O.G. is an adventure kitty who loves all types of adventures particularly walks in the evening and at night!

O.G.'s favourite thing to do is going on car rides and walks - he literally starts purring the second his harness is on and will meow and wait by the door until we are ready to leave.

He also really enjoys sprinting as fast as he can around our apartment, especially if it involves us chasing him or playing hide and seek.

What are O.G.'s favourite foods and toys?

O.G. is not very food motivated... He generally prefers seafood flavors, but is quite picky. His favorite treats are the free samples we get from our local pet store, but once we buy the treats, they don't taste as good. 

With toys, he is currently obsessed with a little stuffed otter. We hide it away at night so he doesn't destroy it, but the second he can access his toy basket in the closet, he grabs that otter out and has an absolute blast!

What kind of catexporing does O.G get up to?

Any kind as long as it's not too hot or too cold and is relatively people and dog free.

He's a huge fan of late evening and night walks!

Sometimes we just take him on errands with us - to the car wash, getting cat food, etc.

Usually as long as we are gone from the apartment for a decent length of time, he's happy. If the adventure is too short, he lets us know he's unsatisfied by meowing at the door once we get home.

Tell us about your most memorable adventure

We've made a lot of great memories so far, so it's hard to choose... but probably our first camping trip to the Painted Hills here in Oregon.

We were worried about O.G. not feeling comfortable in the tent or keeping us up all night, but he did amazing!

That experience made us realize that he truly enjoys being with us doing whatever we're doing and it opened up our planning opportunities for future trips.

Why did you decide to train O.G.?

We are currently living in a fairly small apartment so we knew we wouldn't be able to safely let O.G. out on his own, but we didn't want him to be stuck indoors every day.

We decided to try harness and leash training to get him outside with no pressure on becoming a catexplorer - If he enjoyed it, great! If not, we would know that he was more comfortable living life indoors.

We lucked out and he truly enjoys going places with us!

How did you train O.G? 

We bought a harness and leash as soon as we brought O.G. home at 3.5 months old.

We put his harness on every single day for a few minutes at a time and played with him while he wore it.

Once he was walking and acting normally in the harness, we added the leash and let him drag it around every day.

Our first "adventures" were out on our balcony, then when we purchased our cat backpack, we moved on to car rides and small walks around locations that were quiet and close to home.

We have progressed as we feel appropriate for O.G. - his comfort in a situation is key to everyone having a good time.

What has been the most rewarding part of having a catexplorer?

It's really great seeing his interest and reactions to simple things we don't pay much attention to.

Seeing him completely mesmerized by a campfire or city lights on a night drive, or ecstatic because a moth just flew by him is so much fun for us.

In a way, watching how he reacts to things has made us more aware of our surroundings.

It has also been amazing to connect with other people and their catexplorers since creating O.G.'s Instagram account - it's an awesome community we never thought we'd have or be part of.

What has been the hardest?

The hardest part for us is coming to the realization that O.G. is not going to hike and act exactly as we might envision every time we go out.

There are days where he exceeds our expectations and days where we feel like we made no progress at all, or even regressed.

But we always think of the positives and the progress we've made since the harness training days and keep moving forward.

Every trip is a learning experience.

In hindsight, what would you do differently?

The only thing we kind of wish we'd have done differently was buy our cat backpack sooner so we could have started our walks earlier on... That really only would have made about a month's difference, but who knows, we'd maybe be a month ahead of where we are now!

What advice would you give other humans training their catexplorers?

Have LOTS of patience and practice often.

Remember that cats aren't dogs (we still have to remind ourselves of this sometimes) and work at a pace that your cat is comfortable with.

I always recommend getting a cat backpack as well - they work wonders when your cat needs a safe space or you need to make some progress on a hike.

Celebrate the little progressions you see and don't feel set back by a "bad" day.

It's important to recognize that there are all kinds of adventures out there - not every cat is going to hike 10 miles, climb mountains, or feel comfortable in a tent - creating new experiences that keep your cat intrigued and active are what matters most.

Is there another Catexplore that inspires you?

There are so many amazing catexplorers out there! A couple we love following are @roxythe_kitty@lucytheadventuretorbie @prettylittleprincesspeanut @jacquelinemeow_

Follow O.G. on Instagram (@o.g.adventure).