cats

[MANICA]

we're planning to take off full time on our Westerly Ocean 33 early in 2005 and have 2 cats which we're thinking of taking with us - do any of you out there have experience of liveaboard cats which you'd like to share?

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[snowleopard]

friends of ours have taken 2 cats with them to the caribbean and are criusing happily 4 years on.

their biggest problem was the cats' curiosity- they would sneak into other boats via open portlights and not be able to get out. a bit of a problem if the owners don't come back for a week!

don't forget that you can't bring animals back into the UK on a private yacht under the pet passport scheme. if you return, someone will need to bring them in by plane or ferry.

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[Ric]

I once read a sailing book in which their much loved cat fell overboard in the southern ocean, they presumed from chasing an albatross. The writer wished that he had taught his cat the danger of falling in by deliberately dunking him while at anchor in calm, warm water. I have to say that as a cat-lover I would have huge difficulty in following the advice, but I would maybe consider it for a young cat that was prone to bursts of mad energy or chasing gulls.

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[SydneyTim]

Our cat lived in the marina with us and fell in after jumping off a fly bridge cruiser onto their dinghy on davits, but missing and plunging straight in, didn't teach him much of a lesson as he still loves sitting on the boom while we're sailing!

Now he's a bit older and more sensible he tends to stow himself away in a hidy hole for the duration of any trip.

We are just setting off permanently too, anyone any good ideas for litter trays? We plan on using sand as it's free and it's everywhere so we will be able to change it regularly, but have never seen this mentioned in a cruising article but have read of all sorts of complicated ways of achieving this. Is there some sort of cat fact we don't know about them being allergic to it or something?

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[MainlySteam]

Re: Litter Trays

We have tried the things people say, cat litter and sand (we found that you need an awfull lot of it to last 3-4 weeks, and we found small gravel if available does not get spilt, tramped around so easily as sand does) and ripped up/shredded newspaper (gets wet for the cat to walk on and makes a hell of a mess if you toss it over the side - and who wants to store cat jobby paper on board).

So, what we have found best and easiest is a standard litter tray with a piece of teased out old synthetic rope laid around inside, enough to make a reasonable bunch (the rope has a knotted loop in one end to keep it from completely unwinding and to tie onto when washing it). The rope sits on a piece of plastic grating about 20 mm high on the bottom of the tray so paws do not get wet - the wet stuff just goes straight though to under the grating.

To clean we just tie a piece of line to it all and hang it over the side which is so easy we normally do it as soon as it is used.

The cat seems to make do with it, although he prefers his light gardening at his land home better.

John

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[Abigail]

Re: Litter Trays

Our two elderly (16 and 17 year old) cats are pretty relaxed about being on board and apart from the occasional staring match with swans have shown no tendency to jump overboard (touch wood!) They are not allowed on deck underway, and so far have shown no signs of wanting to be. Quite the opposite in fact -p and one of them is still fantastically sea sick every time we untie the lines poor darling. We hope he will get more accustomed with more sailing as the weather improves. Rubber back picnic blankets have a disproportional importance in our prep for sea!

We use a covered litter tray which they really like as it gives them privacy, and we like because it reduces some of the stuff being kicked around. After experimenting we are currently using 'city cat' which is these gel like granules. One small bag lasts both our cats a full week and is remarkably unsmelly. This is less of an issue insummer but because a serious issue when the weather got colder. It also doesn;t track as badly as some.



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[charles_reed]

Re: Litter and Observations on Seacats

We used to take our cat(s) sailing with us when the children accompanied us (this was some time ago as they're now 39, 31 & 29 and, thank God, off our hands).

A number of anecotes with overviews:-
Any but the most unsagacious cats soon cotton on to the fact that when at sea it's best to be below in a cosy confined space. Their intuition extends further and they generally find a position closest to the CofG of the boat is the most comfortable place to be (tip to naval architects, when in doubt of your boats' Cof G rely on cat to unerringly find same).
This led to a most heart-rending incident in the Berthon marina in Lymington when, after a run ashore with 9 year-old daughter and toddling son, no cat could be discovered aboard ship. Assumption - cat had jumped ship and was cowering somewhere ashore (we had a cat on the Broads who used to do this regularly, the last night of the charter, after feeding him aboard, we "anchored" in the middle of Hickling and slept not a wink as what sounded like a herd of elephants thundered round the side-decks all night).
After 3 hours sobbing search and a dreadful probability of missing the tide back to Poole we had to leave with inconsolable daughter and messages in all possible places (including RNLI) about the peerless properties of said cat.
As we went past Hurst and through the overfalls in N Passage daughter swore she could hear cat mewing. A thorough search of the underseat lockers discovered cat complaining amongst the tinned food. How the cat got there remains a mystery, but it was obviously searching for the Cof G.

On another occasion, with another cat but the same boat, we were returning across Lyme Bay from Hopes Cove when the cat, sleeping in the quarterberth, decided it had to visit it's litter tray (carefully re-charged in the cove). Balanced elegantly over this tray, full of rich, red, devonian sand the cat had the misfortune, as we took a green over the foredeck, to recieve a jet of cold seawater up its posterior. Early examples of GRP hatches were notoriously unwatertight. Showing remarkable self-control the cat corked itself and faster than the eye could follow returned to the quarterberth. Subsequent attempts at getting the red paw-marks off the forecabin and saloon deckheads were remarkably unsuccesful, so we had to make them a feature of the boat when we came to sell it.

Finally a cat we didn't own; seen in Vieux Port de la Rochelle, on the end of the 18' boom of a Morbihan gaffer, instructing the helmsman "Right a little - back - left a touch..."
Yes, you'd guessed, the boat was flying the red ensign.
The following morning I had to go up my mast, 12m to the second set of crosstrees to get it down.

I'll leave you to draw your own conclusions.

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[Rohorn]

Hi...Cruising the Aegean with a Siamese, we found out that on regular trips ashore to lighten the load on the cat tray, as it were, we could sit down on a beach near trees preferably,and she would make a little sortie and come back in five minutes. Then she would make a second sortie and come back in half and hour. Her next sortie would be for some hours, so we always grabbed her after the second sortie, and dinghied back to the boat.
One time, late, we had to return early, after the first sortie. She was furious, black-eyed, tail lashing mad. As we motored away from the shore, she looked over the dinghy transom and saw the sandy beach, but not the intervening 5 metres of sea, and over she jumped......... Well Jesus managed it. So did our cat, only she didn't actually walk on the water, more of a stretch gallop in a cloud of spray. Our levity didn't improve her temper, neither the fresh water rinse-off back on board.
But please, I must give you this sad warning. Our beautiful cat was attacked and killed by a dog on a beach near Xylocastro along the south shore of the gulf of Corinth. Do be careful.
Cheers.....R

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