Amun & Johnny are 2 cats who wear diapers AND they go catexploring. They really don’t let their special needs hold them back. We hear about the realities of looking after special needs cats, how to travel with them and so much more.

What we talk about

• About Vanessa’s 4 cats

• How Vanessa’s cats came into her life

• What the dynamic is like with 4 cats

• About Amun & Johnny’s special needs and the impact on their lives

• Training cats to wear diapers

• About the diapers they wear

• Setting up your home to accommodate for a kitty who wears diapers

• How Vanessa goes catexploring with her cats

• The logistics of catexploring with 3 cats

• How Vanessa trained her kitties to follow verbal commands

• Harness training special needs cats

• How Amun learned how to swim

• How Vanessa goes catexploring on/in their bus

• How they fit out their bus to live in it

• How they made the bus cat friendly

• How the cats adjusted to the bus

• Where they travelled to on the bus

• How Vanessa stays stocked up on kitty essentials while travelling

• Advice for new catexplorers

• Most entertaining comment while catexploring

• Catexplorers that inspire Vanessa

• Product, service or program that has been a gamechanger

How to leave a review

To find out how to leave a review see here: https://catexplorer.co/podcast-entries/how-to-leave-a-review-for-the-catexplorer-podcast

Catexplorer Community Facebook Group

Join the Catexplorer Community Facebook Group here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/catexplorer.community/

Guest – Vanessa, Amun, Johnny & Hendrix

Instagram - @johnnybravocat & @adventuresindiaperland

Podcast episode mentioned

Bringing joy & catexploring with Nina the Blind Cat

Podcast Sponsor – Wee Kitty Eco Plant Litter by Rufus & Coco

The NEW Wee Kitty Eco Plant by Rufus & Coco is made from sustainable and naturally absorbent wheat and soy fibers. It's the natural litter for cats who care and the humans who love them. Reduce your carbon pawprint and make the switch - Head to https://www.weekittylitter.com to find a store near and for your chance to win a year's supply of kitty litter!

Music

Music for this episode was composed and performed by Kory McIntyre.

Cover art

The photo used for the cover art for Season 5 of Catexplorer Podcast is of @thegibsonchronicles

Transcript

Please note - this an automatic transcript, and as such may not be very accurate.

