A YouTuber who has travelled the world together with his “courageous” and “curious” feline to locations together with Mexico, Arizona, Greece, and the Pyrenees tells house owners to “do extra together with your cat”.
Albert Colominas, 35, who at the moment lives in New York, US, has taken his two-year-old Bengal cat, Mia, on adventures across the globe – travelling by aircraft, boat, and automotive and showcasing the numerous skills of his “muse” to a whole lot of hundreds of followers on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.
The senior model supervisor from Barcelona has taught Mia a number of tips, comparable to sitting, rolling over, ready for meals, and leaping onto his shoulder or by his arms.
By his personal analysis, learnings, and experiences with Mia, Albert needs to assist individuals “enrich their cats’ lives” and train house owners tips on how to higher talk with and perceive their felines.
“(My mission) helps cat mother and father do extra and higher with their cats,” Albert mentioned.
“That is all about serving to individuals perceive the uncooked nature of their cat and serving to individuals give the liberty that cats respect having, with out pushing them an excessive amount of.”
Albert defined that he “all the time wished a cat as a child”, however his mother and father didn’t enable him to have one as they didn’t need any pets.
He’s additionally allergic to cats, which solely added to his frustration.
Albert was travelling often and enjoying sports activities all through his youth, which means he had little or no free time to take care of a furry feline, and this continued into maturity.
However all the things modified when he moved to New York earlier than the coronavirus pandemic began.
“I moved to the US; my life was an enormous mess. My dad handed, my girlfriend dumped me, there was a variety of work, after which Covid occurred. I used to be everywhere,” Albert mentioned.
“I used to be residing in a tiny residence close to Manhattan, and I believed, I’m heading on a downward spiral and I must do one thing about it, so I made a decision to get a cat.”
Albert visited an allergist and discovered that Bengal cat breeds are hypoallergenic.
He contacted a breeder and, after an agonising six-week wait, he picked up his beloved cat, Mia, who he named after ‘Mia Wallace’ – a fictional character performed by the actress Uma Thurman within the widespread 1994 Quentin Tarantino movie Pulp Fiction, which Albert loves.
Albert defined that Mia is “extraordinarily bonded to (him)” they usually began venturing open air very early on of their relationship as soon as coronavirus restrictions had eased in the summertime of 2020.
Albert determined to purchase a small harness for Mia, and, with a sluggish and nurturing method, he took her for her first stroll outdoors and he or she “embraced it”. The pair have continued to journey ever since, crusing on boats, flying in planes, and occurring street journeys collectively.
Describing her first stroll, Albert mentioned: “I might see her tail was up, (and) she was smelling all the things.
“I believed, she’s undoubtedly having fun with this, and little by little I began pushing her boundaries and seeing how far we might go.
“Sooner or later I noticed myself doing a street journey together with her round Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico.
“Then we moved collectively to the Virgin Islands, and I used to be strolling her there, and that proved that she beloved the outside, that she might go strolling with me on a leash, and that we might go virtually wherever.”
Albert mentioned the primary street journey with Mia is an journey he “(holds) very dearly”.
He turned very attuned to Mia’s wants through the journey, doing no matter he might to make sure she was “comfy”, and he mentioned he seen “a large distinction” of their bond and communication.
They visited some “magical locations” collectively, and since Albert was not accompanied by anybody else for the latter half of the journey, he began taking photos of Mia and posting them on social media.
After seeing such a constructive response to his content material, Albert determined to launch his personal YouTube channel, Albert & Mia, the Journey Bengal Cat, to coach others about what he and Mia achieved through the street journey and the way others can “go on adventures” with their cats. He has additionally since designed his personal harness for cat house owners.
Albert then began to show Mia some fundamental tips, introducing clicker and button coaching.
He filmed tutorials for his YouTube channel, however he emphasised that he carried out this coaching “to enhance (their) capability to share area, or to do actions (collectively)”, somewhat than for leisure.
He defined: “It’s not like I’m attempting to coach a circus cat. I don’t assume there’s something improper with that, however I’m not simply asking her to do all these cute issues for the sake of it.
“What I realised is that, once I prepare her, she learns to concentrate to what I’m saying, and I be taught to learn her cues… so I believe that coaching goes means past the trick that you simply’re educating them.
“It’s extra about your capability to know and talk with them.”
Albert mentioned, if individuals need to go on adventures with their cats or train them tips, a sluggish and regular method is important.
He mentioned introducing cats to new environments or eventualities too shortly, or with out the right coaching, might “create trauma”.
“Once I began taking Mia out, I believed, I’m taking her out on a leash as a result of I would like her to get pleasure from being outdoors, I would like her to have the ability to embrace being open air,” he mentioned.
“So, as a result of it was about her and never about me, I began very sluggish, and I gave her as a lot freedom or as many challenges as she was prepared to take.
“They have to be very comfy round individuals, they have to be comfy carrying a harness, they have to be comfy open air, close to canine, close to children.
“When all that occurs, you’ll be able to take them to an airport they usually’re not going to freak out. They’ve been uncovered to all of those individually, after which if you mix it, it’s only a bunch of stimuli that they’re already used to.”
Mia is now comfy occurring walks and travelling on many modes of transport, and he or she has learnt to reply to her identify, get off the counter, look ahead to her meals, roll, lie down, soar onto Albert’s shoulder and stroll between his legs.
It has been easy crusing for the dynamic duo, other than the time the place Mia was chased by a canine on a seashore in Mexico and he or she ran up a palm tree.
Fuelled with adrenaline, Albert tried to climb the tree to avoid wasting her, however he quickly realised that utilizing a step ladder was the extra applicable plan of action for his rescue mission.
Albert needs to proceed “serving to cat mother and father do extra and higher with their cats”, however he emphasised: “The final word objective, it’s not the trick. It’s extra in regards to the time we spend attempting to get there.”
To search out out extra about Albert’s work, go to his web site right here: www.outdoorbengal.com