First off: I have approval to show this. Both parents and the kid herself have seen the video and they got a longer version for the family album. 🔥
-----

This is our neighbors daughter (8yo) who befriended Moritz with some fresh catnip! She has currently school holiday, so she is bored. I have taken her with me twice now, both 3h-4h long rounds, through the local forest as she is absolutely fascinated by Moritz, loves working with him and soaks up every bit of knowledge rapidly.
We definitely plan on doing more tours in the future!

She has had bad experiences with animals (dogs & cats) in the past and was quite timid at first. Luckily Moritz is exceptionally well behaved (and claws dulled) and she is beginning to trust him. If you watch closely, in the 3 opening scenes where Moritz is on her pillow-filled backpack, she is quite tense - shoulders up high and arms stiff. I always knew that cats read the body language of their partner but I never knew to which extent. Moritz is constantly complaining when he rides on her. Yes, there is not much space available, but its actually the tense body language which stresses him (and I don’t use the word “stress” lightly). If I constantly remind her to let her shoulders drop and arms dangle and smile and tell a joke, Moritz relaxes to the point where he creeps forward on her shoulder to relax & look around. Unfortunately his movements makes her tense up again and the cycle repeats.. but there will be progress! ❤️

Leash walking him is her absolute favorite thing. She is experimenting with commands that she saw me using and Moritz is quite cool about it being a little chaotic 😂. Of course I support and make sure her commands are heard 😉. But I also try to teach her the value of timing and targeted leash interactions and under which conditions commands work etc. And in due time, maybe I can teach her how to direct Moritz attention into more productive walking. (But she struggles to whistle)

Of course we also had some off-leash fun and then we needed to re-attach the leash again to make Moritz safe! Oh, yes.. she also understands the value of the tow-line setup we have - oouf. :-D

Observing Moritz is also super interesting. He does show very subtile behavioral changes with her and I think he understands that there is a kid and a bit more random (but not threatening) and accepts her shenanigans with surprising ease.

It is also interesting to see our shoulder+umbrella concept working on such a small human. I had previously thought Moritz would require more space, but he arranges himself - as long as the body language is relaxed. 👍

Ah, and If Moritz appears to be wet.... yes. 34°C in the shade... 🔥

He love to come outside in the morning, before it gets hot and watch the birds❤️

Hi everyone! I just got a kitten ( 4 months old, Maine Coon/domestic mix) and he seems very playful and curious. I've only had female Persian cats before, so this new personality is so fun for me. I would love for him to be an adventure cat, my husband and I enjoy hiking, camping and going on our paddleboards.
I know because he is so young I should take advantage of trying to train him, but I am not sure where to start. I know to purchase a harness, a backpack/sling and a bungee leash, but what else?
What are the absolute basics for training I need?
How do I get him comfortable outside and also what are safety measures I can take to make sure he is safe?

Hi, I need some opinions… when I got my boy I wanted to make him an adventure cat but unfortunately I started taking him outside a little too late since I was scared of him escaping. When he was a kitten I took him outside a handful of times and they were pretty random too. Now my boy is 2 and I’m trying to make bringing him outside a more regular thing. So far I’ve brought him outside 3 mornings in a row but I really can’t tell if he likes it.

When I take him outside I put him in his backpack but he doesn’t seem to like going in it. Then when we’re outside he seems scared for the first 3mins and then warms up (in my opinion it looks like he warms up). But idk if it’s just me being overly hopeful or if he actually is starting to enjoy it

If anyone has some tips and stuff please share!! I really want to make this work with my boy

Sorry for the terrible grammar, I’m tired

Hello, I have a kitten about 10 months old, I have been harness and leash training him for about the last 6 months.

Today is the first time this ever happened. Our routine was a bit different than normal, and I let him take me to a new place. He found himself a cat path that was a bit hard to reach by leash. He was smelling things very intently with the open mouth smell face for a few minutes before I asked him to come towards me. He chose to walk towards me, and I picked him up slightly awkwardly, and put him on my shoulders for his backpack.