Daniel Lay 0:00

Welcome to the podcast, Vanessa. It's great to have you. Vanessa 0:02 Thank you for having me. So you have three amazing kitties. Can you start by telling us about them how they came into your life? Of course, so we actually forecast, um, we have an old man who, you know, doesn't really enjoy being outside, but that's okay. He's just a big giant fluffball and then our little movers and shakers are a moon. We've got Johnny B, otherwise known as Johnny beats j. j. a million and a half nicknames and our newest kitten is Axelrod. Awesome. Love Ben names. So how did they come into your life? That's the story. I've had obviously Hendrix forever in a day. I'm a moon is our first special needs cat. And he says kind of a crazy story. Actually. We used to have a big old loft that we rented out and there was a woman who was staying there and I had forgotten my cell phone charger at the time. So I ran back and she just had this look on her face. I was like, Sandra, why? is the matter. She said, you know, my daughter adopted this kitten the moon. He has makes sense to them. And I guess the the story that the you know, the story goes that one of the parents so the boy friend's mother saw the moon was like, Well, what are you gonna do with that? How are you going to keep pays, you know, how are you gonna change diapers for the remainder of his life? Well, his family have like a great quality of life. So they ended up wanting to euthanize him, that was their choice. And Sandra did not want that to happen. So we ended up fostering a moon. So he was scheduled to be euthanized and came into our lives. And needless to say he was a full blown foster fail because he's a ridiculous little man. And so that's how we ended up with a moon. like God. As far as Johnny goes, I got a panicked phone call on my fiance's Zach's birthday. And it was a rescue that I work with is Heidi's kitty Haven and she was in a panic because there was this amazing kitten who eight weeks old Unknown Speaker 2:00 He was crushed in a door and was partially paralyzed. And she couldn't express bladders. She begged and pleaded until I finally agreed and my fiance wanted to murder me but so they brought him the two and a half hour drive to us. And then I had a little paralyzed my hands Unknown Speaker 2:20 and then a moon fell in love with Johnny. That's how we ended up with two special needs cats. And x is just hilarious and ginger and Unknown Speaker 2:29 kind of just struck a chord with us the second we picked him up and we just made that spontaneous decision to a document to our family. Wow. So what's the dynamic like with the bulkheads? I'm very hectic so Hendricks is pushing 15 years old. And a moon j and x are all well two and under. So you can imagine it's a lot of you know hi kitten energy. I say Moon is the boss when he puts his little Unknown Speaker 3:00 Bobby toe down, then everybody listens, Jays hall monitor. So he's kind of a bit of a nerd, he just kind of squeeze everyone when they run too fast. And we run past him and go all the time. Unknown Speaker 3:14 And x is still a full blown kitten. So he's still insane, running around everywhere and you know, keeping the other two entertained. And Unknown Speaker 3:24 I think their overall dynamic is really quite loving. And it's really sweet how they take care of each other. I think we each understand that they're all kind of different. So watching them interact, and like, you know, even acts as a kitten will run around Johnny knowing that Johnny scoots, he's not quite as fast. Unknown Speaker 3:42 But x will come back and play with him in that one spot. This way he can play and it's really sweet watching them together. It's really such a lovely family. I mean, the fact that they interact together and get on so well and help each other as what you would call family. Oh, definitely. Oh, Unknown Speaker 4:00 Absolutely. So could you tell us a little bit about a month and Johnny's special needs in terms of explaining what it is and how you treat them and the impact on someone's life as well as Johnny's workforce. So Unknown Speaker 4:13 I'll be at Johnny and moon are both in diapers. So that problem is fairly similar. They are both incontinent cats. I have become the master of tinkle and poo, which is not anything that I thought I would ever be proud to say. But Unknown Speaker 4:29 you know, that's the thing. That's my title. I wear that crown proudly. Unknown Speaker 4:33 But so ammonia is mate syndrome. And I mean as a as a purebred makes, but the problem is when there's over breeding, with the Manx world's, essentially a cat's tail is an obligation of your spine, right? So it makes breed has a very short tail little to no tail at all. And so I'm just basically has enough and what happens is, the shorter their spine gets essentially, that's when they're kind of marked up Unknown Speaker 5:00 These issues so a moon has a bit of a hopping gate can walk he's not going to be you know pro basketball player anytime soon he's probably got like the the vertical leap of about two feet but he can get up on things Unknown Speaker 5:14 and so he's got you know he's fronting up eyes Unknown Speaker 5:19 get a crazy surgery on one of our on one of our road trips and emergency surgery in Huntsville, Alabama, which we get to. Unknown Speaker 5:26 But other than that, Unknown Speaker 5:29 he's usually he's fairly functional, like a normal cat would be. Johnny on the other hand, when he was quite young, we don't know the entire story, but we kind of caught wind of it. He was dropped off at the SPC in Montreal and had been crushed in the door when he was like weeks old. Unknown Speaker 5:45 And that resulted in him becoming paralyzed. So he had a spinal fracture and ended up with those neurological issues. So he does have feelings in his back feet, but he cannot get them underneath them. So they kind of just kind of kick out Unknown Speaker 6:00 Behind him, you could say, and then when he walks, he does scoop so he drags his back end with him. Unknown Speaker 6:08 And it's been, you know, I think I know you spoke with treatment, um, but in our lives, it's more prevention than anything, they can