Moritz growls a lot! It is usually smell-induced and not aggressive (no ears backward, nor dilated pupils).

• The opening scene is near a farm that slaughters cows sometimes (on request, not industrially). He generally does not like to go towards that farm and is always happy to go away from it. The farmer told me that animals can smell the killing. Seems believable.
• The Dog-Hotspot is a very nice demonstration of negotiation behavior. He first looks at me and asks for help with his eyes, I then give the Go-Command to see if he can overcome the situation on his own - which he denies with a hiss. He then is allowed up the shoulder immediately.
• The dog/wildlife marking spot is very typical hormonal growling. You can hear his nose going. I have captured that behavior before here at 0:10 - 0:40 and here.

I interpret that growling as very much for me, not against me. He wants to communicate his concerns/alertness so i am ready for whatever he imagines.

One such worst-case imagination is a running man with sun-glasses 😂 It could have only been topped if the guy had walking poles.

After the run across the meadow, I remove some ticks and other stuff from his fur with a flea comb!
This is a new permanent addition to my kit and it is awesome. I have fixed the comb to me with an extendable id-card holder and added some velcrow so it doesnt dangle all the time.
Its much better than picking stuff with my fingers and... yes - it works for insects in my own hair too!

The title explains it already. You see the Luma shake. (look at the shadows/birght-spots on the ground)

I have recorded a quite shaky video in

• Normal Video-Mode
• I-LOG
• HDR
• stabilization off

I have then stabilized the video in Gyroflow.
(I also have stabilized the video using Kdenlive stabilize-function that works on optical features alone - same result.)

The chroma-plane seems to be correctly stabilized, but the luma-plane seems to be out of sync, thus it is wrongly stabilized. Since several different stabilization algorithms fail, this must be a defect in the source-material right out of the camera..
It is like the luma and chroma planes are a frame apart?

This does not happen in FreeFrame I-log+HDR.
This does not happen in Video-Mode I-Log without HDR.

Also, can anyone explain why color-preview is not available in FreeFrame I-Log? How EXACTLY is one supposed to tune manual exposure settings based on that gray display?

Edit: Ouuf. Reddit-compression. Download a 1440p high quality video of the stabilized video here. Dont watch it on google drive. Download it and use a media player.

Our ritual over the summer meadow ended in a small tumble. Mr Apex Predator didnt see well enough through the tall grass. Suddenly the ground was gone!!
Of course he continued right away....

And yeah, i know i am spamming the subreddit every 2 days. I promise I'll stop for a while now and let the karma farming bots rule!

>!And Nooohh, Pleeeeaase noooohhh. No stupid comment about Moritz panting. He obviously has fun, exercises on his own will and it is completely fine. We have 30°C. This is expected & normal. I know his boundaries. He knows his too. You dont.!<

I have a better audio setup now on my camera and can finally film in such a relatively silent environment! Such a quality improvement to capture the vocalizations! ❤️

We were going out at night because the day is so warm. During hikes, heat is less of a mood-dampener and he is happy to exercise hard. But in our local forest, the motivation for cooperation vanishes quickly with rising temperatures. Doing a territorial round gives him the highest motivation to walk himself. And the best time for that is at night - this is the time to cross territorial boundaries for some mischief!

Moritz starts out very enthusiastically spray-dancing and sniffing the local meadow. We reach the territory of enemy cats and there is a lot of huffing and puffing going on. We also visit Petzi, a friendly neighborhood cat before a less friendly encounter at the end.

During the walk, i used a retractable id-card holder as leash anchor. I have to say that i start to prefer this over our 8m Flexi-Line. Either the leash is necessary, thus it is short anyway or we use the leash as tow-line or disconnect it entirely. The use-case for the 8m retractable leash becomes less and less. Walking him hands free gives more opportunity to fight the insect terror. 🔥

This is Moritz kicking with his hind legs. It was 33°C, so we went for a swim - twice.

We go in together while he is on my shoulder. I wear a t-shirt so his paws have grip on me.
He gets called and encouraged to swim. He goes in at his own will and pace, walking down my arm and testing the water.

Going in with him on the shoulder does not trap him in bad spirit: we went ice-bathing in the winter at the same spot and he would not stay on the shoulder as soon as my feet touched the water - I tried to see if he understands the situation and seemingly he does. He tolerates it during summer time.
Yeah. Tolerates. I dont claim its his favorite activity. But little Moritz is brave. ❤️

Kein sehr spannendes Video, aber wer wissen will wie es aussieht mit einer Katze wandern zu gehen - so ungefähr 😃

Bei unserer letzten Wanderung sind wir stundenlang durch solche Krüppelkiefern/Latschen gegangen und das war sehr anstrengend für Moritz weil er sich kaum auf der Schulter ausruhen konnte - da bekommt er ja die ganzen Äste ins Gesicht. Glücklicherweise Trainieren wir im Alltag sehr viel Disziplin, sodass so etwas dann trotzdem geht.

Zwischendurch war auch mal die Leine dran, damit ich ihn besser steuern konnte. Wenn der Weg nicht sonderlich offensichtlich ist, wird er nämlich etwas unsicher und dann bekommt er Stress wenn meine Schritte von hinten näher kommen.

