So, just about every day, Mr. Davis and I go out for a walk. The routine goes like this: arrive home, snuggle time, cat gets dinner, I make him sit on his perch while I put his harness on, and then we go out. On weekends I usually take him out in the mornings, but the same thing, he has to “up” to his perch to get his harness on before we go out.
Most of the time he does this just fine, he will jump up right away and sit patiently while the harness goes on. However, every now and then, for several days in a row, he will not comply to this. He will fuss and meow at the door and window and pretty clearly wants to go out, but he will not obey the “up” to his perch. Sometimes he’ll do the up but then jump right back down and continue fussing. On these days, we either don’t go out, or I wait for him to settle down and we go out later in the evening, when he obeys his “up.” Either way it means I have to sit and listen to him fuss until it nearly drives me crazy.
Then, after a few days of this, he will mysteriously slip back into his normal pre-walk behavior and not give me any trouble.
Any ideas on what is going on? I thought at first that maybe when he does this, he just doesn’t want to go outside, and instead wants to play or more snuggles. But all the evidence, mainly the meowing and pawing at the door, and ignoring attempts to play, tell me otherwise. Could it be that he’s just trying to test his boundaries and see if he can get me to let him out without the harness?
Now, sometimes in the morning before work I will hold him outside on the patio for a bit, and I thought maybe THIS was what he wanted. However, he will not come to be picked up, so maybe not.
What could Mr. Davis be trying to tell me?