Anyone decided to give up pets? Stories? Pros cons?

[blondezilla]

I think its clear that pets can come. But should they?
We have two cats that are pretty young. We plan to eventually cruise all the frilly islands, but husband will be attending MMI in Orlando for around a year.

I have read about feral cats chowing down on wild birds, sea turtles, some wild mice are now endangered. They say all ya need is a rabies cert and a health guarantee...
But I gota wonder.
Are we going to be the people who get the evil eye at the marina for cats that get out from time to time? God forbid they pounce on a wild bird or come down the wharf with a sea turtle in their mouth. I used to live in Florida and know how serious people are about sea turtles, as they should be.
Had anyone decided to take pets and then realized it was a mistake.
What made you change your mind or see that it wasn't going to be a good idea.
Id like some input here, share personal experiences etc.
Thanks...
We have some time to decide but I was always assuming taking them aboard would be no thing. Now that I have had a chance to look at the big picture. They won't be able to hang out at a marina, they won't be able to get off the boat, like ever. Maybe local islands somewhere, but people can always complain about that, and that would be few and far between. People bring dogs and what not.
I guess it just didn't hit me that they would never get off the boat. It sort of changes everything for me. It's not like I can sling a leash around them and take them for a walk.

hmmmm

There are indoor cats, and there are outdoor cats. Lots of cats spend their entire lives in a small apartment, and seem quite happy to do so.

Think about what your cats do now. Do they have the run of the neighborhood? If so maybe you are already getting the evil eye from your neighbors... On the other hand if they are consistantly indoor creatures, what's the big deal? It's a smaller space for them, and only you can decide it it will work given their personalities.

As for the endangered wild birds, isn't it possible there are some around your home right now? They don't all live in exotic places you know!

I don't ever recall seeing real cruising cats who were routinely allowed to wander off the boat. I know several cats who live on boats, stay onboard all the time, and seem to have no issue with it. I also know some liveaboard cats who were allowed to wonder about thier home marinas, and their owners certainly did get the evil eye from time to time!

Most dogs (my pet of choice) are a different and, I suspect, more complex story.

[spencer53]

Since moving from a house to the boat, the only things I could say I "miss" is the garage to work on my cars and my pets. Had 2 cats and 3 Great Danes. The Danes "passed" so they didn't become a thorny issue as you can imagine they would have been. The cats went to other family homes and I am glad they did. I couldn't handle the catbox situation on a boat.

[TaoJones]

I can't wait to read Dan's (member Ex-Calif) suggestions on what to do with your cats.

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

I am a dog lover but I love my dog not yours so I agree. Keep the leash short and heaven forbid, don't let your dog come jumping on me. If I want to meet your dog I'll approach him/her. After all I am the human - or so I claim most of the time.

Part 2 - Do not ever, ever, ever let your dog come storming up to "meet" my dog. I have been bitten twice by trying to separate dogs that tangled their leashes while "meeting" each other.

Yes - that feels better...

Oh, and your cat? One step above rats in my book - sorry no use for them...

(From the thread http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ting-7576.html

TaoJones

[AnchorageGuy]

I had a dog when I started this sailing stuff and loved here dearly. But when she passed away after 16 years I resolved that I would not take a pet sailing again. Even though she spent a great deal of her life on the boat I could tell she was never totally comfortable aboard and especially when the going got rough. Not to mention the official hassles even with the required paper work and the trips to shore when it was pouring rain and blowing like stink. As to cats, we have never owned one, and the wife loves them. But we left Marsh Harbor one fine afternoon trying to beat some really nasty weather to get south while our friends had to stay because the cat got off the boat the night before and did not return. They sat there for two weeks trying to find the cat and did not. Kids and cats made this necessary. Finally they left without it. Now the good news to that story was someone that lived in Marsh Harbor eventually found the cat, heard about where it belonged and through the cruising grapevine contacted the owners and eventually they were re-united. but the point is, only if you are prepared for the problems, issues and inconveniences involved in cruising with pets should you consider taking them along for your own sake and theirs.

[Lorianne Davies]

Blondzilla, you're taking me back in time. In 1986, I was a twenty something girl living on my brand new Tayana 37 with a custom built cat litter box . Apparently as my broker used to like to remind me, this caused hours of laughter among the
guys in the Taiwan boatyard who built her.

One day, my child misjudged the distance between the boat and the dock in the middle of the night..I heard a splash..if it hadn't been for my boyfriend's quick thinking ie: he got up, grabbed the fishing net and scooped her out of the harbour, she would not have lived to again test my emotional stamina.

A couple of weeks later,we were tied up at a local concert venue. .. went to the concert and came back to find no cat... a friend had keys... the cat had not left but had found a way to get into a cubby hole to escape the loud noise. Didn't know this until four hours later when after sobbing hysterically because I had to vacate the berth without her, she miraculously appeared in time for dinner.

Needless to say, I burst into tears days later as I was relating this story to my gay hairdresser and he looked at me and said "she needs a proper home with proper parents". She lived the rest of her life in one of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Toronto, literally dressed to the nines and with two doting gentlemen at her feet.

And I got some sleep.

[hellosailor]

Zilla, puttings "pets" and "cats" on an equal basis makes me wonder about asking intrusive questions like "When was the last time your meds were checked?"

