When you think of camping…what comes to mind? Campfires, tents, sleeping bags, marshmallows, nature, and a long list of awesome thoughts and memories. What about a cat? Everyone associates camping with their dog, playing fetch while jumping in the ocean but what about your furry little friend? Shouldn’t they be able to come camping? It takes a degree of enlightenment, a Zen-like grace and contentment to be able to take your cat (yes cat!!!) camping. Impossible – no, but being aware of how this could happen will make this dream a reality. Our 7 month old cat Poppy came camping with us this past weekend and it was overall a success. Here’s how we did it:
1) Personality of your Kitty.
Are they out-going or fearful? Are they a tree dweler or a bush dweller? If you’re unsure you can look that up but the short explanation is do they love to get up high and look out on their environment with confidence or are they hiding under the bed or couch when company comes for a visit. Our last cat was 100% bush dweller. I think sometimes she was a under-grass dweller because she was such a shy cat. Personally I would never take a bush dweller camping as the cat will be exposed to so many unknowns and they could get extrememly stressed. However, if your cat is a tree dweller, doesn’t run off when company comes over, they just might make the perfect camping companion.
2) Know where you are going.
We’ve camped at French Beach Provincial Park before and dogs are required to be on-leash so that was a something that made us feel better. To add to that, we bought a crate that was made for very large dogs so she could be around us during the day. We positioned her up high on a picnic table in her crate. We also bought a great little harness with a longer leash so she could walk around a few times throughout the day with supervision. We also rotated her around from crate, to leash to free time in the large tent we had. She got lots of exercise and time to nap.
3) Have fun making new memories with your family…and kitty 🙂
