Just Lauren

Yesterday, Gene and I went on a walk around the lake with Pippin. We’ve done it before with him, but not recently because of the weather, so I was glad we were all able to get out together. Pippin is generally pretty good with following us and staying fairly close by, but yesterday he had some issues. It might have been because of the wind, or perhaps because he hadn’t been in that area for a while, but Pippin started to freak out when we were about two-thirds of the way done with the walk. It’s a loop, so we don’t need to turn back at any point, but Pippin thought differently. He stopped walking and would not stop meowing at us. We stopped walking and tried to get him to come to us, but he wouldn’t. So Gene began to walk towards him to pick him up and Pippin turned around and started walking the wrong way.

After both of us trying to get him to keep walking (we even picked him up multiple times but he continued to try to escape) for more than 5 minutes, we gave up and Gene headed back the other way with our silly little cat. I walked back home the shorter route to get ready for my parents’ visit but ended up meeting Gene and Pippin on the trail again to see how they were doing. Gene thinks Pippin may have been confused about his surroundings (cats learn where they are in bigger and bigger circles and we might have rushed him). So we’re going to try taking him on walks more often and not forcing him to go farther than he wants.

Gene and I went on a walk by the lake again today, but this time we stopped not even half-way through. Hoping we can do this throughout the week, or at least more often in the future. It would be great to go on a walk with our cat and not have to keep looking back to make sure he’s following. We’re hoping that eventually we can put a harness on him and walk him with a leash. Ideally, we’d like to go on hikes with him. First step, though, is for him to walk completely around the lake on his own!