Mummy and I have been practicing our free climbing, well I’ve been doing the climbing and mummy’s been doing the guiding and encouragement. We make such a good team coz we’ve built up so much trust over the years we’ve been going outside and climbing together.
Over the last couple of months there have been lots of new little branches growing on the trees. Whilst you might think that as a blind cat climbing with a safety line (my lead) is the safest way, just in case I slip or need to find my way back down, sometimes a lead can be difficult, if I don’t come back down the exact way I went up the lead can get caught or wrapped round a branch. This might mean that I could get stuck high up in the tree with no slack to get back down.
I wouldn’t recommend free climbing, specially as a blindie, if you haven’t spent a lot of time together with your climbing partner, building trust, knowing how each of you react to any given circumstance and certainly for the human, the ability to be calm and trust your kitty cat. I’m very lucky that if I get a little bit stuck or unsure mummy just says come on Jenny you can do it, you went up so I know you can get back down again.
I’ve learnt things along the way as has mummy, for example if she stands under me to watch and wants to guide me back down she has to stand where she wants me to go so I can follow her voice and tree tapping, from underneath where I am. If she calls me from underneath where I am I try to get directly to her. I’ve learnt to follow mummy’s voice instead of the gentle tugs of the lead that usually guide me back down if I need it and I’ve learnt to have the confidence that if I went up I can come back down again, to follow my own scent
We started free climbing on small trees that I was already familiar with climbing on the lead, also where I couldn’t go too high. Mummy and I building our communication and our techniques, the trust element has always been there . Then one day when I started up one of my favourite big trees and I heard the gentle clip of the lead and the pressure from the lead vanished. Woo hoo here I go!
I feel free when I’m climbing, the rustle of the leaves, the sway of the branches and the gentle tweets of the birds, the sound of nature all around me. The sounds and smells of the world are different from up here, fresher somehow.
Whilst I’m exploring I’m talking to mummy all the time, “Look at me mummy, look how high I’m climbing. Where are you mummy, which way should I go. Look mummy I’m doing it all by myself.”
Then, once I’ve finished and I’m back down to the regular part of the tree mummy reaches up and I climb down onto her arm for a celebration cuddle and lift back down to the ground. One little clip and I’m back on my lead and off we go to finish our walkies. Each time I get to free climb, I go a little bit higher and get a little more confident as I map the tree over and over. I love exploring with mummy but it’s tiring work but I want to show mummy how much I love her. She lets me explore, challenge myself and be an adventure cat so after I’d had a little nap up on the scratching post bed I crept down the sofa and snuggled on mummy’s lap. What a perfect end to an adventurous day. Then Millie hopped up and snuggled in too and we made a snuggle puddle on mummy’s lap.
Jenny’s Story 