A talented beach-loving cat has gone viral on social media for her amazing swimming skills.
Nathan, a one-year-old female cat, was introduced to the beach in Queensland, Australia, at the age of just 11 weeks, and now swims like a pro.
The cat’s owners, Melissa Pietrobuono and Rian Crandon, adopted ocean-loving Nathan just over a year ago from an RSPCA shelter in Brisbane.
Melissa said: “Nathan was around 11 weeks old when we had our first trip to the beach. We wanted her to be able to experience that great outdoors rather than solely being a house cat but safely with us there with her.
“We initially started putting a harness on her at home to get her used to it and then took her to the beach. We carried her away from everyone so she wouldn’t get scared and put her on the leash. She was great and started walking along with us without a problem!
“Then we decided to go for a swim. My partner Rian walked into the water and Nathan just followed him out without any hesitation. It was very cute!
“She seems to really love it and will quite often swim between us in the water from one to the other, and even if one of us is on the sand on the shore, she will generally follow the other person into the water for a swim.”
"Look mum, it's a human surfboard!" Posted by Nathan the Beach Cat on Wednesday, July 25, 2018
The couple, who both work full-time, get Nathan to the beach about once or twice a week.
Melissa said: “People are very surprised to see a cat on the beach and on a lead! It’s not something you see every day.
“People generally give us a double take, as they think that she is a dog at first! We get a lot of people coming up to us and having a general chat about how we came to bring our cat to the beach.”
Nathan has thousands of followers, both on Facebook and Instagram, and is an ambassador for RSPCA Queensland.
Melissa said: “It’s amazing that Nathan’s followers love her just as much as we do, that’s definitely heart warming! We receive many comments and messages from her followers explaining to us how much joy and happiness that her page gives them.
“As long as we can bring smiles to people’s faces, we will continue to spread Nathan’s love and adventures!”
