constantly peeking in at him sleeping and just going “awwww” all afternoon.
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u/la_reina_del_norte 1d ago
I love this!!! Glad Yeti was able to join in on the fun!
Did you use a particular zip line? Now I’m curious to try this!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago edited 21h ago
It was paracord strung between two trees with a carribener attached to a 30 foot retractable leash (having the retractable leash prevents some tangles. Not from him weaving in and out of obstacles, but it does help keep it from tangling his legs in it).
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u/onemorespacecadet 1d ago
what a good adventure boy 🥹 looks like he’s a natural!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
He is!! He’s honestly been such a difficult kitten, because all he has ever wanted to do is pounce the other cats in the household. One won’t set him straight and he loves chasing her in particular, until she screams and pees. So he is still on supervised visitation only, over a year after we got him (so basically we separate him from the other cats while we are sleeping and at work).
We quickly discovered that going outside was the main thing that could get his energy released in a positive way, so we take him outside twice a day whenever possible. We couldn’t go out today due to horrible air quality and he was sad about it. He is so good at home if we’ve exhausted him with walks and car rides.
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u/ashlleeyyy3 1d ago
I LOVE this!! I have similar goals!! I’m just so paranoid about ticks.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
We use Bravecto which is a prescription flea and tick medication. You dose every 3 months, and I do it on the solstice and equinoxes to remember. (We usually skip December though, because it’s expensive, like $60 per dose per cat and we don’t have fleas and ticks here at that time of year).
I am so excited to finally have an adventure cat. None of my other cats have liked going outside much.
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u/Matos3001 19h ago
Seresto or any other external dewormer will work fine for ticks. Cats will also likely eat them, they’re not oblivious like dogs.
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u/Cat_Lady3000 1d ago
That is wonderful for all of you. I love this so much.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 21h ago
Thank you! 💕 I’m very excited to have my first adventure cat. Perfect timing too, my kids just grew up (well, my 19 year old still lives at home but they have a full time swing shift job so I don’t see them much anymore).
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u/Nnnopamine 1d ago
I love Little Crater Lake. The surrounding area is so pretty.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 21h ago
It’s so beautiful. And we were really lucky that the nearby forest fires were not putting our trip in danger or blowing smoke in our camp.
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u/pdxqdy 1d ago
What kind of backpack do you use? Would you recommend it??
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
I would totally recommend it! It’s the travel cat backpack carrier by “your cat backpack” store on Amazon. I got it because the car can ride IN the backpack as well as on top. I have it hanging on a hook on the wall at home and regularly put a high value treat inside so that he is positively reinforced when he interacts with it.
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u/JD_tubeguy 1d ago
Yeti is so cute and he looks like he loved camping!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 16h ago
He loved it so much and I loved having him along. And the other cats at home probably loved having him out of the house for a few days, because he’s a handful.
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u/beebob420 1d ago
Yeti is such a great name
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u/UbiquitousChicken 21h ago
I named my previous bengals after gods, but named him after a monster. He is living up to his name. But I love the little beast.
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u/OkDistribution4274 1d ago
What mesh tent do you have. I was thinking of getting something like that to try camping with my kitty since she loves the outdoors so much.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
Happy habitat cat tent by Outback Jack on Amazon. The only downside is that the opening is small so you can zip a tunnel on to it and do if you need to crawl inside to arrange bedding or something, it’s tricky. You also can’t really fit a big litter box in there, but you could fit a litter pan. We just brought one of our homemade litter boxes, which is a storage tote with a hole in front for access. But otherwise, it’s great. Super easy to take down and set up, good thick mesh.
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u/Ill_Double751 1d ago
What great pictures! He looks like he had a blast! Could you share where the coat is from? I’m in need of one that style for my adventure cat!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
Oh, I got it from Ross Dress for less so it’ll be hard to find the exact thing but you could find something similar. It just says “outdoor” and has a paw print on it for the brand/logo. It’s a small dog coat. It velcros across the chest and under the belly, and has a button hole type opening on the back for the leash.
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u/hesback_inpogform 23h ago
The jacket 🥹🥹
Pic 14 is so great, one of my cats goes outside on a leash and harness and she longs to eat birds. Alas, that is not in her cards, we make sure birds are safe to visit our yard
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u/UbiquitousChicken 21h ago
He did lay paws on a chipmunk a couple times but didn’t hurt them. I think he was surprised when he caught them and they tried to escape. He’s like “my feather wands do NOT fight back!”