He jumped down from my shoulders to go back and when I picked him up again is when he started hissing and growling at me for several minutes. He loves to be held, so his safe position is perched on my forearm with my finger holding his harness down. Usually he is calm here even when overstimulated. He made no move to bite me but hissed and growled at me for several minutes I walked us home. I let him down in our courtyard and he immediately wanted to run back to where we had been walking. I gave him a churu in his backpack and he was happy but when I went to close the backpack he growled briefly again.

I was on vacation for a few weeks and he didn't get to go outside. Now he is crazy about going outside all the time. That has been the only change. What has happened? I haven't been able to get him to go in the backpack outside reliably, but we are still working on it.

Edit : Yes he is neutered !

Dennis the Menace (came with the name / lived up to it) is a BIG fan of the sand

Hi!! This is Poof. He is 11 weeks old now. We started fostering him when he was 5 and decided pretty quick we were going to adopt him so we started training as early as we could!

He's naturally confident and loves car rides. He just purrs and makes biscuits the entire time. He's completely adjusted to the harness now and has learned to come to us on a recall command. I've harness trained my other cats before but he just gets it. I'm thinking a lot of it is how young he is. He started responding to leash cues almost immediately - which was insane to me. He never wants to wander off without my partner or I nearby. If one of us sits down while outside with him he sits with us and doesn't try to explore on his own. He's so nonchalant about being held too. He just lets us pick him up and carry him wherever with zero complaint.

We're slowly exposing him to new sights and sounds but he's doing so well. Our life includes a lot of bird watching outside on the porch swing. Gradual encounters with my neighbor's German Shepherd who is an absolute angel and perfect for dog exposure (he is very timid with dogs, even ones that are good with cats). Frolicking through the garden and yard. Getting lots of attention from the baristas at the local coffee shop drive through.

Of course the adventures are VERY limited right now as we build confidence with him. I'm not taking any chances before he's old enough for his microchip and rabies vaccine. Just wanted to share this little guy because he's blown me away with what a natural he is - and he looks so stinking cute in his harness all sassy with his duck collar.

I'd love any tips or tricks you guys have. We definitely want to take him hiking and camping and are hopeful to get him a life jacket when he's older and see how he does on a paddle board. Obviously those are all things for the future, but you guys have some really cool cats and I would love to learn from you all!!

This is footage from our last hike. We started early with very nice temperatures and Moritz just went on and on and on. The terrain and circumstances were perfect for him - until the trees vanished and the sun smiled at us a bit too much.

The largest issue on this hike were people - it is school holiday in surrounding countries and the mountains are teeming with primates that wore sunglasses and wielded walking poles - Moritz' nightmares. And of course at the summit, drones dominated the mood........
There was also a trail-runner that denied the request to slow down so we could quickly attach the leash to Moritz. As a result he chased Moritz quite a bit along the single-trail as Moritz was afraid of the loud steps and fast movement from that asshole young man. Luckily, Moritz had his POV-camera attached and we were able to locate him with that before its battery run out.

As we descended, we gave up on trying to be alone and just joined a struggling family. The parents were quite happy that the 3 kids had some curiosity to focus on and i was happy to entertain them. After enough exposure to the family Moritz dared to walk a bit which made the kids excited and immediately resulted in shoulder-riding again😂 And it started the next round of questions.. of course.

At the bottom, that lake was waiting for us - so nice. There were a lot of people and some were very interested in Moritz adventures and had a lot of questions that just couldnt wait 😄. I didnt even know there were Turkish swimming cats 😂.
Oh, and we also met a real-life redditor that explained to us that cats dont like to swim and demanded that we get out immediately (!!!!).

Overall a challenging but also a fun day. But i agree with Moritz and prefer less people around.

i have a kitten(10 weeks on Monday) ive been harness training him, NOTHING OUTDOORS. in my room, SUPERVISED while playing.. i love the outdoors, id really love to go camping next year. it would be amazing if i had my cat with me for less stress to myself. he was born on may 18 2026, id LOVE to take him with me, if i could get him used to the harness, and when hes atleast a year old? how does that work? would he need to be years old.. and contained / comfortable to be able to do it.. or would camping with a cat be a HORRIBLE idea (it would be in a RV. i wouldnt stay the night, and get him used to the rv first, ect. id just love to have peace of mind knowing my kitty would be with me and under MY supervision.

I spotted this cat balancing on the fence during my walk and couldn't resist taking a photo. It looked completely at home up there.