basically do almost anything. Unknown Speaker 6:21 So what we want to do is stop anything bad from happening. So we express their bladders, we keep them clean this way, they avoid the T eyes. And other than that, you know, you find a food that works for them, you keep them extraordinarily hydrated, and we see very little issues with them. So it seems like the main thing that you pointed out was these diapers did you have to train them to wear it? And is it like when you put a harness on a cat, and then sort of flop over the first time? Unknown Speaker 6:48 Um, well, they did definitely do the flop when we first put the harness on them. But I can relate to quite easily to wearing diapers. So the second Unknown Speaker 7:00 M and j were large enough to be put in diapers. That's when they started wearing them. And I think much like a harness, it's all about sizing. You don't want anything dragging behind them no flips, no flaps. They need to be able to move without restriction. Right. So I think that was imperative for us. But I was shocked how easily they they took to them, and it makes them look adorable. Kinda diaper. You can't go wrong. Unknown Speaker 7:25 Oh, yeah, that's definitely right. And they can specific diapers. They ever thought no, we find actually you can buy cat specific diapers. But we actually use Pampers and Huggies. And so with che we kind of tail whole. Me basically. It was it was a guest at first now we know exactly where to do the snip, but you cut through the diaper and then to seal off all the little bits inside you tape it up Unknown Speaker 7:53 and slide it over his little booty. But we find that that works. There's some great companies actually by Unknown Speaker 8:00 Time, a US company that makes cat and dog diapers. So if you need, I mean, or if you have the ability to wash your diapers, they do make the cloth diapers or they make the covers and it just keeps them on a little better. we lucked out with our deeds, though they can they're pretty free with their diapers and diapers alone and works out pretty well. Yeah, human diapers. So then apart from the diapers Have you had to set up your house in any other different ways to accommodate a moon and Johnny? I think that's a common misconception in regards to whether you have a cat with make syndrome or a paralyzed cat that you need to alter your life somehow so dramatically that it becomes a burden. I can honestly say moving from a three bedroom house. We had a loss that was all on one level. Then we moved into a bus so he's six square feet, and now we live in a cabin and we have not altered anything. You have to be mindful of stairs. I think mindful is more the word that you want to focus on. Unknown Speaker 9:00 So we have a parallelized cat, sometimes their back end drops off of things. So I mean, blockade off the staircase, that's about all we really have to do, especially in the cabin. Other than that, I mean, they climb the couch, I mean, kind of has that little leaf to them. So he gets around quite easily. And whenever j wants to go, you know, on to something higher than he can then he can scoot on to, he definitely tells us he's quite vocal, and then we airlift him to wherever he needs to go. Unknown Speaker 9:31 itself is never really it's never really too much that you have to worry about. finest an interesting that you say that. It's more mindful than rather than doing something differently, because earlier in season five of the podcast, we spoke to Julia, who is mom to Nina who's blind, and that's pretty much what she said as well was, she was like, she didn't have to put anything on the corners of things and stuff. All she really had to be mindful was that Nina can jump so she just needs to make sure that Unknown Speaker 10:00 It's safe for her to jump. So a lot of us seem to think that if we're going to look after a special needs cat, we need to change our lives completely. But there are ways to just be mindful of it really, which is, yeah, that's so interesting. Well, every day, they surprised me with things. I mean, we thought moving into the boss's day was going to be a thing. Unknown Speaker 10:20 But his favorite spot was the top of the driver seat of the bus, he would just claw his way to the top, they will let their back legs dangle if they have to, but there's such resilient little creatures. And I think that's one of the reasons why people are a little intimidated. Unknown Speaker 10:38 In regards to adopting special needs cats, they think that they're gonna struggle through life and they really don't they you know, whether they scream at you when they can't do something and they ask you to do it for them, or they just figure it out themselves. Like, you know, I've seen blind cats and the fact that they can Unknown Speaker 11:00 Navigate houses and play with toys. And I mean, imagine two cats. I mean, their senses are so much more amazing than ours, right? So they really do adapt quite nicely. And it's really, I could honestly say it's been one of the most brilliant things to watch, Unknown Speaker 11:21 to getting around and figuring out exactly how they could get to things that you would seemingly assume impossible for them. Unknown Speaker 11:29 They're troublemakers, they work it out. That's a big testament to the three of the four of them in terms of the way they work as a family, and especially the two I'm gonna join in that, like you said, they have a full life and you can say that on your social media channels. And the fact that you do some cat exploring which is what I wanted to get into that shows that you know, there's nothing stopping them. So can you tell us a little bit about your cats and how they go cat exploring? Is it all four of them or just some of them? Well, my old man Hendrix is he's like a Unknown Speaker 12:00 I think I had said he sleeps 23 and a half hours of the day, he has zero desire to go outside. And I mean, we've never really pushed him. I tried him on the harness once or twice back when he was younger and he didn't really take to it. He's a little bit more of an anxious animal. And I think one of the great things about cat exploring is, you know, you really get so much