In der End-Sequenz fängt er bisschen an zu rennen weil er Probleme mit Ameisen hatte. Dazu gabs das letzte Video hier.

This was one of the prettiest spots on our last hike. The very damaged alpine forest presented an amazing mixture of old sun-bleached tree-skeletons between rocks, contrasting with the blueberry bushes. And the smell.... ❤️

Moritz had big problems with ants the whole hike. He constantly flicked his paws and he avoided them as best as possible. Somehow he either can smell or hear them from quite far away. I made a complementary video-post on the German sub-reddit about another ant-situation on the same hike.

Guys, this kind of experience is exactly what we practice for.

Moritz hatte schon die ganze Wanderung (14km, 1200HM) mit Ameisen zu kämpfen. Der hat immer seine Pfoten geschüttelt und hat die Haufen weiträumig umlaufen. Irgendwie kann der die auch schon von weitem riechen.

Die frechen Viecher haben hier aber direkt aufm Weg gebaut und da ging es nicht mehr weiter. Er ist ja immerhin eine Katze und kann definitiv nicht vom Weg ab. 👀
Zum Glück hat der so mächtige Freunde dabei auf deren Schulter man da drüber gehoben wird!

Ich habe das Audio von Moritz' Mikrofon direkt überlagert, damit man seine Vokalisierungen hört. Der Herr brummt ganz schön wenn ihm was nicht passt. Ich finde die Situation ab 0:37 extrem gelungen, weil hier einfach unsere Kommunikation passt. Der redet mit seinen Augen deutlicher als manche Menschen mit Worten.

• 0:38 - Seine Frage nach Hilfe
• 0:46 - Da schaut er auf meine Schulter und äugt für einen kurzen Moment nochmal auf den Ameisenhaufen, um mir den Grund zu nennen
• 0:47 - Ich gebe den Sprung via Körpersprache frei und er kommt sofort hoch
• 0:57 - Hindernis ist geschafft, sofort wieder runter und selbst laufen!

Der Typ ist einfach nur geil.

3 years of adventuring, hasn't learned a thing.

The tow-line is normally super useful in terrain like this. You can step on it and have immediate control - in case of a mountain biker etc. Also, if a dog appears, you can run towards your cat without startling it because you run next to your cat with eyes on the end of the line.
Yet it gives freedom and timing-control to the cat, thus relaxing the mental overhead of leash-walking. Unfortunately, there are common traps for the weight on the end. Wood-piles are a classic.

I usually dont prevent these situations - i always want to give him the chance to learn and either surprise or disappoint me :-)

The tow-line is an ultra light 2m long neoprene band with a washer at its end as weight. The faster he gets, the more it slows him down, as with higher speeds the weight moves more and more erratic thus tangling up the line in things.
After we trained him to walk on the leash, this was the next step to grant freedom. With the help of the tow-line he learned to stay on paths over the course of a year. (Because it gets caught a lot in bushes)

We went on another hike!

Lots of footage, but I dont know how much time I have to make an actual video. There are some epic scenes, cute syringe-fed milkies.. but not sure if there is a good overall story to tell. I will probably post bits and pieces as I go through.

The longer version of the whole hike is here.

This was a 10km / 900m elevation hike. Nothing big, but it was sunny and warm, therefore a lot of panting & heat management is involved. 😄

We started the hike relatively late in the day which was a mistake. Moritz got very tired in the afternoon and became difficult to manage. We bathed him in a creek to induce some self-grooming and that gave all of us (including him) a bit of relief from his constant restlessness.

Overall a nice experience, but I kind of prefer longer multi-day trips with him where his sleeping adjusts and he can be more productive in the afternoon - at least after day#1.

Ok, due to popular outrage here are some points addressed:

1) Panting:

• a sign of stress, which is not health-critical if the stress-trigger is known, but it is a severe stress sign
• a sign of stress, which is EXTREMELY critical if the stress-trigger is unknown (the cat is at rest and undisturbed and the environment is not too hot). Go to a vet.
• a sign of heat management, which is (a) not critical if the panting is intermittent, meaning it stops every so often indicating that the cat has no further need to deal with excess waste heat via panting or (b) it is critical if the cat does not stop panting, makes strange noises doing it etc. (b) happens at elevated environmental temperatures that trigger panting even without activity.

In the video you see intermittent heat management which is no cause for concern. In fact you can see Moritz panting like hell on the shoulder at 1:49. At 1:54 I enter shade. At 1:57 he is already on his way down to walk on his own. Despite the panting. He just wants to walk. If the mental model of the outrage-kiddies would be correct, Moritz would be in crisis management, but he is in adventure-mood instead. Sorry for the cognitive dissonance, to the few loud people who cant process that. I am glad you found the down-vote button to process your emotions.

If Moritz really has a problem, he stops cooperating completely and lays down - then its time for making him wet with a water bottle etc. But in the shown scenario he didnt even ask for the sun-blocking umbrella on the shoulder (which we always carry with us). If the cat is dismissive of the circumstances, then I will be too. That does not mean, that I wouldnt act differently if the situation called for different actions.