In most of the US, cats are treated (legally) totally different from "domesticated animals", with the law recognizing that cats are normally feral and pets at best. On my own home state (which is not unusual) if I were to run over a cat on the road, the law says "Y'all keep on driving and have a nice day, be happy, don't worry" while if I run over a dog, I'm legally required to stop and make a reasonable effort to find the owner.

The law recognizes that if you send a cat out on its own, it will do as wild animals do, and it will have to deal with those consequences. As will the owner.

Got a ship's cat? Good. KEEP IT ON THE SHIP. Once it goes off, it is a feral or stray animal, and you'd better understand it will be treated that way.

For that matter...a stray dog, off the leash, off the boat, will also find a short trip to the shelter and poor prospects ahead of it. Better prospects than a cat has--but still not good ones. If you can't train and restain it--it belongs at home, not cruising.

[blondezilla]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Zilla, puttings "pets" and "cats" on an equal basis makes me wonder about asking intrusive questions like "When was the last time your meds were checked?"

Got a ship's cat? Good. KEEP IT ON THE SHIP. Once it goes off, it is a feral or stray animal, and you'd better understand it will be treated that way.

If you can't train and restain it--it belongs at home, not cruising.

While I'm sure you didn't mean to come across as a pretentious snob, I will take your comments to be summed up as, if you have doubts, don't do it.

I'd like to add that it's not that one couldn't restrain, but that cats as fellow posters alike, sometimes fall out of line or occasionally stumble over it.

ahem.

By the way, the only "meds" I need are ocean breeze and a whole lot of sunshine, however, one has to wonder if they same can be said of present company....

Nicoel

[AnchorageGuy]

Nicoel, Hope you won't consider hellosailor's post indicative of others here on the forum.I as well didn't find his post helpful in any way and not in the spirit you will normally find here.

[Lorianne Davies]

Don't worry, Nicole. The point is to safely protect your "offspring" and give them the best life possible. Whatever you decide, you must live with the consequences. And as I said, sometimes that's the hardest part. I now have a "human child" and a feline...not to mention the real kid:the husband!

I'm suprised "HelloSailor" didn't go for my jugular after that story.

Take care and nice to meet you.
Lorianne

[PBzeer]

Outside of any animal that isn't ordinarily kept in an enclosed space (cage, aquarium), I can't see having one aboard. I thought long and hard about it, and decided that a dog or cat, just wasn't meant for a life afloat. It would have been a harder choice if I already had one, but since I didn't, I just didn't feel it was fair to them.

Other's have them aboard, and that's fine. It's just my thinking on the subject.

[hellosailor]

Lorianne, why should I go for your jugular? It doesn't bother me if your cat gets overboard, it only bothers me if your cat goes in heat and the toms all come out and keep me up all night with the moaning. Something else that folks who let their cats out seem to forget about--they may be your furchild, but once they are outdoors inflicting themselves on others, they become an uncontrolled nuisance.

Same thing as a junkyard dog, or an untrained dog off the leash. Or, for that matter, a lot of two-footers in various sizes and ages.[g]

If you've got one of those rare smart kitties that can be trained to stay on board and not bother the rest of the world, enjoy it. But cats in general? They've had a couple of millenium to earn their reputation for what and how they do. At least in the US, that's all part and parcel of why the laws value them less than pets, livestock, or simple property. Agree or disagree, but if you own a cat--that's something to beware of.

[Lorianne Davies]

Hello sailor!! A couple of things...

1) All my cats and dogs have been "fixed". All my parents' and grandparents' dogs and cats have been "fixed".

2) Cats were domesticated approx. 10,000 years ago apparently by natural selection not by human intervention in response to the amount of rodents that proliferated when man decided to move from a hunter-gatherer society to an agrarian society...and who said there wasn't a god???

3) Cats are "masters of the art of accepting all comforts of domesticity while still rejecting th bondage asociated with it". Mmmm...sounds like most of my sailing buddies!!!

So, there you go. Hope you find that informative. Hope it even brings a smile to your face.

OH yeah though....God help you if you ever need to show up in my Emergency Room . Take your f**ing anger and brutal disposition and invade something.

I'm done with this.

[hellosailor]

Tch tch, soeone sounds a little overworked and sleep deprived. I don't see where I've expressed any anger or brutality towards you or anyone else here. A bluntness about where and how much of the world sees cats, perhaps, but you seem to be imagining the rest. And openly saying you'd play favorites with or against admittees in "your" ER would be grounds for immediate dismissal in any state I've been to. Cops and robbers alike--you'll treat 'em all the same, or you'll move out and play country doctor in the boonies.

You've got some nerve--or some drug? fatigue? problem--when you start "quoting" me on cats and bondage, when no one except you has even used the term "bondage" in this discussion. One of us is being objective and the other outright irrational, and your own quote seems to make it clear which is which.

IIRC, the Egyptians didn't domesticate cats, so much as they worshipped them as gods.

[Pblais]

I think its clear that pets can come. But should they?

I don't know many that left pets behind and there are many that took them but didn't get more after they passed. We take a lot of things when we make changes in our life because there are things we don't want to leave behind, but should we want to leave them or feel we have to leave them behind?

We take some things because we need them and we take other things because we want to. You tell me the difference.