Walking In A Feline Flurry

Introduction

People have remarked that I go out to take pictures of cats, but actually, that is just a residual extra to my walking. On my Google Pixel 4XL, I have the Google Fit application that is available from the Google Play Store, and set myself a target of seven thousand steps a day which is about three miles. I used to do eleven thousand steps a day but that meant that I had to go out both before and after work, and now that I work from home that became not impossible but just a chore.

Google fit recommends you get 25 "heart points" a day and 150 "heart points" a week on a Monday to Sunday sequence. As you can see I am way over my weekly target, but you really do need to keep those steps up each day, there is no building up credit steps.

I think it is good to have a target and I still often go way over eleven thousand steps a day, and what that does is actually keep my body in a reasonable state of fitness and probably meant that I was in a good state when I had to have the cancer cut out of me.

But there is another side effect to my walking as well as keeping me physically fit...... Now read on ... dot dot dot dot

The Cats

On my walks, I see and meet lots of cats, and often they are very friendly. This often puts me in touch with their owners and others who like them. I remember sharing a photo with my friend Les and she thought that the cat was in danger or lost, I told her that around here the cats own the neighbourhoods and tolerate the humans to feed them and provide shelter.

The weather recently has been very cold and most cats I have seen have been inside behind windows. Cats are sensible like that, they only come out when the weather is at least comfortable, though you do get the odd one that likes playing in the snow.

After not seeing many cats, today I saw quite a lot on my walk, some that I knew and some that were new to me. You can see them with some videos on the Instagram link below or search Instagram with the hashtag #CatsinNam (that's for Cats in Fenham where I live).

As I say in the title today there has been a veritable flurry of feline friends coming out to meet me and put a smile on my face. The cats so make my walks much more pleasant when I see them and get the chance to photograph them.

The feeling is very therapeutic, although cats can be very therapeutic but they are also very independent and will not put up with anything but respect and good treatment from you.

The Feline Therapeutic Effect

If you feel stressed or under the weather, I do believe time with cats can actually help you. I am not a pet owner because I am far too selfish and I do treat cats like dogs and children, I am fine with them as long as I can give them back to their owners.

This is a recent visitor to my garden, although as often as not they run away, but sometimes come to my back door demanding attention and goodies.

This place has at least two cats as you can see, keeping warm in our current cold weather.

Conclusion - Will I Ever Own A Cat?

You can never own a cat because they own you, and as I have said I am too selfish to look after one, but there is no doubt that they are a huge benefit to their owners and to me too.

Tom is one of the cats that I meet on an almost daily basis.