Gary the Cat and His Grand Adventures
Gary the Cat
by Robert Hudson
Gary the cat is not a typical feline. Rather than spending time playing with toys or enjoying a bit of catnip, Gary the cat goes hiking in the Canadian Rockies. Since his first hike three years ago, it has been a non stop adventure for him and his family. Gary is 7. His mom adopted him from the Calgary Humane Society when he was 4 months old.
“Gary kept trying to escape our apartment, so we decided if he wanted to go out he would need to be on a leash. As he got more comfortable we’ve introduced new activities like paddling and even skiing. There’s not much reason beyond wanting to bring Gary with us – we often have the dogs with us, so why not Gary too.” James Eastham told me.
Getting Gary the Cat Acclimated
According to James, it took some patience. “We started inside getting him used to his harness and then we slowly transitioned outside. At first we would just sit on the front step together, and then started to explore the yard. We introduced him to new things slowly and incrementally from there.”
Being Safe
“Every winter I get a flood of comments saying Gary should wear boots to keep his feet warm.
We’ve tried. But Gary hates wearing boots with the fire of a thousand suns. He sits down and bites them off.
Gary’s got very fluffy feet, which help protect his pads from the cold. He also gets lots of breaks riding on my shoulders to warm them up.
Winter is actually easier to adventure with Gary than summer. It’s a lot simpler to keep him warm than it is to try and keep him cool when it’s hot. He’s very floofy. He can wear jackets, and he can leech my body heat when he’s getting carried. Plus we don’t go out beyond about -10C.”
Wild and Crazy
“We were hiking earlier this summer. Normally when we walk uphill I carry him on my shoulders. As we started up he refused to settle and kept jumping down. I turned around to pick him up again and a black bear was ambling up the path behind us. Thankfully it ran off before getting too close.”
Gary the cat takes in all the wilderness has to offer including water! “Depending on how he feels he will go for a wade. He prefers being able to touch the bottom so doesn’t do much full on swimming
I’ve been wanting to take Gary out on a glacier but whenever I go mountaineering it’s not usually a cat friendly trip.
I was able to team up with a guiding service and we took Gary out for a hike on the Athabasca glacier. Having lunch with him by a big icefall was pretty cool.”
Gary the cat is not always the only four-legged member of the hiking party. There are also three dogs in their home that sometimes join in the fun.
“Duke, a newfoundland/lab cross who is 10, Marge who is a shepherd cross who is 3, and Douglas who is a british lab and is 2.
We also have another cat Carl who is 19 but is less adventurous than Gary.”
There is no end in site for Gary. “As long as Gary is happy with it – he cries at the door if he doesn’t go out enough for his liking”
