I posted the latest part of this series on March 14 – pretty much a month ago. It’s pretty crazy how time goes by SO QUICK. If this is your first post in this series – here is a link to part one – so you can start in the beginning and follow us along. 😊
I was sick when I posted the part two so not much happened for a bit. However, we had some very exciting activities once I was back on the mend!
Getting used to public spaces
Our first “adventure” was to our local Homes Alive Pets. I’ve seen videos of our friend Leo (@leothelynxie) exploring their local store – and I wanted to give it a try. Chumka did so so good! I was expecting him to cry a lot and stay in his backpack but the only time he cried was to let him out of the kitty pack. He explored couple aisles and then decided to come back to the safety – as he spotted a dog. I was a very proud momma 😍 so he got some snacks – I looove that you can barely see him in the picture, he’s just a void with a tongue haha.
The staff at Homes Alive Pets are really amazing – they always ask for consent before approaching us. I want to make our pet store trips into a positive experience for Chumka so having folks that understand pets and their anxieties is so so helpful. Our cat can be apprehensive of humans (and dogs) at times so creating those positive encounters is really good and helps with fighting his anxieties. Of course we watch Chumka and don’t push past his boundaries.
The first steps are the hardest
One thing we noticed about Chumka is he’s very hesitant whenever we are in a new place. Don’t get me wrong – he is VERY curious and wants to “explore” – but from the car. It just started happening so I am not quite sure why or what caused it.
What we’ve been doing so far is carrying him in the backpack or in our arms for the first while. We are currently using the Petsfit Dog Backpack Carrier but another great option is Pecute Pet Carrier Backpack (click here for our review on it). At this point we never leave the house without the kitty pack – unless we explore our yard/ neighborhood. It’s especially helpful because Chumka doesn’t like being carried haha. He “allows” it only when he’s anxious or really tired.
Another thing I do is give him lots of verbal praise and encouragement. Our cat isn’t interested in snacks unless he’s home, in the car or in his backpack. And even when he’s in his bag, he won’t eat them every time. I find that it works really well and when done regularly – it helps with building confidence.
Our next steps
I think what we’re gonna work on is building Chumka’s confidence around taking those first steps on the trail/ out of the car. I do believe that it’s going to be long term goal – but so so worth it 💛 Considering that it’s “spring” here in Canada (aka mild winter), we might not be able to get out as much as we want. It’s been really yucky here but surprisingly Chumka doesn’t let rain to stop him from exploring.
Here is a picture of our latest walk. We allowed Chumka to take the lead rather than him following us – and we spent about 20 minutes walking around this parking lot lol. At least the views and the weather were really amazing. You can’t see it in this picture but there were couple horses in a field beside the parking lot 😍
I hope you enjoyed this post, please give some love to your pets from me ❤️
