RSS FeedJul 07 2009
Rumi and the Belay Line (aka Leash)
So I’m happy to report that Rumi is adjusting to both his life vest and leash surprising well.
The two of us have gotten into the routine of spending about 20-30 minutes exploring the marina together when I knock off from work for the day. In fact if I ask Rumi if he “wants to go outside”, he’ll start excitedly jabbering, go stand expectantly at the front door, and hold perfectly still until I snap his life vest on.
What’s really shocked me, though, is his attitude toward the leash. My cat prior to Rumi viewed a leash as a complete affront to his feline person-hood. Rumi, on the other hand, seems to think of it more as a safety line. I am expected to be firmly attached to the other end of it at all times when we’re outside.
If something happens and the leash slips out of my hand (say, when I’m trying to snap a photo) he’ll stop in his tracks until I pick up the other end again. And if I should be foolish enough to drop it more than once in a session, I get a look of sour disapproval over a cat shoulder which I can only translate as meaning something close to: “Sheesh! What kind of cat owner are you?! My safety and wellbeing are at stake here. Hang on to that thing, already!”
Rumi is getting pretty comfortable with the homes and floats but he’s still a little uneasy about meeting people in the marina if he’s not standing on his own deck. His favorite time to go exploring on the ramps is a weekday afternoon when hardly anyone is out and about.
Perhaps our biggest adventure to-date is when one of my neighbors left one of the marina wheelbarrows outside my front door. Rumi immediately hopped inside and the two of us were happily trundling him up and down the rampways–right up until my neighbor Dan ran into us on his way home for lunch. At that point, Rumi wanted both out of the wheelbarrow and back to be safely back home NOW.
I’m still not certain he entirely gets just how much water is around us. Some days he seems perfectly aware of the fact and others he spaces it. For example, when he’s busy watching ducks, he’s perfectly capable of walking straight off the ramp if I’m not careful to rein in his leash. He’s also totally fascinated by the boats docked out front. Especially the kayaks and canoes.
When the river goes down more later this summer and it’s standing height out front of my house, I’m contemplating doing a controlled splash into the river to make sure the kitty “gets” it. But I’m not that brave yet. But watching my neighbor two door’s down’s dachshund happily paddle by in the same exact life vest makes me wonder if Rumi might someday get to that point. At the very least, it would be good if he didn’t completely lose his mind if he ever fell in. I’ll have to give it some more thought.
So I’m happy to report that Rumi is adjusting to both his life vest and leash surprising well.
The two of us have gotten into the routine of spending about 20-30 minutes exploring the marina together when I knock off from work for the day. In fact if I ask Rumi if he “wants to go outside”, he’ll start excitedly jabbering, go stand expectantly at the front door, and hold perfectly still until I snap his life vest on.
What’s really shocked me, though, is his attitude toward the leash. My cat prior to Rumi viewed a leash as a complete affront to his feline person-hood. Rumi, on the other hand, seems to think of it more as a safety line. I am expected to be firmly attached to the other end of it at all times when we’re outside.
If something happens and the leash slips out of my hand (say, when I’m trying to snap a photo) he’ll stop in his tracks until I pick up the other end again. And if I should be foolish enough to drop it more than once in a session, I get a look of sour disapproval over a cat shoulder which I can only translate as meaning something close to: “Sheesh! What kind of cat owner are you?! My safety and wellbeing are at stake here. Hang on to that thing, already!”
Rumi is getting pretty comfortable with the homes and floats but he’s still a little uneasy about meeting people in the marina if he’s not standing on his own deck. His favorite time to go exploring on the ramps is a weekday afternoon when hardly anyone is out and about.
Perhaps our biggest adventure to-date is when one of my neighbors left one of the marina wheelbarrows outside my front door. Rumi immediately hopped inside and the two of us were happily trundling him up and down the rampways–right up until my neighbor Dan ran into us on his way home for lunch. At that point, Rumi wanted both out of the wheelbarrow and back to be safely back home NOW.
I’m still not certain he entirely gets just how much water is around us. Some days he seems perfectly aware of the fact and others he spaces it. For example, when he’s busy watching ducks, he’s perfectly capable of walking straight off the ramp if I’m not careful to rein in his leash. He’s also totally fascinated by the boats docked out front. Especially the kayaks and canoes.
When the river goes down more later this summer and it’s standing height out front of my house, I’m contemplating doing a controlled splash into the river to make sure the kitty “gets” it. But I’m not that brave yet. But watching my neighbor two door’s down’s dachshund happily paddle by in the same exact life vest makes me wonder if Rumi might someday get to that point. At the very least, it would be good if he didn’t completely lose his mind if he ever fell in. I’ll have to give it some more thought.
Yay! The Rumi life vest post is here!
These are really popular around water in Portland. When we stayed at the River place we counted probably half a dozen dogs with these vests. They have a marina out front for sail boats on the Willamette river. Everytime we saw a dog with a vest we thought of you and Rumi.
So far Rumi is the only cat we have seen with such great taste in safety attire.
Cheers,
Logan.
We just got back from our cabin up Powell Lake. We took my mom (93 now) and her/our cat for a week’s visit in the nice warm sunshine. Stick Tail is an indoor only cat in the city, but at the cabin gets the run of the deck (above and below on the cedar log float). He just loves it. We did have one harrowing experience when he got on shore, but since then we’ve pretty much blocked the access points.
http://powellriverbooks.blogspot.com/2008/03/hole-in-wall-mountain-cat.html