MEET ME-OW: Aries

Hi there!

I wanted to introduce myself properly - my name is Aries, a.k.a "Mr. Fu". I'm a miniature panther, 2 years old and I am an Adventure Cat!

December 22, 2019 was a cold, wet, almost-Christmas morning. I found myself abandoned at a park, miles from any buildings or facilities. I was fluffy and warm, not cold and wet but I wasn't sure where I was or what to do. Suddenly, a car drove by and stopped! Out of the driver door stepped a girl. I bounded to her, happily, tail in the air. I was happy as could be, purring away. She opened her rear door, and I hopped in! It was safe and warm and I quickly settled down. I had found my human.

That's the story of me being found. My human took me home and absolutely fell in love with me. We lived on a 30-acre ranch in Texas and I had freedom to roam to my hearts content! I was King of the Johnson hill and I loved it.

I've always enjoyed riding in cars and my adventuring far from home started early on in life. I liked to hop into the cars of unsuspecting visitors and travel home with them.

One time, I jumped into a cousins car trunk and drove all the way to Dallas before she noticed! It was quite troublesome because Mama Johnson had to drive all the way up there to pick me up and bring me back!

When my human found out she would be moving to Arizona for graduate school, she decided she couldn't go without me! I was so happy to move with her to make sure she stays out of trouble. She's a very good human and she wanted to make sure that my world didn't shrink to the size of the four walls of our little apartment and so she decided to get me a harness and leash so that I could experience the world, safely! After a bit of trial and error, we found a harness I loved, trained me to wear it and now, I'm so happy to get to experience the world outside! (In fact, I wake my human up every morning at 5:30am to make sure she takes me on a walk!)

Since then, I've taken a road trip of 20 hours, hung out in a coffee shop, walked happily on my leash and soon will be doing so much more! When my human asked for some advice on harness/leash training, she was told "cats aren't dogs" and that she should "get a dog if she wanted an outside animal". But she knew that cats enjoy the outside world and she wasn't going to give up on giving me the best of the world! She thought,

"Cats can be stubborn and headstrong but they are incredibly intelligent creatures! There is no reason why my cat should be confined to a tiny apartment when he was made to experience a big and beautiful world!"

And that's how it all started! I wanted to share my journey and any tips/tricks I can offer to other (soon to be) Adventure Cats out there! If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask! And never forget:

"Curiosity didn't kill the cat on leash!" - Aries