A Durbanville cat surely thinks he is the cat’s meow (or whiskers?) when he and his cat lover owner visit coffee shops in Durbanville and Tyger Valley area – turning heads having a coffee and a special frothy “cattuccino”.
Levi, a two-and-a-half-year-old lilac burmese cat with a long pedigree of ancestors from Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, belongs to Elida Keyser from Durbanville.
It takes a lot of patience to train a cat to walk on a leash, she says.
She started out by putting his little harness on whenever “nice things” happened, like feeding or playing, and left it on the floor for him to play with.
“He took to it almost immediately. After a while I started to let him explore a little while I held onto the leash. Slowly I started to nudge him to rather ‘follow’ me. But, a cat is a cat and not a dog – cats will only do what they like and won’t be forced!” she says.
Chilled kitty
She has also taught Levi to sit on command when on the leash.
“I did it without treats. I started by taking him with me and sitting at Ou Meul Bakery and Café at Willowbridge or a coffee shop at Village Square in Durbanville to just watch the world go by,” she says.
He loves his special “cattuccino”, which is mainly milk with froth. Although it is not good for cats to drink milk, it is a once-a-week treat only, she says.
“The birds at Ou Meul hate him and would try kamikaze fly-bys that he does not appreciate.
“He is a very chilled kitty. He stands up against me when he needs to do his business and then I take him to the grass behind the building.
“He walks on his leash to where my car is parked and jumps in when I open the door,” Keyser says.
“I am always very respectful of the other people at a coffee shop and only sit with Levi outside. I always ask the staff whether they are fine with it and also the people sitting close to me.
“People will remark that they have not seen this before. The reactions I receive are overwhelmingly positive.
“People want to take pictures and often approach me and a conversation will start.
“Children are very curious and I allow them to pet him under my supervision and with guidance. I have met many cat and pet lovers this way.
“He is well-known at the Willowbridge slow market and many of the vendors greet him by name. He also visits the book store and they babysit him behind the counter when I need to enter a shop where he is not allowed (mostly where food is sold),” she says.
And Levi is not a scaredy-cat at all.
“Mostly he is okay, because I exposed him to noise like cars, trolleys and people from a very early age.
“He is, however, still very scared of people in wheelchairs and cleaning trolleys. Whenever a person comes to the restaurant with a big dog, I watch him carefully and will pick him up onto my lap or shoulder when he gets agitated.”
Cat lover
She bought him from Burlamien, a breeder of burmese cats in Caledon.
“Burmese cats are muscled by nature and thus unexpectedly heavy – also known as a brick covered in silk.
“Levi does not walk softly like other cats – you can always hear him enter a room, even on carpet!
“I have been a cat lover all my life. Currently, he is one of three cats in our household – the other two are rescues.
“I have also previously had a maine coon, Pilchard, and a ragdoll cat, Poplap, which was leash-trained as well. I am always just one cat short of a crazy cat lady,” she says.
“Since I have done it before, I decided to leash-train him as well. I did this for me, myself and I as it gives me great joy to be so bonded with my best boy!”
This is not all of Levis’ strange cat behaviour . . . in summer Levi also goes into the pool with her.
