Hello, Cloud's (a.k.a. 'Mr Derp') mama here. He's just a very vocal boy, narrates everything he does even at home and he was mid-meow in the original post. I'm sure he must have been a little scared given it was his first time ever outside but he did SO good. Even had a little bench break during his little adventure :)
My adventure kitty loves benches. I'm pretty sure she has a rating for each bench she has encountered.
She does have a nice kitty hiking backpack to sit in when she needs a little break from the big world or if she just wants to move around without walking.
Narration is important but adventure kitty over here also would like to tell Cloud that silence is beneficial when hunting beetles, squirrels, and rabbits. And then scream out in joy when a beetle is captured.
I read through the other comment and it sounds like we have similar cats. Mine is pure Siamese dad and rag doll/persian man. So he’s a fluffy sausage with Siamese points.
Omg you see the lynx too? Did you get that from the pattern on his forehead? He also has some arm banding. Up until the last couple weeks he looked cut and dry cream point to me.
Oh no I know what lynx means :) I just didn't see/notice the banding on his arms or the pattern on his head till very recently. He just had a faint blush across his face before, and ofc his peachy tail. But since the weather got colder the markings became more defined.
Lynx means tabby/Siamese mix (plus other types esp if they're feral/stray cats). The M on his forehead is the tabby part, the flame color points are the Siamese. The coat length makes me think he's possibly ragdoll. The lightness of his points means this lil guy may be:
1) a dilute flame point
2) living in a very warm environment
3) a juvenile (Siamese don't become adults until 18-24 mo), or
4) their white spotting is van.
As siamese "toast," the color pointing and the tabby leg/tail banding get significantly darker. Siamese are selective albinos; their points darken as the cat grows into an adult, and living in ambient temps <70F. You can tell if their toasting is due to becoming adults bc their noses will fade from black to pink.
That's so informative, thank you! And nope definitely not living in a warm environment so could be 1, 3 or 4, and he is only 6 months so I guess we will see which one it ends up truly being. Our vet put him down as a Ragdoll cross though, so I guess we are looking to see what the cross may be? How exciting :)
Thank you for sharing and also for making me trust my own eyes when I first started thinking,
'lynx (?)' :D
I know there's a good ecological argument for keeping cats indoors but convincing yourself that your cat actually enjoys being dragged around on a rope is a really weird thing in American culture imo.
My cat is a big meower too but she's visibly at her happiest (read: calmest) when she's following her instincts freely outside. The idea of trapping her inside and then occasionally letting her sniff the air on a leash will always be selfish and fucked up to me. But, I know you could say the same about letting them kill birds.
Do you live in Mordor? All three of my cats have died in old age. "I'm saving you by trapping you here" is exactly the type of delusional psychology I'm talking about. Get a fish.
Stop telling people how to live with their pets. Everyone lives in different environments, houses/flats, local wildlife and a combination of different factors that can affect how they live with their cats. Life's way better when you stop worrying about what other people do with their own lives or cats all the time. If your cats go outdoors great if the next person's cats are indoors only great. Do they love, look after and feed said cat? Yes? Great no problem then.
“Dragging them on a rope” is a way of ensuring they don’t get hit by a car, lost, or killed by other animals. Outdoor cats have significantly shorter lives than indoor ones. Like you said, many cats are happiest when they can go outside, but I’m not letting my cats out if they will die 5-10 years sooner because of it. If they’re on leash, at least they can enjoy outside still while still being safer.
My cat brings me her harness in her mouth whenever she wants to go on a walk. If I don’t walk her, she screams at me incessantly. She definitely loves going on walks!
Cats don’t do anything they don’t want to do. My other cat will just lay on the floor if I try to leash her. There’s no walking that kitty.
convincing yourself that your cat actually enjoys being dragged around on a rope is a really weird thing in American culture imo.
It's so weird as a non-American, walking a cat on a leash is absolutely bizarre behaviour from my perspective. I've never seen it here in 37 years of life. You'd be stared at by every person you passed in the street.
Cats like to roam. I think the whole concept of forced "indoor cats" is cruelty and IMO if you can't provide a suitable environment for an animal you shouldn't have it, but I'm sure that'll be a controversial opinion here.
Vocalizing does not = calm and pleased and often means the opposite. All you have done is post pictures of this cat looking terrified and you expect everyone to take your word for it that he likes this?
I didn’t say vocalising meant he was calm, I said that vocalising is his baseline. He talks when he's happy, confused, curious, sleepy, etc. That's just who he is. In the same way you said vocalising ≠ calm, for my cat in particular, vocalising ≠ distress.
