We recently connected with Kaylin Meyer and have shared our conversation below.

Kaylin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One moment you’re working from home and the next, a kitten the size of your palm walks into your life and changes your entire world. Sometimes, life has a funny way of delivering you what you need. It’s no secret the universe likes to surprise us and when it does, our creativity can rather flourish or perish. For me, it was the former. A tiny miracle had shown up at my doorstep with a huge mission to change the world one human, one cat at a time.

You see, I am an outdoor enthusiast myself. I grew up in the era where parents said “go play outside” which often meant catching fireflies, running through the sprinkler, canoeing down the river, camping as a family and getting pulled behind a boat on the lake every Sunday, every summer. Since then, I always feel inner peace and childlike happiness whenever I spend time in the great outdoors—it’s a feeling I can’t stop chasing.

I firmly believe the outside is the best side and gone are the days of leaving your cat at home while you go on an adventure. Which is why when the cat distribution system found me a few years ago, I knew this cat was going to adopt my active lifestyle and not the other way around.

At 8 weeks, Maxine never missed a beat—from car rides to neighborhood walks to trail hikes, this cat was destined for a lifetime of adventures. Maxine, or Adventure Cat Max, completed her first 25 mile backpacking trip when she was just 6 months old. This sweet Lynx Point Siamese found in a shed one weekend had in fact found the cat mom of her wildest dreams.

I am an avid hiker, camper, backpacker, climber, skier, and happiness advocate—and now, I have an adventure cat who joins all of the fun including multi-day backpacking trips. Since Max showed up at my doorstep, she has been on over twenty 30+ mile backpacking trips and a gazillion day hikes. But how we got to this point was not by happenstance. It required a lot of googling, education, training and patience. I spent weeks researching how to train her and months actually training her.

From little spoon sleep training to teaching her how to fist bump to going on city walks (not her favorite) to true hiking trails to regular car rides (arguably the most important thing to do as soon as you get a cat) and socializing her with other cats and dogs as often as possible…all of it took an incredible amount of patience to get to the point we’re at now, but training her to go on adventures with me has been 100% worth it.

Most people have spent their entire lives believing that cats belong indoors. Over time, humans have forced cats to be domesticated and somewhere along the way have decided that cats can’t go hiking or camping like dogs can.

Contrary to popular belief, cats can be harness and leash trained! Going outside with your cat, even if it’s just in the backyard, is a great way to bond and let your cat experience the sights, smells, and sounds of the outdoor world in a safe and controlled way.

So, if “domestication” is the absence of being wild then I’m here to tell you that my cat and I aren’t domesticated. Sure, we may not be truly feral but that doesn’t mean we both can’t explore the wild together safely. As the saying goes, she keeps me safe and I keep her wild.

Bringing her with me on multi-day camping trips gives me the confidence I need to go in the backcountry as a solo female backpacker. She reminds me that even when I’m in the most remote places, I’m never truly alone. My cat is there, by my side, sharing in the adventure and adding to the richness of the experience.

Hiking with a cat usually requires a different type of hike, often at a slower pace, where nature is being explored rather than raced through.

My goal is to inspire people to get outside whether or not they have someone to join them and to take their cat with! Whether you’re an outdoor person who doesn’t think a cat can match your active lifestyle or your cat person who doesn’t know where to begin—let me help you transform your indoor cat into an adventure cat!

I’m more than happy to answer all your questions and provide tips based on my own experience. If you’re ready to prepare your cat for adventures, DM me on Instagram at @alwayschoosehappy to get started.

Together, let’s redefine what it means to have a cat and forge a legacy of positive change, one human, one cat at a time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

When I started my Instagram account a million years ago, ‘always choose happy’ was my life mantra. We have the power to choose our thoughts and change our perspectives so for me, the choice became clear—choose the happier thought-pattern and you’ll live a more fulfilled life.

Once I rescued my cat and started sharing our adventures together, ‘always choose happy’ took on a different meaning—something much bigger and greater than just the happiness in my own life.

When people see that I have a cat on a hiking trail or deep in the backcountry, the look on their faces is priceless and the smiles are infectious.

Nearly everyone that passes us stops in awe, grinning ear to ear with joy, takes a picture and asks how to get started with harness training.

I did not realize how many people’s lives I would change by simply bringing my cat everywhere with me.

On a recent 30 mile backpacking trip in Aspen, a group of male backpackers in their 40s from Kentucky told me they wrote in their friend journal that they saw a cat on trail and it’s the best thing that’s happened to them on any of their trips combined.

I overheard a woman say, “That’s the best thing I’ve seen on this trail so far. Not the views. The cat.”

It tickles my soul to think about how many people have told me I made their day after seeing Max in the great outdoors.

There are a million reasons why I love my adventure cat, but seeing the joy she brings to others in the wilderness is definitely top 10.

Spreading smiles for miles is one of the best feelings.

Taking your cat outside for walks, hikes, camping trips, or any outdoor adventure is very beneficial. Just like humans, cats benefit from fresh air and natural sunlight, which contributes to their overall well-being and helps them to get exercise so they can maintain a healthy lifestyle and live longer. Spending quality time outdoors together strengthens the bond between you and your cat. Navigating new terrain can boost your cat’s confidence, help them overcome fears and increase adaptability.

Plus, by safely exploring the great outdoors together, you’ll be keeping your cat mentally stimulated, active and engaged which, by the way, also provides them with a more suitable outlet for expressing “undesirable” traits like scratching furniture.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

If you just rescued or adopted a cat, or have an older cat, and you want to train it to be an adventure cat, harness training is the first step! Before taking your cat outside, get them used to wearing the harness indoors. Just like when dogs wear shoes for the first time and they forget how to walk, a cat with a harness on for the first few times will play dead, act drunk and be all around super ridiculous. But eventually, they will get the hang of it. Put the harness on your cat every day for a week and gradually increase the time they wear it each day. Day 1 an hour, day 2 a couple hours and so on. By day 4 or 5, they’ll be a harness pro!

It’s important to note that hiking with a cat will never be like hiking with a dog and each cat is different. The biggest thing is just looking at what your cat wants. I love hiking, but I have friends who hate it—it’s the same thing with cats. Maybe your cat would enjoy swimming, jumping on top of rocks or climbing trees, if only given the chance.

If your cat decides it’s for them, it’s a lifestyle that can be well worth the effort. It requires an immense amount of patience, repetition and the ability to listen to your cat’s needs. Your adventures are only safe and fun when it’s comfortable for your specific cat! A backpack, harness and leash are essential to adventure cat training, and it’s also good practice to find hikes that are less noisy and absent of crowds.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alwayschoosehappy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaylinmeyer/