Pets Aboard (Other than Dogs)

[VERTIGO]

Best liveaboard pet
You hear alot about dogs here, but, also think of the downsides of a dog on board. Wondering if anyone has alternative pets. I met a nice family in Panama who had a Sloth, which was very cool but she had stated very hard to cruise in other countries with one as well as food restraints. Just wondering if anybody has a bird, lizard.....??? Ideas on pets?

[whatever]

We had 2 cats aboard for almost 4 yrs, just lost one of them to liver cancer, but other than occasional seasickness when the seas were really rough, they have been excellent sail-cats! They were almost 10yrs when we moved aboard. Of course, cats are not considered exotic and that sounds like what you are looking for.

[NTD]

We have a timid 4 y/o cat. Thinking of cruising with him. Part of the family and all that.
We are concerned how he will deal with the change. He has always been an inside cat.

[schoonerdog]

How about a guinea pig? If you fatten him up, then he serves a double purpose as emergency rations
Seriously, we do have a guinea pig on board. I wrote recently on our blog about the search for "the perfect pet" for being aboard.

We know people who had an african gray parrot, we have people in our marina with sugar gliders, we also met people down in the Bahamas with small capuchin monkeys.

[whatever]

NTD, the one cat we still have was very timid when landbased, he even ran and hid when someone rang the doorbell! When we moved them aboard the boat, they hid for a while in the bow bunks, the car trip 6 hours to move them was pretty traumatic, but then started coming out to investigate and were only nervous when we started the engines or generator. Then even got comfortable and didn't run to hide when they started up. They would even go out on the bow and see where we were, when on the hook or at a dock. The scaredy cat became the one to greet when anyone comes aboard. So they are real adaptable, ours have been anyway. They were our family members too, so there was no question that they would come with us! Good luck!

[Little Otter]

I have a cat that likes to go sailing when my friends and I go.

[NTD]

Thanks Whatever. Ours runs when the bell rings also. Nice to hear yours adjusted so well. Ours is doing better but we werent sure we wanted to further traumatize him by taking him away from the one place he feels safe. He is 4 now and doing better. Hate to leave him behind.

Otter, I had another cat when I owned a previous boat. He danced at the chance to get out on the boat. Maybe because all the fishing we did!

[Little Otter]

Probably mine tries to play with any fish we catch and usually ends up sneeking one or two off and eating them somewhere on the boat.

[Ocean Girl]

I had a cat named Kemah who like to go rowing with me. If I left with out her she would chase me down the dock and hop on as I passed close to the T-head.

[captain58sailin]

How about a Civet? You could feed it coffee cherries and then collect the $300 a pound coffee beans later. I used to have a pet chicken, but after about 3 months on a Sunday, we just couldn't help ourselves.

[Redcoat]

Lost my parrot overboard at the dock yesterday.Had him 5 years.Be prepared you will miss them.The stupidest stuff happpens.

[hellosailor]

The more exotic the pet, the more likely you will find major problems crossing borders.

[Ocean Girl]

Redcoat,
I'm sorry about your parrot, I just lost my cat of 12 years. About 4 months ago she disappeared, I got a call about a month ago that she was found in an abandon boat. She had dropped down a hatch and couldn't get out, broke my heart! so I understand.

Erika