Welcome to issue #11 of Chumka’s Weekly!

Hello there furriend and happy Caturday! 💛 I decided to make myself some microwave popcorn before writing this newsletter and guess what… When I opened that bag, there was only one kernel that hasn’t popped and none of the popcorn was burnt. So I am feeling LUCKY haha

My cat is starting to be less anxious

I sure hope that I am not gonna jinx the progress by writing this lol

Chumka has always been anxious and apprehensive about strangers, especially outdoors. He has his safe spaces (such as home, inside backpack or in the car) where he is a bit more open to people. But as soon as he sees a person outside of those safe places - he freezes or tries to hide/ run away.

Now in the past 2 weeks or so, I started taking Chumka on “neighbourhood walks”. My husband and I have around 3km loop that we like to do for a bit of “exercise” or just getting the steps. Now it’s not crazy busy area but it’s loud - considering that we have a peacock farm on our street 😂

I started taking Chumka along in his backpack because it was too hot to go on adventures, but I wanted to give him that mental exercise. I thought that hearing all different noises etc would be beneficial - and it sure was. But it definitely helps in more ways than I expected. Chumka started popping his head out from the backpack to see more, he would be totally chill when we spoke with the neighbours - and he normally shakes in this situation! He even got out of the backpack couple times - just for a minute or so but that’s huge progress!

Now I don’t expect that it will make him a social cat. It’s good to have some level of “healthy fear” especially to strangers. But if it helps him to feel a bit more confident outdoors and that he won’t freeze when he sees a human 200 yards away, then I am gonna be ridiculously happy and proud.

There aren’t any guides on how to help an anxious (adult) cat to socialize them with humans. I think each cat would have its own “manual” for that anyway… But just wanted to share this little piece because it’s been “difficult” to find places to enjoy with Chumka. So if your pet struggles with that, maybe it’s something to try out yourself? 💛

More reading material on the topic…

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Did you know…

Can you tell if your cat is right handed or left handed? 

Scientists have discovered that many pet cats show a marked preference for the right or left front paw when it comes to walking down stairs, stepping over an object, or reaching for food. These preferences also differ by sex—males tend to prefer their left paws, whereas females were more likely to be righties.

Read more on this here

Also Chumka decided to interrupt and walked over my keyboard and this is what he had to say:

New from Chumka’s Instagram

If you want to learn a bit about Green Lipped Mussels and its’ benefits for pets, click on the post below for a “crash course” hehe

Some interesting finds from the internet…

I found this article titled “The pet I’ll never forget: part mafia boss, part Artful Dodger, Julian the cat scorns society’s rules” 

It’s pretty funny and chaotic article about a ginger cat who rules over his neighbourhood.

Click here to read it.

Memes to brighten your day

That’s it for this week, see you all next week for another Chumka Weekly!

~Paulina & Chumka 🐈‍⬛