I’m a real adventure cat now

There’s adventure cats and then there’s real adventure cats. Now I always thought that I was a real adventure cat, with my harness and lead and walks in the garden and around the neighbourhood but oh how little I knew. Just recently there’s been strange things going on and I couldn’t quite figure out what, first mummy took me to the pub with her, not once but twice. You all know about the first trip when the pub was empty but that was apawently something called a ‘recce’. One day a little while after my first visit mummy popped me back in my carrier and off we went again. First we explored the garden, it’s home to some strange creatures who smelt a bit odd and kept shouting at me very loudly saying “ cock-a-doodle-doo at the top of their voices. That was a little unnerving but we wandered the other way and I chose to just ignore them, it’s not very polite but it’s also not very polite to shout either. Then after a little while of exploring the garden and the trees I heard some new footsteps and mummy talking, I recognised the other voice as the person who I had met last time, she spoke to me really quietly “hello, Jenny, it’s nice to have you back” she said, I meowed hello to her before heading off to explore a new smell.

Then mummy scooped me up and we walked away from the garden, I was unnerved as mummy’s feet suddenly made a loud crunch crunch sound, it ok Jenny it’s just the gravel, nothing to be scared of. I could hear people talking and with each step it got louder and louder, then I couldn’t feel the breeze on my fur or the sounds of the outside but instead lots of people noises. That was very scary so I squirmed and wriggled but mummy held me tight and said it’s ok Jen, I’m here but it was a bit much so I wriggled some more and meowed loudly at which point mummy put me down, I’m sorry mummy for scratching you, I didn’t mean it. It’s ok Jen mummy said, I know it’s a lot to take in but we’ll just sit here for a little while together.

Then came the little people… apawently I had a little fan club who wanted to come and see me and say hello, I don’t mind little people too much so I let them stroke me as I wandered about checking out my surroundings, we had a little space all to ourselves. Every so often someone would come over and say hello and mummy would talk to them and explain my rescue story and then I’d get a little stroke or a chin rub, I even met a big doggie called Benson who really, really wanted to come over and say hello but his daddy kept him a little way away on his lead.

Mummy and I then just sat and chilled out whilst everyone went l about their business and I curled up on mummy’s coat and took a little nap, not a full nap as my ears are always on high alert, just in case. I know mummy’s right there next to me but she always tells me how good my hearing is and that I can always hear what’s coming way before she can. There were so many new noises and smells to take in, as a blindie it’s important to learn quickly, you need to know what noises you need to run or hide from and which ones are ok to just ignore. It’s a lot to take in.

Then after a little while and having taken about as much excitement as I could handle for one day, mummy scooped me up, still snuggled up her coat and off we went home to chill out together.

Then as if that wasn’t enough, one day mummy and daddy came home with a present for me, they put it down on the floor and I hopped right in. Mummy said it’s so we can go exploring together which made me excited. Then after a few days when it was time for walkies instead of going out the back door like usual mummy put me in my new bag and we went to the car. I don’t like the car so I meowed and meowed but we weren’t in there for very long and mummy soon hooked on my lead and picked me up and we walked a little way before she put me down. I could hear the sounds of the cars going by but I could also hear the sound of trees and I could smell fresh new smells, I wasn’t too sure about why mummy had brought me here.

This place sounded big, I could hear the sound of wind rustling tree leave high up in the sky, I could smell so many exciting smells, and as well as the sound of the wind in the leaves I could hear so many other things. The sounds and smells painted a picture in my mind of somewhere very exciting, somewhere full of nature and animals, some familiar and some new. I could hear birds tweeting, cows moo-ing and some new noises that I really wasn’t sure about.

Off we went up the path, me and mummy side by side, stopping to sniff and listen to everything as we went, a couple of times as I was getting completely absorbed in a new exciting scent, mummy would pick me up and we’d walk a bit further along, then down I went again to pick up the pace and explore some more. The trees were intriguing, I could hear their leave rustling so high up above my head, I wasn’t sure these were real trees but they were, they were just humongous. I found one and explored right the way round it, I had never had to take so many steps to go round a tree before, I found just the right spot and reached up to give it a little sniff, it smelt ok so up I went but with mummy giggling to herself as my paws were stretched out as wide as I could reach and still I could only just grip on, mummy said that I looked like a little limpet stuck on the side. Wow this tree was big, bigger than I could have ever imagined a tree could be. Mummy, mummy I meowed can we explore some more? Come on Jen, let’s go and walk a bit further I’m sure there’s so much more to explore. Off we went and ventured further, I could feel the sun on my fur and the ground was quite hard and so I did what any self respecting girl would do and had a good roll around. Then off again to explore a bit more, each step brought fresh new excitement. Oh wow this place is like heaven for a little adventure cat like me.

Mummy and I kept going, it was so exciting and the further we went the quieter the sounds of the cars were and the sounds of the trees and nature noises gradually took over. With each step that mummy and I took I felt more and more enveloped in this wonderful place. I felt so at home walking about but before too long mummy said it was time to go and we needed to head back but we’ve only just started our adventure.

I wanted to stay a bit longer and just take in everything I could about this new and interesting place. As mummy and I paused for a little while I wanted to make sure that I listened very carefully to everything around me so that I could imprint it all into my memories. I could hear the gentle swish of the leaves high above, the quiet creaking of the branches as they move back and forth swaying in the breeze. As I sit here on my new log I can hear the familiar hum of the little birds wings as they flit from one bush to the next, the sound of them singing to each other from the tree branches and away in the distance the sound of something mummy calls a pheasant calling to its mate.

As we walked up the last bit of the pathway towards the car to go home there was a sudden burst of fluttering which made both mummy and me jump as a large bird did a sudden vertical take off just by where we were walking. Mummy and I looked at each other and at the exact same time mummy laughed and I meowed in surprise what was that mummy! “well that was a pheasant Jen, we heard them calling each other but I didn’t know there was one right there, It must have heard you coming.”

After all that excitement and exploring it was time to head home for some dinner and to settle down for the night. As I lay curled up on mummy’s lap that night, purring I meowed quietly, mummy can we go back to the wood again sometime? “Of course we can Jenny, I knew you’d like it and there’s so much more for you to explore”

As I drifted off to sleep I realised the I didn’t have to dream of being an adventure cat anymore because I really am an adventure cat. I guess dreams really do come true.