Cats in General

[Ziggy]

Originally Posted by Prairie Chicken

The kid or the cat?

Yes, it occurred to me I should have been more clear...

[zeehag]

teach your kitten to tolerate a harness and leash,... dont call it leash, cat wont do it, and make sure the ¡affixment point is under chest..has to pùt harness on upside down to work. cat wont take anything on its back..they aint beasties of burden and they know it...that is goggie work. bubba sees his tether as his safety, as since 5 1/2 weeks he has worn one .. i thought he was smart enough now to keep night watch without it... never was pushed into water by a birdee before.

[Prairie Chicken]

Zee, I'm so glad Bubba survived his night in the water. Was that recently?

Cat overboard was always a concern for me and I always had Macy in a harness with tether whenever she was in the cockpit.

[zeehag]

was a few short days ago.... he is still scared and i am still goddess

[zeehag]

for the seasick gatos..have you tried a hammock to make normal the horizon for pooor kitty?? and lots of fresh air

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by zeehag

for the seasick gatos..have you tried a hammock to make normal the horizon for pooor kitty?? and lots of fresh air

No Zee, I haven't tried that. I can't imagine that he would stay put in a swaying hammock. He hates being confined, but it might be worth a try. Thanks.

He does find the centre of the boat when things start moving. That works up to a certain sea state. Actually, I think the problem is that he becomes scared/anxious, which then gets him druelling, and eventually sick. The longer he is on the boat, the better he gets, so perhaps he'll learn to deal with it.

[zeehag]

i used to brush and talk softly to my sea sick gatos in my past life in lost angels.. mebbe a non-confining gimballed bed with air supply for gato to recuperate until no longer freeked??? find crew to comb and brush and coo to cat to sooth--kitty whisperers.....
cats are as bad as kids... they pick up our anxieties... and some just plain dont like it..i am, lucky bubba only sleeps for first part of sailing, then is at home below....i keep leash on him, but not tied to anything while underway..he no longer comes out of house while sailing..being pooped in gulf of mexico helped that,,, now we see what he does about nearly deading self in biig water....

[NornaBiron]

Puss and Fluff are free to roam on deck when we are underway but we do have a 9 inch gunwhale, so they can't slip off easily. I get anxious about them leaving the cockpit when we're sailing but they're rarely out for long, the slightest flap of the sails has them running back and cowering with us! When they were kittens we used to shut them below on night sails as they wanted to run around the deck and play, jumping on the liferaft etc. Now they're older (almost 4) they're much more likely to curl up with the off watch crew and sleep.

When we first got them, as tiny kittens, they lived below decks but once they were weaned they stayed on deck when we were anchored. Now, they choose to spend their time with us so wherever we are they are too! I can no longer leave them on deck overnight as they sound like fairy elephants wearing hobnail boots as they run around, keeping me awake with the noise and then, when it all goes quiet I'm kept awake by worrying that they've fallen in!

[NornaBiron]

Puss used to be seasick, especially on the first trip after a winter of anchoring in one place. She'd throw up once and then, generally, be ok. She seems to have got over it now though, both of them tend to find a comfy spot and stay there.

[zeehag]

norna..i, too, have deep bulwarks.. that gives gato a n¡ice tightrope walk kind of catwalk to play on.... is how cats get to being pushed overboard by birdees they chase...at least one i lost from a westsail of someone elses, after he stole my cat from me.. man didnt like my lil stinkpot as a home for the awesome swimming gato. was a burmese..this one is maine coon mix...flufffy boy.
bubba reminds me to hook him up. he is a good boy.

[NornaBiron]

Originally Posted by zeehag

norna..i, too, have deep bulwarks.. that gives gato a n¡ice tightrope walk kind of catwalk to play on.... is how cats get to being pushed overboard by birdees they chase...at least one i lost from a westsail of someone elses, after he stole my cat from me.. man didnt like my lil stinkpot as a home for the awesome swimming gato. was a burmese..this one is maine coon mix...flufffy boy.
bubba reminds me to hook him up. he is a good boy.

