Cats in General

[jacob30]

My short hair Persian in her "catatonic" phase of sailing. Likes anchoring but not keen on sailing just yet.


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[jacob30]

Originally Posted by angelfish2

We sail with 2 Persians. They have been sailing with us for a couple of years and are 3 and 4 years old. They really do very well and like SmartMove said, we clip them every June but leave 1/2 inch of coat. (BTW, SM, your Ragdoll is beautiful!) They are also indoor only house cats, so I think that is why they are happy on our boat. They stay down below while underway and at night. They are tethered in the cockpit if we are up on deck, but only during the day.

Persians have a really laid back personality and seem very relaxed about the whole thing. I don't think it matters if a kitty is a boy or girl. It just depends on the individual and the owners attitude.

Here's a shot of Emily. You can see how excited she gets.

Where do you cruise with your Persians? I start full time cruising next fall and hope to take my Persian to the Caribbean for the winter and spring.


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[angelfish2]

Originally Posted by jacob30

Where do you cruise with your Persians? I start full time cruising next fall and hope to take my Persian to the Caribbean for the winter and spring.


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Jacob, is your kitty an Exotic? Or a Persian that has been cut back? She's beautiful!

We aren't full time cruisers but we do live aboard for several days at a time. We have sailed all around Seattle and now sail on a big fresh water lake. This fall, we are shipping Whimsy to Florida and will sail up and down the Florida coast, and the keys.

Our kitties are always with us and they do fine. I think your kitty will get more used to sailing and you shouldn't have any trouble cruising in the Caribbean with her. Just make sure her furry feet don't make her slide off! I always worry about those unexpected wakes that come along.

[jacob30]

Thanks yes she is an exotic. She tolerates sailing currently but you can tell she rather be on land. I think she'll adapt after a few days. My biggest concern will be with the heat.


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[angelfish2]

Jacob, yes, the heat is a concern for us, also. From what I've heard, anchoring out is cooler than staying at the dock. I know several people who cruise with their kitties down there and they don't seem to have trouble with the heat, especially that time of the year.

We have screens on all our ports and a mesh "kitty gate" in the companionway. But we are going to replace that with screen doors.

[SmartMove]

As to the heat concerns, our kitties have adapted very well, actually they tolerate it better than we do. We prefer to anchor out because it is cooler. Another significant reason we prefer to be at anchor is we usually don't get the mosquitos on the boat unless it is a really still day. The mozzies really love me and Chloe!

Both are big breed, long hair cats. Lilly, an 18-YO Maine Coon mix calico, doesn't have much of the undercoat she once had -- we attribute that to her age and having her thyroid zapped 6-7 years ago. Chloe, a 7-YO Ragdoll, has a very dense and luxurious undercoat which makes her look a lot bigger than she already is at 15 pounds!

In June every year we have had them shaved down to about 1/2", this helps get them through the hottest part of the year in the Caribbean. They actually look pretty cute, I posted a picture of Chloe a few pages back.

I wrote a couple of blog posts about how the cats have adapted, one was 'Happiness Is A Cold Freezer To Snuggle'. Chloe spends the hottest part of the day pressed up against the base of the refrigerator and freezer.



I wrote about Lilly in 'Confessions Of An Iceaholic Cat'. I'm not sure how we figured out Lilly's passion for ice, but if we haven't turned on the ice maker by noon she starts following us around and meowing. She gets even more obnoxious after she hears the first load of ice drop.



We don't have any hatches that they can easily get out of, so we don't have any screens on them. We do have screens on the ports but not because of the cats (they can't easily get to them either) -- the original thought was bugs. We close and lock the companionway at night, to keep the cats in and who knows what out. We also close all but one of the hatches at night, between the fan, the one hatch and the four small ports we leave open all the time we get pretty good airflow through the boat at night. During the summer months the cats sleep in the salon at night. As the weather starts cooling off (a very relative term, lol), we have discovered they move back into our bed to sleep at night.

In summary, I would say hubby and I seemed to be bothered more by the heat than our two cats.

Robyn


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[triciarob]

Just completed a 1000 mile passage with our cat, Mouse. Although she has lived aboard for over a year, this was her first 'voyage'. I made her a harness, which she hates, she leaps backwards to try to get out of it, then falls over and mews pathetically until it's removed. We made it a rule that she is never in the cockpit at night unless she wears the harness and, as she hates the harness so much, she rarely comes into the cockpit at night while we are underway. Once the harness is on after much falling over and crying she will go into the cabin by herself, if the on watch isn't quick enough to remove the harness she will sit on the off watch and mew till they wake up and take the harness off.

She was actually quite good and has certain places she can brace herself on either tack to sleep and she developed this really cute little sailors rolling walk. The main problem seems to be if I am stressed due to bad weather, then she picks up on it and follows me everywhere and insists on either sitting on my feet or leaning against me for comfort and she also gets stressed.

She was constipated after some bad weather, but that cleared up pretty fast.

So thanks for all the advice given on this thread, it was really useful.

[zeehag]

have you tried the harness with the tether under cat not on cats back- they tolerate the leash under their chest better than on their backs.
bubba has been leashed and harnessed for 8 years.. walks on leash. is a good boy. he wont go out without his leash anymore after he tried to die in middle of night when he was pushed off boat by a night heron....(his story...he was hunting and fell into lagoon here in barra in darkness. i didnt notice fro hours that he was even missing--i was sleeping , and he was sitting in the junction of anchor chain and snubber bridle. COLD. he barely made it to the transom of my side tied dinghy so i could drag his unprotesting body out of the cold water. took half hour of tight warming hugs before he started to purr again. now i am goddess. this happened in may and i am still goddess.. wow. he was skeereded baaad... eyes were wiiiide open..

[SmartMove]

I second putting the harness on upside down. We do the same for our two cats, one really hates her harness but tolerates it much better when put on this way.

Robyn


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[Emerald Sea]

My cat stayed 3 days, jumped overboard and was never seen again!

[Sam_Plan_B]

I have a cat who is sleeping at my feet as I write. The litter box is in the forward cabin under the v-berth. My boat, a Columbia 41, is home to her and she has no inclination to wander. As for food, she will only eat dry from the bag and will go through half a small bowl of water a day. She is not declawed.

[triciarob]

Zeehag, yup I made the harness so that the tether is under the cat and she still just falls over and cries. Bless her.

[zeehag]

Originally Posted by triciarob

Zeehag, yup I made the harness so that the tether is under the cat and she still just falls over and cries. Bless her.

oh sweet baby... is she a smaller kitty?? please post pix of her.

[belizesailor]

We originally cruised with 3 cats aboard. The oldest, about 16 years, and the last surviving one, died recently. Miss them all. Great memories.

[angelfish2]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

We originally cruised with 3 cats aboard. The oldest, about 16 years, and the last surviving one, died recently. Miss them all. Great memories.

I'm so sorry, belizesailor. I know how it feels to lose a kitty. I sure understand how you would miss them. *big hug*

Have any of y'all tried these? I use these to tie our kitties (along with a leash) to the helm when I'm outside in the cockpit and they do well with them. They will move around low to the ground for a while 'til they get used to them, but overall, they don't seem to mind them as much as a standard harness.