2) Water management.

We use a syringe to give Moritz water and I have show this in multiple videos before. For example the opening-scene of this video. We had 3 breaks, in every break he got 30ml of fluid. Plus in the end, we bathed him in a creek and he got additional water from grooming himself.

3) "More Breaks".

Moritz has the constant opportunity to hop on the shoulder - and it is shown in the video that he does in fact negotiate for it. I am not sure how we can implement more breaks for him, than having the constant opportunity to have one. I need someone to explain to me, how more breaks help in this case! I am at my cognitive limit here, especially when one is vilified if one disregards that suggestion.

4) "Abuse for Content"-Accusation.

Go fuck yourself. This hike happened not because of content, the content happened because of the hike. I have the cameras with me because I spend many hours daily with Moritz. As you may imagine, he is not the best person to have a stimulating conversation with. I cant hear pod-casts because he understands my sensory absence which makes him insecure. So I go out with him documenting him as a hobby. This brings interactions and gives me the mental stimulation that I need to enjoy this too. It also creates valuable learning material which situations worked and which mistakes I made.
Hate it if you like, or hate my unconventional style - everyone is free to make much better content. I am happy for competition. But the last thing that is productive if you want to have a cooperative cat, is abusive behavior. That anyone even goes that route after seeing the teamwork... well: go fuck yourself. *insert elon musk meme*

5) The posts intention:

The content is mainly to show what you can achieve if you put in the consistent work and dare to learn stuff about cats beyond the simplified book knowledge & embrace making your own experience.

This post is also intended to break peoples mental model of panting cats, because a lot of cats have owners that are incredibly worried when a cat pants and thus stay inside if tis hot. Well, the summer is going to be hot. And I hate the idea that people will shield their cats from manageable situations. We will have a lot of panting-topics in the coming months on r/adventurecats. This will be a valuable demonstration of what is acceptable.
And obviously Moritz was fine. The thing is, that some people are so unable to reflect on their knowledge about cat-panting that they rather suppose that Moritz must be on the verge of collapse rather than admitting that their book-knowledge may be incomplete or way too simplified - even in the face of an obviously cooperating cat that is eager to walk & enjoys the views and can have a break at any time.

I absolutely happily accept the down-votes of these people.
I am also absolutely happy to answer any respectful questions! ❤️

I think that Clip-On 3D-print already saved me money on that hike.

Sorry for the end. I reported 3 major firmware bugs to Insta360 and nothing gets through to the people who actually need the information. Its all lost within the company structure. They just dont care. Poor customer support is just paid to find the nicest way possible to say "shut up and leave it" and thats it.

Der Anstieg in der Sonne setzt auch dem Miezekater zu!
Nicht, dass ich das langsamere Tempo nicht insgeheim mag...

10km Wanderung / 900HM.

Random cute shots while testing camera settings.
Slightly longer version.

Just Moritz growling. Not sure if this is another dog or a cat. Its always the same exact spot. A few steps further and everything is back to normal :-D

But actually, that post is more like an excuse to ask another question:

We, every so often, have people on r/adventurecats who deal with very fearful cats, especially if they are new outside and were indoor for a long time. Reported symptoms range from 'panting' to 'shaking' and it is distressing for the humans too. These people have very little guidance as no one shares these non-happy circumstances.

I recently filmed an extreeemely stressful situation on a very loud street near a train-overpass (and the train passed twice!) where I had to deal with Moritz stress, sensory overload and the resulting overwhelming fear in a productive way including recovery from it. It would probably make a good educational video how much a random cat can handle, how to judge when it is enough, what signs of relaxation to look for and which strategies are there for the human in that situation etc.

However, I also know that displaying a cat in such distress will absolutely be punished by cat-reddit that will likely completely overwhelm any productive conversation in such a post.

I will therefore leave a preview scene here of the total escalation that happened when the second train passed. If that already leads to escalating comments, I wont bother with an educational voice-over for the whole situation, because cat-reddit just sucks sometimes.

>!"And people who put their cats in such situations suck too".!<
>!Yeah yeah, move on, please... !<

Felix is an absolute legend. With his spotty eyes, stiff hips and swinging primordial pouch, he has probably seen both world wars. He just owns the place. The whole town.

Ignore Moritz in the Background. He is an idiot.

Das war unsere Essensrunde in Langform!

Wir versuchen so oft es geht mit Moritz zum Essen nach draußen zu gehen. Ich habe auf dieser Runde wieder mit der Kamera gespielt (daher wechselt manchmal das Farbprofil) und es ist "unterhaltsam" genug geworden. Ob man sich die vollen 15min antun muss.. ist jedem selbst überlassen.

Ich bin leider seit 3 Wochen so krank. Das macht das Rausgehen mit Moritz nicht so leicht, weil unser lokaler Wald am Berg liegt und jede Runde mindestens ~200 Höhenmeter bedeutet. Um so blöder ist es wenn es dem dann noch zu warm ist, dass er weder essen noch gehen will.

Ist bloß kacke, wenn man krank ist und der Kater schreit.