Glad Bubba's ok Zee. I wish we'd trained our cats to use leashes when they were tiny, almost as much as I wish we'd taught them to use the toilet instead of a litter tray (although we are still making slow progress with that!).

[Mike OReilly]

Our little guy (Hammi) generally stays in the cockpit when underway, or sometimes sleeps down below in a basket. He does roam on deck if we're having a gentle sail, and especially if one of us is up on the foredeck.

He also hides underneath our portabote that is folded and tied on the side deck. Makes a nice little cavern for him. Unfortunately he goes there when seas get rough. We have high toe rails so hopefully he'd catch himself if a green sea ever rolls along the deck while he's out there. Hasn't happened yet...

BTW, we do use a harness, and we clip him in during rough sailing. Otherwise it's just a great way to hoist him if need be, and he doesn't seem to mind it once it's on.

[SmartMove]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Thanks for the tips SmartMove, kiltym and NornaBiron. It is difficult to administer any medication to our cat (he's tough... and very determined), but I'll look into Maropitant and Stugeron drops. The drops might be possible.



Our tabby has always got motion sick, even in the car, so the boat is difficult. But he is definitely getting better. One our last trip, which was 6 weeks long, by the end of it he was sleeping in the cockpit while underway. I think he'll get to the point of being comfortable most of the time, but just like my spouse, I suspect he'll always get queasy when the seas get very lumpy. A drug option would be great for those times.

Mike, Lilly is also tough to give medications to. Our daughter, a vet, told us about a company that will compound the meds into a treat type form. The company is Veterinary Pharmacies of America. We got the tuna flavor, they look a lot like a Pounce treat. Lilly has to take a daily med and it was a nightmare until these. We put them in a Pounce bottle in the beginning and offered Lilly "cookies". These days, if I'm not up by 7 AM, she wakes me up for her "cookies"! We had the seasickness med compounded in the same form.

Robyn

[SailSummerWind]

2 out of my 3 cats were very sick the first passage, but got better with time.
We figured light meal only evening before sailing and no food in the morning makes them less sick, they usually refuse food the first day under way. My 3rd cat ask for food and we usually give them some 30min or so underway, the other 2 just look away. They love anchorages. In marina one of our cats always try to figure out the way of the boat. Sits on the back of the boat studying the dock and the dinghy position. Funny part is you can watch him calculate. He looks in direction of the escape with the head moving as he calculate the moves. You can actually see when he abandons one plan and start calculating a new one. 2 day in marina and some Ac on the boat and he forgets all about escape plans. We just need to watch him closely for 2 days.
While sailing they are below decks

[Capt Phil]

We got our little cat when he was only 8 weeks old and headed for the 'long sleep' at the local pound. An orange tabby, his hair stuck straight out like his tail was in a light socket until he was about 3 month old. He lived aboard with us for nealy 10 years, first on a Transpac 49 then on a DeFever 54 power boat. Growing up on a sailboat, albiet large and stable, he was never seasick, litter box in the forward head with good ventilation and scratching post a sisal wrap on the mast base stepped to the keel. Fed dry food only, dish on non-skid under the salon table, eating at the same time as we did. Hobiecat had the run of the boat but always stayed below underway except when we were becalmed, occasionally. He had two spots that he staked out when weather was a little rough, one in the corner of bunk in the after stateroom and the other in the corner of the salon cushions in the main salon which gave him a clear view of the cockpit activities. We tried many times to train him to accept the harness for tying him him on deck underway but without success. He was totally accepting of rough weather underway as long as he was below decks.
His only voluntary excursion off the boat was in a marina where we were berthed beside a young woman who had a female cat in heat and he went over for a visit. The yowling brought us to the boat next door where he was grabbed by the scruff of the neck and thrown in the drink! We fished him out, dried him off and put him below where he groomed himself for about a day! Never left the boat again...
From the total experience I would say that consistency of feeding time and type of food, unfettered access to kitty litter which should be kept clean and let the animal choose where it is most comfortable underway. If the animal has basket or cubby it sleeps in, where ever you put it, keep it there.. the cat will naturally find it and hang out there in good and bad weather. Try not to move it around. Just my opinion... Phil