Walking with Blackie

I'm just wondering, if this is something other people's cats do.

Several years ago, we had a little calico named Patches. She had been a stray who adopted us, and even though she was pretty happy in the house, she liked to go out in the yard a couple of times a day. We lived kind of diagonally across the street from a park, and one evening I took my daughter for a walk down there - she was maybe 2 or 3 at the time - and Patches walked along with us. She was so happy and proud, walking with her tail high, looking behind to see if we were following or running to catch up with us. She stayed with us the whole time we were at the park, except when she attacked a small dog for no apparent reason. And she came home with us and slept next to me on my pillow that night, and I'd swear she was very happy about the whole thing.

Now Patches has gone to live with a friend of ours as a housewarming gift (she asked to have her and we had several cats at the time, so we were sorry to see her go but it seemed like a good thing at the time), but Blackie is one of her kittens (she had 1 litter) who was born under my bed.

Last night, I walked over to our apartment's community center to pick up my daughter from a children's event. Blackie was on the porch and saw me, and walked over with me. He waited with me to cross the street. He waited outside the building while I went in to get my daughter. He followed us home, sometimes leading and sometimes following, his long-haired tail held high like a flag waving in the evening breeze. He seemed very pleased with the whole situation.

So, is this common cat behavior, or something strange that this mother and son have in common?

Like mother like son eh? I'm not sure if it's common for the offspring of a cat to have some of their traits because I've never had a mother cat and her babies. I know in dogs it's common. I've heard from several clients who have bred their dog and kept a puppy from the litter that the pup holds a lot of the same traits as the mother. In fact my dog Scooby is A LOT like his mom, Tyra.

Anyways back to the subject, four of my cats now are all inside onlys but Benny who lives with my dad will follow me everywhere outside. He walks with me to the mail box and when I turn around to go back he flops over on his side and wiggles around on his back.

When my dad tends to the rabbits, he's right by his side. When he's doing work around the yard Benny is there to lend a paw. You walk out to your car and Benny follows you up until the driveway. He's like a little dog.

I had a wonderful calico kitty in Alaska. Her name was Smudge and I got her when she was 3 days old, she had been orphaned. She and I bonded like another cat I had years ago, and everytime I would walk to the store, or walk the dog, Smudge would follow! Since the road we lived on was rather private and unpaved and the store was at the end of the road, I used to just let her follow me. The few neighbors that lived nearby would always gawk at this girl, her german shepherd dog and her calico cat going for walks!

The only other time I had a cat that bonded like that to me was Sundancer, years ago (in the 70's) when my first husband and I were managing apartments in Seal Beach, California. Sun used to follow me around complex to complex and even rode to the store with us in our car. I had to have an emergency surgery and was rushed to the hospital and was in several days. When I got out, Sun was gone and my husband said he didn't know what happened to him. I looked everywhere for that cat, until finally Don broke down and told me that two days after I left, Sun was going nuts and went looking for me. He got hit on PCH and dragged himself up to our door and died on the step. Don buried him in a field nearby and said he didn't have the heart to tell me. I wept for days over the loss. He was an amazing stray kitty and was the one that launched my rescue efforts from there on in.

My Sunshine will also follow me. If I leave the yard and walk to a neighbors or to the store, there she is right next to me. Sort of like a dog....in a cat sorta way!!

Hissy, that story about Sundancer just broke my heart, poor kitty . . .

Yes, Hissy...that was very sad....poor thing!

My cats and dogs all follow me when I go walking (which isn't as often as I should) it looks like a parade...lol.