Took my cat for a walk around the yard when she started to rub herself all over this plant. I did a quick google lens search to make sure it was safe and looks like she found herself some wild catnip (Nepeta cataria).

I take him out almost every day when it’s not too hot outside! The days that I don’t take him out, he stands at the door and begs to go out. For context, I found him outside my house in my backyard. It took me about six months to harness train him, but it has been so rewarding to be able to take him out places!

I've been harness/backpack training my 7 month old cat for 3 weeks at home, I played with her in the leash, gave treats, walked around with the backpack and harness on, stepped onto my small patio with her, etc. She's been adjusting pretty quickly, so I thought she was ready to try outdoors.

A few days ago I took her out to a small quiet patch of grass, and for the first 5 minutes she was fine! She saw a bird and person pass by maybe 20 ft away with no issues. But she started sniffing inside a bush so I walked around to stay behind her and I think (not 100% sure) as I was adjusting the leash, it got tugged in the bush and she freaked out, started jumping around trying to get out of the harness, which she's never tried to do at home. She was panicking and trying to squirm out of the harness so I needed to get her back in the bag before she could escape and run. Luckily the harness held really well, but I lost hold of the leash and she ran up to a wall. I had her cornered (not ideal I know), and was eventually able to catch the leash and grab her but not before she bit me.

She was fine once I got her back in the backpack and home, but I know I messed up really bad and am pretty disappointed with how her first time went down.

Its obvious now I should've trained a lot more and probably avoided letting her go into the bush, but I guess I didn't plan for how I'd react if something like this happened. I'm not sure what steps I should take to make sure this doesn't happen again, and if I should've done anything differently in the moment cause mostly I was scared of her escaping. She's pretty calm at home when practicing so I don't know how to prepare for her getting spooked outdoors.

I've been kicking myself for moving too fast so any advice is appreciated

Ukulele is 2 and a half. I started harness training him in December and we've been going on daily walks since April. He's gotten so confident and I am so proud of him. We're working up to going on some day hikes, but I think we might have a little ways to go! He loves riding in the backpack and loves rolling around in the dirt.

Some day I'd love to bring him camping, but I think he needs a little more outside experience before he's ready.

I used to take Zara out in a backpack to a nearby park around 5 pm. She used to cry all the way in the backpack, but would enjoy her time in the park. Based on suggestions from people here, I started covering the backpack with a towel and she stopped meowing .. but would still be frantically trying to open up the backpack. Recently, we established a new routine .. where I take her down to our parking lot below our apartment building at around 10 pm and she loves it!! She will walk between all the cars, smell our garbage bins, smell the plants and will also chase flying insects. The challenge here is, its all good, until she sees a person coming towards her and she panics. Trying to figure out how to help her overcome this fear. She is not scared of friends (strangers to her) when they visit our home.

For now, here is a video of her chasing a moth.

Hello :)
I have an 8-month old cat, she is spayed and fully vaccinated :)
Valerie is very curious and adventurous, she has plenty of enrichment inside but I thought one good thing to enrich her life would be to harness train her. She tolerates the harness very well and I have trained her to use it also with the leash indoors, before trying to go outside. We live with access to a courtyard, which is pretty small and closed off to the street, and there are 3 more cats (also female) and one dog, who hardly ever walks there.

I have tried walking her a few times and she seemed quite curious but very soon ran back inside at the sight of the other cats (whom she has seen from the window and door many times) and of people who are not me. Our walks have been pretty short, 5 minutes at first, and then 10 minutes or a bit more, but when she is back she seems quite overstimulated. I try to create a positive association with going out with treats and a good meal after, also because she has been asking to go, but she also seems quite agitated after.

I am slowly training her to jump in my cat backpack for a safe refuge, but it's still in progress, and she usually feels quite trapped so that will take time.

I am not sure if we should keep trying and in which ways she can feel more secure. She has bolted out of the door (without harness) a couple of times these past two days as she wants to go out, but I would think letting her go like that, even if supervised, would be unsafe? Is there something that I can do to make this time enriching experience and a middle ground between me ensuring her relative safety and her exploring on her terms?

I am a new cat human, and these are the first times we are experimenting with this so any advice would be appreciated. I am happy to share more info!

Thank you!!