A CAT owner has found the 'purr-fect' solution to her pet's fear of the outdoors - taking her hillwalking.

Fiona Milne's moggy Charlie became scared of the outside after being badly bitten by either a cat or dog.

But 50-year-old Fiona managed to rebuild her confidence by taking her on adventures to her favourite place, Greenock Cut.

The duo have become a familiar sight to walkers, with Fiona in her hillwalking and hiking gear and Charlie by Fiona's side.

She introduced Charlie to hillwalking slowly, first of all using a lead, but now lets her run free, only scooping her up if they see a dog on the popular path.

Fiona said: “We have not quite got her to climb a munro just yet, but she goes out with us when we go for walks.

“She just follows along behind us quite happily, she loves it.

“I started taking her out on a little harness and her love of hillwalking grew from there.

"We only take her to safe areas and The Cut is undoubtedly her favourite place..

“When we go for a walk, we always take Charlie now.

"We have sort of got her used to being out on a lead or walking along beside us.

“It is just amazing, especially the reaction from people.

“We tend to take her to places which are quite open, so we can see if there’s a dog coming and we pick her up.

“People stop us and say ‘we’ve never seen anything like it’."

Charlie never strays far from her doting owner, despite now being let off the leash.

Fiona added: “Despite being under her own steam, she sticks by us.

“We want to show people what a cat can do.

"She behaves in exactly the same way a dog would, she loves going walkies."

Charlie spent most of her life as an indoor cat in Fiona’s home

But when Charlie was let out, she was attacked by another animal and now the only times she goes outdoors is to the Greenock countryside.

Fiona added: “She clearly think it’s more exciting for her going for walks.

“She's got a wee adventurous spirit.

“Hopefully it will inspire a few more people to broaden their cat’s horizons.”