Noxie
Noxie is a cheeky gymnast, who may seem shy at first but loves her humans and her brother Lumos.
Noxie is one half of the inspiration behind Catexplorer.
She was adopted in 2017, along with her brother, Lumos.
Here is a little bit about Noxie and her journey.
Why did you decide to train Noxie to explore the world with you?
Noxie & Lumos spend majority of their time indoors in our apartment. However, Noxie is super inquisitive and we were worried that our apartment was not stimulating enough for her.
She definitely isn't as outside focused as Lumos, but since we were training him we thought we would train her too.
I had previously trained my old family cat, Tabby, to walk on a harness. Initially our plan was just to walk them around our neighbourhood.
But while searching for harness options on Instagram, I discovered all the amazing catexplorers!
How did you train Noxie?
We started harness training Noxie from a young age.
She was definitely not as easy to train as Lumos - she hated it at first.
At first we just put the harness on her and try to get her used to it. She used to roll around and try and get it off (sometimes succeeding).
Initially we only put the harness on her while we were at home, as it was rather large.
Once she grew into it, we started taking her outside on a leash. And this is what clicked for Noxie. She started seeing the harness as an opportunity to go outside, to explore and feed her inquisitiveness.
What about backpack training?
Like with Lumos, backpack training Noxie was significantly harder than harness training!
This was mainly because we started it after they were a year old - probably bit too late.
We created a lot of positive reinforcement with the backpacks. Noxie loves playing games and is not food orientated at all. So we created games with the backpacks - we threw her toys in there for her to fetch and we hid her toys in there for her to find.
What helped us the most was that we actually used the backpacks to carry our own things (like shopping etc). Noxie (like Lumos) loves jumping in shopping bags so we thought she would do the same if we used them. And it worked!
What also worked was taking her on adventures in it. She loves sitting in the backpack, the security of it and the opportunity to watch the world go by.
What kind of cat adventures does Noxie go on?
Noxie has been on several adventures, from sunset walks on the beach, to food festivals, cafes and farms. Lumos loves getting out and exploring while Noxie typically prefers to hang in the backpack or on our shoulder.
Which adventure is the most memorable?
We spent a long weekend at a farm and up till then, Noxie had made it clear that she hated her harness.
As we were in the middle of no where, we felt comfortable taking her outside - and boy did she love it. She transformed into a natural with the harness, smelt and explored everywhere, met ducks and horses and had an amazing time.
What has been the most rewarding part of exploring with your cat?
Seeing the happy Noxie tail wag during an adventure and seeing her slowly push at her confidence levels. Sometimes she'll be shy to get out of her backpack but she sees Lumos do it and she'll slowly make her way out.
What has been the hardest?
With Noxie, it was understanding whether she is suited to explore outside with us. At first it was unclear and she seemed to hate her harness but by slowly checking if she enjoyed small adventures, we realised that she enjoys it.
If she had hated the adventures, we definitely would not have continued with them.
In hindsight, what would you do differently?
Starting backpack training when Noxie was a kitten.
And putting more effort into finding a kitten harness so that we could take her outside when she was younger.
Both of these would have helped with the positive conditioning a lot earlier!
What advice would you give to other owners training their cats?
Definitely start training when your kitties are young, it makes it so much easier!
Follow Noxie on Instagram: @theadventuresoflumosandnox