At Nulo, we are constantly inspired by people living healthy lives together with their pets. It’s what drives our #HealthierTogether mantra and we are proud to work with exceptional people who embody this lifestyle. Meet Steph Davis – an incredible climber and BASE jumper who loves her pets just as much as her profession. Check out her Instagram, website and read below to see what we’re talking about:
What is your occupation? Professional climber & BASE jumper
Why you do what you do/What does it mean to you? I’m a mountain athlete, and I love playing with gravity. I specialize in high commitment sports, and spend most of my time in high places.
How did you end up with your pets in your life? I live with a fiancé, one dog and 2 cats: they all just showed up here at my house in Moab and haven’t left ;P Cajun was found starving and abandoned as a pup on the Navajo Reservation just south of Moab, and a friend brought her to my driveway. My black cat Mao came inside through the dog door one day and decided to live here. The tiger kitten Lana was hiding under my house a few months ago, also starving and with a badly injured tail, and she lives here now too.
What does Cajun mean to you? Cajun is an incredibly athletic and smart creature–she’s half border collie and half Australian cattle dog. While she’s amazingly brave in extreme settings and perfectly comfortable hanging out at the edge of a cliff or climbing up vertical terrain, she’s nervous around strangers. She’s a very special creature, and we do almost everything together.
What activities do you and Cajun love the most? Cajun’s favorite things are mountain running and peak bagging. She also enjoys going climbing, and she comes along for most of BASE jumps around Moab–she will either run back down from the top after I jump, or wait partway on the trail and run to meet me when I land, depending on the jump.
How does being healthy impact your life? My sports require a very high level of physical and mental fitness, so I value my health more than anything. I train hard and take nutrition and sleep very seriously.
How does being healthy impact your Cajun’s life? Cajun is just as much an athlete as I am, and it’s really important to make sure that she’s healthy and training and exercising correctly also.
Where do most of your adventures take place? Mostly in and around Moab, but Cajun travels with us in the van across the west and has adventured with us around Utah, Nevada, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Washington and California.
What is your most memorable moment/adventure with Cajun? One of the best times was having her out at Notch Peak in the west desert of Utah–a very remote area with a big wingsuit BASE jump several years back. We had a camera crew on that trip, so she was able to come up to the top with us (a 2.5 hour hike) and hike back down with our friends after we did the jump. Usually for really long hikes like that, we don’t let her run down by herself because it would be too stressful, so she normally never gets to come to the top of Notch when we jump there.
What does meal time with your pets look like? Mao is a very self-contained cat, so he has one of those open feeders that just gives him as much dry food as he wants, and he doesn’t go through it very quickly (he does a lot of hunting). Lana is still recovering from starvation, so the open feeder is a little bit of an all you can eat buffet for her right now, since she just got big enough to be able to jump up there. Hopefully she will slow down and not turn into a butterball. Cajun eats twice a day, and she gets a cup of Limited+ Salmon recipe with half a dropper of CW Paws (CBD oil) and a few treats sprinkled on top. If she’s extra hungry, I just keep giving her another cup until she’s full, but that’s rare.
Why do you enjoy feeding your pet or giving them treats? Everyone loves treats!
What does Cajun think of Nulo food? What’s her favorite food/treat? Cajun loves Nulo–she’s always been a somewhat picky eater and often needs some “primer” on her dry food especially in the morning to get her to start eating breakfast, but no primer necessary since she started eating the Limited+ :)