more in tune with your pet. Unknown Speaker 12:21 And you know what, it's not for every animal. Now, the flip side is our other three. Unknown Speaker 12:28 So, a moon is probably the best in regards to the outdoor activities. So I'm gonna actually, when we hike, he hikes off leash, he follows us he follows his verbal commands quite easily. He is trained that when he wants to go outside, we will tap our shoulder and he will leap onto our shoulder as opposed to just run out the door. He is a brilliant animal he is, by far I think that kind of smarter than me, to be honest. And then in regards to J Unknown Speaker 13:00 She scoots right. So it's a little more difficult to take him out. But we take him out in a backpack. And so when we're in one spot, whether we're camping or anything, he's on a harness. He's outdoors with a moon. Much like he would tell your dog. Unknown Speaker 13:16 They chill right beside us, and Jason's got his own little bag because he's our little friends. But when we go hiking, he wants to come so we put him in the backpack and, you know, he gets all the the sights, the smells. And you know, sometimes it just got to be the legs for your little one. But what else is there? Oh x. Oh, my goodness. Well, x is v v. v. My x is a kitten. So we've tried super, super early, probably within the first week, we got him to start working the harness, just indoors. And now since it's winter in Canada, we take him out for a little 20 minutes since before he gets cold. And I think he is going to pair so phenomenally well with a moon because you Unknown Speaker 14:00 He's afraid of nothing. And I mean, that might be the kitten in him but working with him from such a young age, we'd like to instill that in him as well like to just allow that to to keep blossoming but he doesn't necessarily need to be afraid of you know, the birds in the trees or the wind in the grass or it's not something to be scared of, but it's something that he can have fun with. Wow, that's amazing. So can you talk me through how the logistics work with taking three cats out cat exploring is uh, do you go by yourself? Do you take someone else with you? Because with us one cat one human is probably the best scenario and one cat sorry, two cats one human gets a little challenging and sometimes overwhelming. So I want to sort of understand how it works for you. Yeah, completely. So I think we follow that rule to all take a moon out and Zach will take the moon out or you know, one of us will take j we do like our little individual, you know, mommy and me hikes. But when we're out together generally Jays in the backpack so it's a little bit easier. Unknown Speaker 15:00 Because he's not running away anytime soon. Unknown Speaker 15:04 And like I said, I'm moving follows verbal commands quite nicely, I think it's going to be a different dynamic when we end up having all three of them out. But with J in the backpack, at least we're not kind of, you know, they say you're, you're hurting cats, we only have two Unknown Speaker 15:20 that are necessarily there running around actively. So I'm hoping that we can get xe to follow the verbal commands as well as does. Unknown Speaker 15:29 And you know, what we if we have to take an extra hike a day is to make sure all three of them get out. I think we're, we're going to be already doing that. You talked about training them, and I want to dig into this a little bit. So one of the things he first talked about was the shoulder tap with a moon as well as the verbal commands. How did you train and when did you know to do all that? It's I think it's persistence with them. I find with any sort of intelligent cat, the stubbornness gets in the way a lot. So I Unknown Speaker 16:00 I think because we care for them to such an extent in regards to the diapers, they they look to us for help, right like a mother cat, cleans its kittens and like this is almost an elongated portion of them being a kitten because we take care of them too. I mean, just using the washroom, they know that we're helping them. That's another thing, especially these cats, they know they with their heart and body, they show it they know that you are helping them live a happy life. And so in regards to the moon, he pushes his luck constantly. Unknown Speaker 16:36 But we don't mind we say crazy things to them. Like instead of outside, we have to do well. I do exact a little bit better at not doing this. I feel safe, but I say outside instead of outside. So we started asking them, do you want to go outside and then we'd pick them up and bring him outside? So he at that point started to associate a bow tie with going outside. So what do we be just going outside? Unknown Speaker 17:00 You don't have like a barbecue or going hiking. Oh, Ty he would be zone get on us. We're going outside mom's cool. I'm height. And then we started implementing what we'd stand outside of the bus and tap him on the nose. Not obviously anything wrong. We're off by just getting his attention. No, you cannot pass me. So we would kind of body blockade him. And then we would tap her shoulders, which she does just kind of naturally cast on to be on the higher portion of everything and anything when they feel safe. So we started tapping our shoulder. And then when we realized just after a few moments, like maybe a couple times, he realized, okay, oh, Ty Unknown Speaker 17:36 relates to the shoulder, and then we end up going and doing something fun. So it probably took me about a month to master the entire thing. And he has not had a one I'm gonna try and find something knock on wood. He's not had one issue, running out of the bus or running out of the cabin. And we started working on that with x as well and he's sticking to it just as easily. Let's see. Unknown Speaker 18:00 Persistence with them and getting past that. That little stubborn streak that when you say don't do something they're like, I am cat hear me Unknown Speaker 18:10 constantly with that. So you'll notice, though, yeah. Oh, that's right. But I love what you said about the verbal command because we've got a similar thing with lumos el el cap, where we say outside in a singsong voice, he gets really