'Walking my cat on a lead changed my life'1 Apr 2024 13:09
'He's fearless, nothing fazes him'
Jade de Monyé bought Figaro, a Maine Coon cross Ragdoll, after a previous pet was killed on the road.
Inspired by world-travelling adventure cat Suki, Ms de Monyé, from Shropshire, decided to harness train Figaro from the off.
"He's fearless, nothing fazes him," she said, adding that Figaro took to the harness straight away and within a week she took him out, later introducing a carrier.
"I've never seen a cat that's so happy to just be out - he's always got the little happy high tail, his eyes are never big and scary," she said.
"I'll open the car door with his lead on and it's up to him if he wants to get out. I never push him into anything."
Jade de Monyé always phones public venues ahead to check whether she can bring Figaro and avoids places with dogs off leads
Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2019, Ms de Monyé said taking Figaro on walks had "changed her life".
"On my days off I'd just shut myself away and feel sorry for myself," she said. "He almost forces me to get out of the house."
"It's not like walking a dog," she said. "It's going where the cat wants to go. He does like to sit a lot at the water's edge and just watch all the birds.
"You can 100% train a cat, it's just a lot harder," she added.
"Now I'm just the crazy lady that constantly repeats herself at a cat."
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-68215829