My cat loves going on walks. Over the past 18 months we’ve moved from one or two every couple weeks, to one or two every week, to one per day. She’d love two or three per day… but I do need to get other things done.
We have a little ritual. First, she stays alert to any movement of my keys or if I head towards the shoe rack to grab outside shoes (she knows the difference between my house slippers, and “real” shoes). If I start to put on shoes, she’ll start meowing excitedly. Sometimes though, we must disappoint her. She really wouldn’t enjoy going to the grocery store.
But she knows things are going her way when I move her kitty backpack from it’s spot under the cat tree to the hallway by the door. This means walk time!
Now, to go on a walk, I need to put her harness on her. She accepts this reality, but doesn’t care for the process. Specifically, she doesn’t like when I have to pull the front bit over her head and it squashes her ears. So, she has to mentally prepare for this unpleasant moment. I know she’s ready for her harness when she “boxes” herself:
Now she is ready for the momentary indignity of pulling the harness over her head before I can finish clipping it on. In this particular case, my husband moved the backpack to its “ready” position while I was finishing up my lunch. Sylvia got in and is mewing to let me know she’s ready and I am being unacceptably slowwwww….
I never thought I’d have a cat where I wouldn’t have to fight and/or entice her to get in the carrier before vet visits. But since we go for a walk every single day and the vet is (thankfully) a rare occurrence, she seems to consider the odds well in her favor that getting into her harness means fun times to come. Just sit the carrier by the door, and she’ll self box.