amped up and excited because he knows he's going outside and yeah, he really loves it. So that's a verbal cue to sort of getting really hyped up to and tell him that it's okay to go out there. And then he gets really excited about it. Yeah, they definitely take their cues from you and especially when like you end up being the protector of them right as much as cats like to think that Unknown Speaker 18:47 they are like the be all end all which what they are. You protect them and they they know and that translates right so I mean, especially within murasky going outside, you don't want to put your your pets in danger. So having them Unknown Speaker 19:00 kind of locked in on you. And that one, those phrases that you You really think work with dogs, they definitely work with cats too. I mean, everyone even knows what snacks are. They all know like, when it's time to have dinner, they have snacks, it's snack time. Unknown Speaker 19:13 So they've got a lot of those things and Unknown Speaker 19:17 it's cool adding to the vocabulary, I'd say, you don't ever want to, like forget about one for too long. Um, because then they get, you know, stuck on something else. What helps is Zach has what I refer to as the daddy voice. So if you let's say listen to Zack, way more than they listen to me. So especially when we're training that like that deep like, you know, Hi, I'm your dad. You're gonna listen to me and they're like, Oh, yeah, okay, dad. Cool. Yeah. Oh. Unknown Speaker 19:51 That's awesome. I love that. So how did you train, harness train a moon and Johnny and did you have to do anything different Unknown Speaker 20:00 Because of this special needs, um, I think I'm really back to the diapers. Um, and I touched on that briefly with sizing. So a moon is a bit of a chubby guy. Unknown Speaker 20:15 So it was a little bit more difficult for him to find something that fit around because he's kind of got a curvier body. So we found what works best is the harness that basically tightens when he pulled on the top. Unknown Speaker 20:32 So that worked best for a moon day he was a little bit more difficult because the way he scoots he pushes his front paws back onto his chest. So he's quite tight in that area where the harness would be basically in his little cap armpit. So what worked with Jay was finding a thinner harness. So I think if you put this big, bulky thing and a cat who's never had a harness on before, then you're almost asking for the phone. Unknown Speaker 21:00 The second they feel like they're tied down. Unknown Speaker 21:03 That I mean, you're kind of you're losing their attention, they're now more focused on the fact that they are even like it feels to them maybe like being held or they're being held back. So keeping things a little bit thinner and a little bit smaller and working with your, the natural curve of your cat's body. Just a little less of a hassle when you have a Norton but our crazy kids just paying attention to you know, where they're where their little limbs lay. And that helped us a lot and then I think they both took to it within days of us having x is actually still not a huge fan of the artist, but we distract him. So he deals and he's still quite young so he will get used to it. What people may not be aware is and one also goes swimming. So how did you train him to swim and I have to ask does he wear a diaper while he's swimming as well. He does wear the diaper while he slept with the moon and part of his Unknown Speaker 22:01 is having you know, make centerman in spite of the I hate to say this, you know, but poops fall out of them. So to keep everybody in the water and clean he keeps the diaper on to keep everything locked in if it should happen, so he does swim with a diaper I find it keeps him I'll be more buoyant in the back end. Unknown Speaker 22:19 And how we got him into into swimming. I think it was more of a nervousness on my end. Unknown Speaker 22:25 So we kayak when we go camping, we'll take out the kayaks and we never like leaving a moon behind, especially because a moon comes, you know, hiking with us. He's very much with us all the time. Unknown Speaker 22:37 So my worry was that when he was out on the kayak, even if he has a boat, they all have life jackets, to be fair, but I wanted to know like how would he been having bad since he was little? So I was curious to see how you would respond to the water and that let me tell you freeze dried shrimps can get your accountants do anything. Unknown Speaker 22:58 So we would walk him Unknown Speaker 23:00 into the water just to chase a shrimp. And it was second nature to him. He would just follow that shrimp wherever it went. And it's not to say that a moon is you know, the ultimate Wimmer cat. But he most definitely will swim out to you or to. So nothing I know at that point when I was content with knowing that, you know, while we were on the kayaks that he would be safe, if something happened we flipped and we would just swim. So it was good to go It was a safety thing. And now when we're at the beach, I mean just kind of wanders into the water by himself. Days another story Jade does not like water and will scream bloody murder, but it's you know, it's each cat, right? You can't necessarily push them to do things that they don't want to do. And part of having fun with them out in the wilderness or you know whether you're taking them just out your car. part of the fun is knowing that your cat is having fun too. So knowing your cat not taking the video Unknown Speaker 24:00 All Unknown Speaker 24:01 right. That's exactly right. And the fact that a moon does go swimming is awesome and special, and it's red sea, and I love everything about it. And the fact that you know, Johnny doesn't want to go swimming, that's perfectly fine. And that's like two cats that like the beach that like digging at the beach, but that I'm at the water around like the waves. And so what we have to do to compromise a mega work is we actually end up on the high side of the beach where we need to sand dunes and so forth, so that they're far enough away from the waves so that they can still dig, but enjoy the the sand but not be bothered by the