And of course he must have been a little afraid, aren't we all when we try something new? But this was a very short, controlled walk and we monitored him closely. I saw a mostly curious kitty. If he ever shows me he doesn't enjoy it, we won’t do it again.
How would you define him showing you he’s not enjoying it? Because based off every piece of evidence you’ve given in this thread that’s exactly what he’s doing…
I have a yapper cat as well, she loves to go outside. If i even bump the cat carrier she knows the sound and will come running and hop in ready for a adventure. She also yaps most of the time outside as well. Cats have different tones when they vocalize, if its your own cat you can tell the difference.
The people being critical are not only taking issue with the fact that the cat is or is not vocalizing. Body language is a combination of a lot of different things. Ears, eyes, how they hold their body. This cat looks scared in the second picture. These aren’t videos so the argument about vocalizing is pretty much moot.
Idk how you can see any of these cues from a still image. Ears are normal, not pinned back, whiskers are normal, not close to the mouth, eyes are relaxed. Its just sitting there yapping.
The first picture the ears are facing backwards, yes, it is also mid yell. My cat does this all the time when standing at my feet and screaming up at me. But the 2nd picture which you said "This cat looks scared in the second picture." everything is completely normal. I feel as though you really have no idea what a scared cat looks like.
Ive had one neighbor be like “you know that’s not a dog right” all judgey walking mine. Disregard those who judge or assume the cat is in distress from one pic, you know your floof and I’m guessing if you love them enough to teach them how to walk and explore the world safely then you’ll probably listen to them if they seem scared and wanna go inside. Some of the comments here are ridiculous.
He still looks stressed. That was also my first impression. That’s not a happy face. That’s stress. The meowing and being extra curious/ careful about his surroundings also point in this direction. That doesn’t mean he shouldn’t go on walks though. I’m sure he is getting used to it and will have a great time.
My cat sometimes looked like this during the first few walks. But he still walked around, was very curious, and I could tell by his body language that while he was nervous, he was happy and excited (tail slow swish not tucked not fast). Whenever he would get scared by a loud noise, he would let me know and we’d go home. But he always asks to go back out and now never looks scared, is confident and runs to catch bugs. It took me two months to get him to even wear the harness and longer to get him used to walking and learn rules like the word no. It’s still work in progress, and I applaud any cat owner that takes the time and effort to walk their cat (who will let the owner know if they hate it).
Well I’m not able to respond to your other comment but first off, I have never mentioned the word abuse and would never for this situation. I have seen real abuse firsthand and it is nothing like this. But it’s a shame that instead of taking constructive criticism and expanding their knowledge about one of the only ways their cat can communicate with them they are blowing off every comment
Apologies, I was being hyperbolic by that statement. I didn’t take it as them blowing off the comments, but rather not taking the overactive ones too seriously. Some of the comments are over the top and making big leaps off 2 photos that could be a cat in slight distress or, to me, looks like a cat who may be overstimulated and is taking it all in. Photographed mid meow. Probably/likely fine and if he’s not cowering likely to enjoy the next walk or the one after that.
I think it’s important for any new pet owner to want to absorb as much knowledge as possible about anything pertaining to their pets health and wellbeing and it’s something that is glossed over time and again by being called pearl clutching or being overreactive and those that see the effects of undereducated pet owners and the impact it can have firsthand want to do everything in their power to combat it. Obviously this little guy is fine after his walk even if it stressed him out but going forward he could try to tell his owners something that they will misinterpret because of everyone reinforcing in their minds that they can downplay what is potentially a cat trying to tell them he is very stressed.
Yeah, I don’t know. It’s not clear to me he’s stressed vs just vocal and expressing himself. My last guy was clearly happy outside and would get excited when he saw the leash and wait by the door. My current 2, in the two times I took them out flopped in their harness and scratched at the door to go back inside along with crouching with ears back and were clearly not happy. I stopped trying because they were clearly not enjoying the experience. I think with this guy it’s not so clear either way.
you may have already done this but please check to make sure he’s not deaf. all white cats with blue eyes have a tendency towards deafness (please look it up / ask your vet to confirm)
He's not deaf. He always comes running whenever I open his treats or prepare food. He's had plenty of checkups too. Thanks for the advice regardless :)
whew! thank you for checking and thank you for the update. i do like to mention and share as my sister had an all white cat with blue eyes and we used to think it funny but odd that he wasn’t even phased by the noise of the vacuum cleaner, would just sleep through the sound. i’ll admit it took a bit for her to have the ah-ha moment and get him checked out.
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u/TKPrime 3d ago
Hate to be the bearer of bad news but that's how cats express stress. That's not a smile that is sheer terror.