Interview: Pug and Cat’s Seb Smetham

Bandito the pug and Luigi the cat are a couple of internet darlings that Instagram just can’t get enough of. With 108,000 followers and counting, they are earning their own keep for owners Seb Smetham and Finn Paus. Seb spent his teenage years in Bristol (he was kicked out of Bristol Cathedral School, among other things) and spoke over the phone from a mountain in Malaga about the duo’s rise to fame and ongoing adventures.

You, Finn, Bandito and Luigi have just completed an epic adventure, walking the Camino de Santiago and then continuing on through Spain. What prompted it?

We were living and working abroad – we’d done seven seasons in Spain, working three jobs each through the summer and olive farming in the winters. We already had Bandito the pug, and then we got the kitten because Finn’s dad had died – he was only 26 at the time. It was quite a bad time and he needed a bit of stability and love in his life.

When family members dies, you take a step back and take a look at your life. We knew we wanted to change what we were doing and live a better life for our animals – which we do now. So we sold everything, left our flat and went on the road.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMlqxAjDfvi/?taken-by=pugandcat

When did your pets become so popular?

It wasn’t long after we got the cat. We decided we’d walk the Camino de Santiago, pushing the pug and cat along in a trolley. Compared to the other hikers, we looked pretty different and people would ask if we had kids in the trolley – they were pretty surprised when we said we had a dog and a cat!

Quite early on along the journey, we stopped in a tiny little café somewhere in La Riocha to make a Facebook account so people could keep track and see if we had made it. We called the Instagram the same thing and started picking up followers along the way: people liked the story and it kept growing.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BMMFCMzjH4W/?taken-by=pugandcat

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced during the adventure?

Physically we had our own backpacks to carry, plus a trolley to push, and then there was the weather – too hot or too cold or too wet! Then we’d be trying to have a nice spiritual experience and enjoy it but the cat had run off and it was getting dark and the pug needed some food – it was always a challenge to keep on top of everything, our stuff and the pets’ stuff.

We were fine in the countryside when it was safe and quiet – although I don’t know how the cat didn’t run off! He always wanted to climb trees and catch birds and mice. But there were three major cities that we had to go through. The first one was Pamplona, and we were nervous pushing the animals in the trolley as we walked towards the city walls – we didn’t know how they’d react.

At first it was quite quiet, but then we turned a corner and there was a massive fiesta going on, with thousands of people running towards us, fireworks and music. We felt like the bulls running away from them! The animals were safe but not very happy.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BLyFCDSjLuH/?taken-by=pugandcat

What’s been the best moment of your adventures?

There was one afternoon when it was pissing with rain and we turned off the track to get changed on the side of the road, down a driveway under some trees. All of a sudden people came out of this tiny restaurant and saw us and invited us into this barn with fireplace, where this man was celebrating his 65th birthday.

We were sat down at the hospitality of the people who didn’t even know us, but they were so generous, giving us food and drink and letting us stay and put our tent up in the garden. The generosity of other people was just ‘wow’.  We were in the right place at right time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BagNU2AjVa5/?taken-by=pugandcat

You’re living a modern digital lifestyle that many aspire to. Was it something you set out to do?

At the start, we funded the trip by selling all of our belongings, so we went with a very tight budget. As time went on got approached by people including Newsflare – and I was amazed people would watch our videos, let alone pay for them.

We quickly made the cost of the trip back, and started selling our t-shirts all over the world. It was never the intention to become ‘internet famous’, but it’s cool to have a little project. It’s weird to think they buy their own food – but we don’t tell them. They’re already spoiled.

Follow the adventures of Bandito, Luigi, Seb and Finn at www.instagram.com/pugandcat and www.facebook.com/pugandcat.