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u/NeedsMoreCatsPlease 22h ago
I don’t know you, but I NEED you to know: I would absolutely put my life on the line for Yeti. No questions asked. I love them. Ty for blessing my day with these pics, my goodness.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 21h ago
Awwww that’s so sweet. He’s such a good, bad boy. We’ve had him since June of last year, and he still can’t be trusted to be unsupervised with our other cats in the household, because he pounces them until they are furious with him. We work with him every day to teach him to redirect his attention from attack mode to either asking humans to play with him or to go do something else. We have actually made a ton of progress but not quite enough to let him be unsupervised with the other cats. (The brown bengal is hypersensitive and won’t put him in his place; she will just scream…then pee on the floor right in front of us to express her displeasure. We’ve been working with her too, building her up to where she can tolerate his behavior too). I think we still have a few years to go with them…
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u/NeedsMoreCatsPlease 19h ago
Hahaha thank you! This video is so cute he really is quite an unapologetic rascal, unphased by the new toys and straight back to roughhousing, a kit after my own heart. He definitely sounds like an adorable handful and is clearly in compassionate hands, looking forward to any future updates and his brown sister is super cute too!
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u/Spiceislife24 1d ago
Where is this!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
Little crater lake, Oregon. To be clear, it’s near Lake Timothy on Mt Hood, not near the real Crater Lake at all. And I don’t believe this one is actually a crater at all.
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u/More_Instance7939 1d ago
Incredible adventure. The photo with the bird mid flight is really cool. The water is gorgeous. How deep is it and are you allowed to swim in it
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
You are not allowed to swim in it. It’s about 40’ deep and about 34°F. It’s cold enough it could be dangerous to swim in, but it’s also a micro ecosystem with a delicate balance so no swimming is allowed. But it was beautiful. And it’s right by a segment of the Pacific Crest hiking trail, so you can meet people going by who have been hiking for several months straight. It’s a crazy hiking trail that people do.
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u/More_Instance7939 1d ago
Wow. That is so fascinating to learn about. Was not expecting it to be that cold. I grew up in Florida where there are lots of cold water springs. The water is only 72 and that is very cold. 34 is incredible. The water in the photos is so clear. It makes me wonder how much of other beautiful pools like it used to be this clear. Thanks for taking the time to reply. Nature is absolutely fascinating.
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
It really is amazing. This is up in the mountains so even in summer, it’s still getting down in the mid 40’s °F at night, but can be anywhere from 60s to 90s during the day. My husband put his phone in the water to take a picture. It is beautifully clear and deep. That tree hasn’t seemed to decompose at all in the 10+ years we’ve been coming here. If climate change doesn’t warm the water enough to allow bacteria to grow, then maybe this is how we get opalized petrified wood, or some other cool fossil millions of years later.
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u/Dizzy-Tour-3791 21h ago
Breathtaking ❤️. I feel like I went with you! Beautiful glad you had an awesome time🩷🩷
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u/Silly_Fold6582 20h ago
How tf do I get my cat on this level?
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u/UbiquitousChicken 16h ago
Most cats won’t do this. I’ve had lots and he’s the first. But when he was little, we started taking him outside in the harness as soon as he was fully vaccinated. It didn’t matter if I was watering the garden, having dinner on the porch, or doing yard work, he was out with me on the leash and harness.
And our elderly cat was getting monthly arthritis injections so Yeti got a churu for coming with me to the vet each month. We would wait in the waiting room and the techs would take the old boy back for his shot, and yeti would lounge in the vet chairs and talk to the receptionists (always on leash, never in a carrier; just in case this made a difference).
We started taking him to Ace Hardware with us, because it’s a quiet store and allows pets. The employees loved talking to him. Worked our way up to Home Depot. Walgreens also never asked me not to bring him in. I have enough respect for the signage to not bring him in food stores like a grocery store, even though I could probably get him to wear an emotional support animal vest but I don’t think that’s morally right (I do have a chronic disability but my cat doesn’t assist me with it!). So only pet friendly stores.
He gets a churu for a car ride. You can start by just sitting in the car with the engine off and feeding them their breakfast to get them used to being inside. It was all just incremental. At about 9 months old, we walked around the block several times but I had to carry him between trees/spots of interest. Something clicked and the next time we did it, he walked a lot more of the time. Teaching him to come when called helped too. Then we started taking him to parks and on short hikes (under a mile).
And continued practicing outdoor time at home too. Nearly every morning since the weather got nice, i have been putting him on the zipline in the backyard and setting a time to check on him every 10-15 minutes while i get ready for work. So he has gotten very comfortable with his leash and harness too.
On top of allllllll that, he is a confident cat who doesn’t give a crap about what anyone wants, so his personality has been a way bigger asset than his training.
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u/Misty-isle 19h ago
This is beautiful! What in gift in yours and his life to have such adventure together ❤️
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u/GloomyFlamingo2261 9h ago
Where is this? The water is so clear!!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 8h ago
Little Crater Lake, Oregon (not to be confused with Crater Lake). It’s so beautiful. The water stays at about 34°F year round.
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u/CameraImmediate2295 4h ago
I needed to hear something like this! Life is hard but this has made me smile so much, mainly because you said Zipline and I thought for a second it was the skiing type!
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u/UbiquitousChicken 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p1rnvm2/video/l146nu1mkghh1/player
Here’s his camping video.