water. Right, right. Right. And something about especially since we've got the two special needs cats, keeping their lives fulfilling and you know, realizing that the very few limitations they have, their lives can be so much happier in other areas. And it should be the same with even a cat with no special needs. Maybe even Unknown Speaker 25:00 A shy cat that likes to sit out in the backyard where he can follow the butterflies and not hear you know waves from water being on the beach or anything that makes them other cats are such naturally wild little beasts, right. Unknown Speaker 25:16 And to see them kind of out in the in the wild, we'll save an effort in there in the grass. Their Natural Instincts kind of pop out. And it makes it so great to watch. And you see them at their most like, I would say pure and natural state because that's where they came from. So your little lions when you take them outside. So talking about adventures outside and going and doing all these really cool things. You mentioned before about the bus. Can you tell us about the bus and what it looks like? And what's in it how you go adventures with the bus? Yeah, of course. So we've lived in our bus for the entire summer. We were doing work I was actually really involved in community Unknown Speaker 26:00 And we were doing disaster relief. There was a significant amount of flooding within the Ottawa area, and we were doing six weeks of disaster relief. Unknown Speaker 26:09 You know, wearing the waders and feeding volunteers, and we were, we're right into it. But what had happened out of that was we were buying a house, we were moving. And you know, sometimes things just don't work out. And so we have gotten rid of our home, we got rid of our loss, our businesses garage, and, you know, we got a phone call and then we had no house. Well, we are either going to find a rental real quick, or you know, at that point, I didn't know I didn't know what we were going to do the family pavilion tests and no home and I kind of glanced outside and we had the bus for probably about six months because, you know, school fully life and that stuff had been something that I wanted to do forever. And I looked at Zach and I said, you know we've taken trips, we've taken a muno we had driven across the entire United States with them. Unknown Speaker 27:00 What would happen if we moved into the bus? And Zack was like, Well, I think that would be one hell of a great summer. So I said, You know what, saddle up? Let's do this. And so we moved into our bus. That is a shuttle bus. It's just beacon Baptist Church all over it. No, we're not with the church at all. I just thought it was an obnoxious thing. So we bought the bus, fairly inexpensive, then we drove it at that point to my parents place. And we built the entirety of the bus out ourselves. Keeping in mind the cats, so nothing was too high that Johnny couldn't climb. It added in that much like just living in in a home, you don't have to do that enough to accommodate them. And so it's 86 square feet and as everything except for a shower. And it was one heck of an adventure. It was pretty crazy and the cats loved it. I just love that. You were faced with this situation where you suddenly didn't have a place to live and you kind of just looked at what you had available to you Unknown Speaker 28:00 Just came up with this great idea and just went for it like and look at how well it worked out. It's pretty awesome. You mentioned that you've converted the bus like he built it so that it was cat friendly. What did you put anything in there in particular to make it cat friendly? So like whereabouts did you put things like the kitty litter trays or places for the keys to sleep and stuff like that. So we have in the very back end of our bar, we've had a huge storage area that we actually built. Unknown Speaker 28:27 We're building essentially our own, it's our own area for the the back it's a quiet, quieter area of the bus when we travel and they can be comfortable in their crate. I know you said litter but a moon and j are pugs. So that was pretty easy to travel with since we just have to pack a bunch of diapers and you know what creams and we're good to go. Unknown Speaker 28:51 Immigrants x now Unknown Speaker 28:54 because x is going to end up coming in the bus with us again. Come springtime. We live in Canada so it's quite cold right now. So we're in a cabin. Unknown Speaker 29:00 But there is an area just off where we built because in my head I never stopped getting animals. That's just the thing I have been that way since I was little. Unknown Speaker 29:10 So there is an area in the back of the bus for litter. Another thing that he were mindful of was having high and low areas. So living in 86 Square Feet tends to I mean, I didn't tell my husband so I don't think Unknown Speaker 29:30 we did want though high and low places cats naturally wants to gravitate to the higher area is in j scooting we gave Jay his own little cubby and we made sure that a moon had plenty of high places to go so if for some reason they bugged each other, they had ample room in the 86 square feet and I mean they're only 10 pounds each but little room to find their own little safe space and I think that made everything that much easier. So when they got it into a little TIFF or if you know Unknown Speaker 30:00 was bugging a moon and the moon wanted to sleep. He just went into his higher space and he was safe up there and they could stay away from each other. And it was their own little little seat. So you mentioned about the territorial issues sometimes with the cats. Did they have any adjusting that they had to do? Or is it sort of pretty comfortable from the outset? It was comfortable right off the bat. We had bought the bus before we got to moon and then we took him on our trip. So that was the cross country trip. And he loved every second that there's not anything that a man is scared of. So when even when we were camping, so when we got him on, we would take him camping, and the trailers, you know, coming in and out of the campgrounds would drive past and we just stood next to a moon and we're like, you know, you don't need