So… some people have outdoor cats, others have house cats but Khan is neither. He’s an apartment cat. To him, the great outdoors are limited to the trees visible from my window and the small balcony where he jumps from one pile of storage clutter to the other.

He’s shown very little desire to go outside. So, I tend to respect his wishes. But in the future I have visions of taking him with me on trips, going out for walks to the park and taking him to McDonald’s for some ice cream.

Housemate is eager to assist me to this end and has volunteered to bring Khan to his mother’s house in Campbell River for Christmas. Neither of us will be home around then and I’d much rather Khan stay with one of us than search for a cat sitter.

I’m worried that bringing Khan over to the Island cold turkey might be a bit traumatizing for him. So, it was Housemate’s idea to “break him in” by taking him on short car rides. “This way he’ll be used to the car,” he says.

I’ve tried taking Khan outside of the house on my shoulder, but when we get to the stairwell or main hallways of the building he just freaks out. He yowls really loud and begs me to get him back home as soon as possible.

I’ve always interpreted this as his fear of the unknown, but when I got Khan out to the car he seemed to chill out really quickly. I realized that his fear of the stairwell and hallways has more to do with the overwhelming smell and sound of the many dogs that trample through the area every day.

We decided to bring him along for the ride to the bank and Safeway. He was very calm throughout the ride. He didn’t yowl or meow very much at all. He spent most of the ride at my feet but for some of the time he sat on my lap and looked out at the night scenes of Burnaby.

He is a cat about town!