to be afraid of this and he would look at daddy because you know, mommy socks daddy's everything Unknown Speaker 30:53 that could say, once you're good, you're okay and he in he took that all in. It was like Okay, I will Unknown Speaker 31:00 Yeah, I'm good. And so now you could probably one of the funnier things Zack and I were taking care skydiving course. And so we ended up camping retreat to the side of, you know, our, where the planes take off. And a moon just sat in our camper at that time just watching planes take off within, you know, meters from him. And that's kind of a testament as to how he is not scared of anything. So he took to the bus quite easily, and we thought it would be a little bit more of a challenge with Jay. So how we introduced them to that would be especially the loud sounds now anyone is never considering the van life for the school, your life option and you have pets, just try taking them out in the car. It's that it's that safety element, right? Imagine being 10 pounds and having all these big crazy sounds or the motion of the car moving the shaking of everything. So I would suggest every you know, every day every Unknown Speaker 32:00 ever so just get them get them used to being in a vehicle. Unknown Speaker 32:05 Another thing I like to tell people too is is it with us, like crates, you're going to travel with them, always leave your crate. Now you don't necessarily have to have the door on but we love to leave them just tucked in the corner with a blanket in our cats just sleep in in their crate. So they're not afraid of it. And that I think would help with not necessarily, you know, even exploring that. But if you're taking your animal to the vet, leave the crate out the factory, the certainly the crate out if you're going to the vet, because then the crate becomes less of a scary place. They don't associate grateful with some of that they can associate the greatness Oh, yeah, definitely in that, you know, just getting them used to it and getting them familiar and comfortable with it really helps that learning process for them. Now, you talked about traveling on the bus. Can you talk to us about some of the places that you that you've been and some of the places you're thinking about going in the future? Yeah. Unknown Speaker 33:00 We so I've been to many, many different states in the US. We drove all the way down living Canada, we drove all the way down to Louisiana. Unknown Speaker 33:10 And we did not make it faster if we stopped everywhere that we could be. We Sorry about that. We stopped everywhere that we could possibly stop, let a moon you know, sniff everything in anything. We took the bus camping quite often we would take it to our drop zone. Unknown Speaker 33:29 And then, so our bus right now is parked outside of our cabin that we live in because again, maybe 100 years old, all that jazz either freeze your face off here right now, like minus 20. Unknown Speaker 33:41 But there isn't a day that I don't walk past the boss and know that we need to get back into it. I would have lived in that boss for the entire year if I had to. I wasn't ready to leave. So we've been talking about what we're going to do in the spring. Unknown Speaker 33:55 I guess you guys just keep following us on on Instagram because we've got a couple of really cool events. Unknown Speaker 34:00 hairs that are that are coming up. We're gonna put that bus to good use that somewhere else. Unknown Speaker 34:05 That's awesome. One thing that stands out to me is that back that you've actually traveled very long distances. I suppose the US and Canada is a bit different to Australia where some of those areas probably aren't remote as the outback here, but how do you Unknown Speaker 34:23 make sure that you're stuck stocked up on all the gear that you need for the kiddies? Like I like for example their food or I suppose diapers is a bit easier because you can get that in a normal human store. But what about other things for the kiddies? They're they're pretty low maintenance, actually. So the one thing that day and they're on a very specific diet, their high protein, Unknown Speaker 34:49 grain free, we just thought we think it helps them form their foods basically. That's the that's the gist of it. So there was a bit of trial and error and not respect so we definitely Unknown Speaker 35:00 Choose to not stray far from their specific brand of food and what works for them. So one thing that is imperative is having an abundance of that food. You can't really with these cats, you can't really stop the, you know, the Walmart, look at the local grocery store and grab a couple cans of food, we have to be quite specific in that respect. Another thing is water. So one thing that happened to us on our way back from Louisiana and being first time special needs cat cat owners. You learn as you go, and some things are more difficult to learn than others. We didn't realize how much each cat is different. We didn't realize how much the water pH level would impact a moon having you've been prone to UTI urinary tract infections and such. And he ended up with a UTI and crystals and ended up with a blockage in Huntsville, Alabama. And we had to recommend to have an emergency service Unknown Speaker 36:00 They're so there was just one day that I couldn't express them and we sat with a specialist in Huntsville, Alabama. They are amazing. Unknown Speaker 36:09 In a lot of acts look at a moon and j like they have eight heads because they're just not used to seeing animals like this flourish. Unknown Speaker 36:17 So when those specific facts took us in, and we're like, you know, your cancer, awesome, like this is what you need to do. This is the surgery that needs to happen. Unknown Speaker 36:28 We obviously went for it because our cats are our kids and we do anything and everything you can for them. And so moon had his surgery. So one thing we learned from that is that they need the same water over and over again. So we travel with bottled water for them. And hydration is is clutch. A lot of times when you're on a long distance, call. Your cats don't want to drink because they're defiant little jerks. Unknown Speaker 36:55 Having them stay hydrated is so important. Unknown Speaker 37:00 So, tricks that we use, this could be on maybe a little dash of water. So you just crack a can of tuna. I would not suggest giving them to fit. Obviously, it's all within moderation, but you can put in a couple drops of that and cats absolutely love it, they will chug it, it doesn't matter if they're in the middle of a tornado, he's castable drink. Another thing you could do is mix a little bit of two rules. So like the like yogurt for cat so for meat tubes, basically stared out into some water and give it a little bit of some flavor and they tend to drink it quite always have water on long hauls is a smart thing. Unknown Speaker 37:40 I think that's really probably one of the only things that that we focused on when we jumped into the vehicle with a moon because, I mean, they have their schedules and and as long as we follow that we're usually pretty, pretty good to go with them and lots of things right all the day. You Unknown Speaker 38:02 I just love that. And I love that I'm a particular fan of the treat in the water as well. So I'm just a handy tip for everyone. When you mix the water, don't drop it on yourself, it's really hard to get out. I've got a few clothes that have now have cat treats stains all over them because I did that. So just a tip for everyone. I had a couple days ago, X was I was giving the three cats one chiru and x decided to slap the chiru and it flung across my entire face. So I had I had salmon wish across the age, there was discussing. Delicious. Unknown Speaker 38:41 So but so we really appreciate you taking the time today. And we're coming up towards the end of the podcast where we ask each of our guests the same four questions. So what is one piece of advice you would give to new cat explorers? Oh, thank you like the cat. Keep in mind and it's a very tiny little monster. Unknown Speaker 39:00 stares and as tough as they are, they are little guys. So honestly get down into the grass. Think about what sounds seem louder from down there. Think about how big the trees are. Think about that crash that you would never imagine when you're little it translates very different to them. So try to get into the mindset of the cat and don't push let them go at their own pace. It's for some cats and it's not for some cats, but it's for most cats. That's great advice. And what's been the most entertaining comment that someone said to you while you've been out and about with the cat? Most Entertaining comment was probably is that a monkey? Unknown Speaker 39:39 Cuz everyone kind of hot did having the nose tail. He resembles a monkey. Oh, we were on a hike and some woman like dead stared at me and was like Unknown Speaker 39:52 I was like that's a cat. Ma'am. That's the cat. Is that a diaper a lot, but I think is that a monkey kind of sent me Unknown Speaker 40:00 sent me into some laughter Unknown Speaker 40:02 That's hilarious, but I can kind of see it with the diaper as well. Like if you're not looking very closely, I can kind of see it, but it is pretty. Unknown Speaker 40:10 Bottom. Yeah. Yeah. Unknown Speaker 40:13 So what cat explorers inspire you? Well, maybe not to the, you know, the exploring extent of a moon rocky on wheels and his mother dawn have helped us through so much. And he actually gets out of the house quite often. And so he's an explorer in his own right. But they've got a ridiculous story. And what's great about rocky on wheels is they will help anybody who asks Dawn is so involved in the special needs community and is is such a teacher and it's just such a clean heart and it's absolutely hilarious. I adore them. And then there is so their Instagram is Willow long ranch. And it is a couple who we just recently chatted about this. Unknown Speaker 41:00 They live in a bus so they have a Schooley and she had forever wanted a special needs cat and saw a moon living in a bus and they decided to take the leap and they adopted their own special needs cat with with some noodles. So he drags his back in like Jay and I mean they are just loving light and they are his he's their child now and it's really really great and they speak volumes of traveling with cats and I mean if we could do it they can do it so many more people could Unknown Speaker 41:32 What a great story so last question, what products service or program has been a game changer for your cats? Cool obviously you guys Unknown Speaker 41:43 we love you guys have gotten the cat backpack. So you know it's easy to say that you know axes the normie a moon is hugely mobile has his you know has his little quirks but he can run and jump and play and j being partially parallel Unknown Speaker 42:00 lies Unknown Speaker 42:01 the fact that we have a cat backpack and can allow him to experience the amazing things that you know, his brothers do. And his you know, mom and dad. I love that. And I love watching his little nose, sniff the trees and he gets really into it. And it just I think it really enriches his life. And much like I said, you know, cats are wild little beasts. And if we can take them home back to the wild, we'll do it in any way we can. So that makes me smile so much. So, Vanessa, thank you so much for joining us today. We're really inspired. Where can we find you and your kitties online? So a moon is adventures in diaper land on Instagram and Johnny is Johnny Bravo cat xe shows up on both of them. So we'll put those links in any of the links from today's episode in the show notes available at cat explorer.com forward slash podcast. Thank you so much for listening today. Did you know that cat explorer has some special merchandise? There are super soft t shirts, hoodies Unknown Speaker 43:00 These hats mugs are more. We use the proceeds from these to continue to have great free resources to help you so it would mean the world to us if you could pop by on our online store to help continue our community you can support Casper by checking it out at cat explore.com forward slash shop. Thank you so much for being a part of the cat explorer community. That's it for today. We'll catch you next time. In the meantime, enjoy give me a kitty the world