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Pets on board


soggyfrog

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I'm curious as to how many boaters have pets aboard with them, whether moored or constantly cruising. I know quite a lot of people have dogs, others things in cages, but that's about all I'm aware of.

 

I ask because I have two rats and possibly a cat, and I'm not sure how the latter will take to living on a boat (although he's adapted very well to moving 4 times in the last two years). I'm also aware that some marinas have strict "no animals" policies, whereas others are a lot more relaxed.

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we are just about to move onboard as Ccers, and we have an elderly cat. I would not have a problem taking the cat to live with us, neither I think would the cat. They are very adaptable. The ubiquitous ''ships cat'' of most seafaring stories springs to mind.

However, because ours is stone deaf, we are very concerned for her safety and security in a new rural and waterbourne environment, so with much sadness, we have taken the heart breaking decision not to take her with us.

But, dear reader, worry not. She is not going to the knackers yard - some friends have recently lost their cat so they have offered to adopt ours, so a happy ending (for the cat at least, but sadness for us).

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We CC with our 2 cats, they are both fine with cruising though Sid (1yr old) will sit under the sofa if there is any banging about in locks etc.

Soona who is 7ish is an old hand, love to have a little nosy about when we moor up somewhere new but generally doesn't stray far from the boat.

Sid loves climbing trees but as yet his skill has not extended to climbing down again so at the moment he goes out on a lead if any trees or roads in the vicinity. He doesn't mind the harness & lead, we got him used to it as a kitten.

When we researched moving cats aboard someone told me that cats will see the boat as home wherever it is & we have found that to be the case - but you may have to hang about for longer than you intended waiting for them to come home!

Our cats pop up regularly on our blog.

 

 

 

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Our cat was an older girl when we moved onto our boat and is very happy.

We had to watch her at first especially as she kept wanting to go behind the stove when it's on! She fell in the canal once and it took her a while to get used to the engine.

I have mentioned before on this forum but I think it's worth mentioning again that we have a Loc8tor tracking device. It's really good for getting her back in and it's a peace of mind.

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We CC with our 2 cats, they are both fine with cruising though Sid (1yr old) will sit under the sofa if there is any banging about in locks etc.

Soona who is 7ish is an old hand, love to have a little nosy about when we moor up somewhere new but generally doesn't stray far from the boat.

 

My cat doesn't tend to stray far from the house and never has, despite having numerous fields to explore, and would happily stay inside for most of the day if he could. I was reading another thread about cats, continuous cruising and cat flaps but am in two minds about the cat flap...

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I'm curious as to how many boaters have pets aboard with them, whether moored or constantly cruising. I know quite a lot of people have dogs, others things in cages, but that's about all I'm aware of.

 

I ask because I have two rats and possibly a cat, and I'm not sure how the latter will take to living on a boat (although he's adapted very well to moving 4 times in the last two years). I'm also aware that some marinas have strict "no animals" policies, whereas others are a lot more relaxed.

 

We had a rat on Fulbourne once. But it wasn't a pet....

 

Dog on board:

Rosie.jpg

 

pic062.jpg

 

David

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I have a cat and she gets along fine. Dear cat brought in a mouse which set up home in the ceiling, a little nipper soon sorted that out though.

 

Here is a picture of cats and a rat as it seems you might not know which one you have?

 

Cat

603px-Collage_of_Six_Cats-02.jpg

 

Rat

Rattus_norvegicus_1.jpg

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Our cat (Grace) had her baptism two evenings ago . . . . .

 

when she discovered that still water, no matter if it's really really still, cannot be walked on

 

so she swam round the boat and climbed up the fender

 

 

She has learned how unpleasantly wet a depth of water is . . .

 

I've learnt that a wet cat deposits an amount of water exponentially related to the speed at which she runs down the inside of a boat

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We always take our pets with us and have taken with us a rabbit and then it was 2 rats but now it is just the dog. You have to be aware of where the rats are allowed to run and you have to be very clean. We know of some one who had a pet rat on board and his rat contracted Weils disease which the rat passed onto his

owner who sadly died.

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I have a cat and she gets along fine. Dear cat brought in a mouse which set up home in the ceiling, a little nipper soon sorted that out though.

 

Here is a picture of cats and a rat as it seems you might not know which one you have?

 

Very amusing! I definitely have two rats to take with me onto a boat, but whether the cat joins me or not remains to be seen. I definitely have all three, and know which is which, but thanks for checking... ;)

 

We always take our pets with us and have taken with us a rabbit and then it was 2 rats but now it is just the dog. You have to be aware of where the rats are allowed to run and you have to be very clean. We know of some one who had a pet rat on board and his rat contracted Weils disease which the rat passed onto his

owner who sadly died.

 

Hi Tonka, thanks for the advice. The rats would have a specially designed (therefore safe) area to run around in. The benefits of an "owner fit-out"!

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  • 2 months later...

Cats ehh?

 

Liquorice got up to all sorts . . . but no sticky end

 

2966243png.jpg

 

Wednesday, June 22, 2011 This is Bath

 

It was a mystery that staggered and delighted her owners Karen and Jimmy Griggs – just where had their cat Liquorice been while she went missing for three years? Back in 2008 she was let out one evening and didn’t come back. The couple, from Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, pined for her, put up missing posters and appealed for sightings of her, but all to no avail. In the end, they gave up hope and concluded that either their beloved black cat Liquorice had met a sticky end on a local road, or was getting up to allsorts after possibly stowing away on board a boat.

 

But when she mysteriously re-appeared in their back garden last week, three years later, and sauntered onto her favourite cushion, the couple were amazed and delighted. She had obviously been well-looked after for those three years, and the couple wondered whether – since they live next to Bradford’s marina, which Jimmy runs – Liquorice had stowed away on board a passing barge and lived an adventurous life on Britain’s canal network.

 

The reality is slightly more humdrum but actually more incredible than that – all that time she’d been living 200 yards away on board a house-boat that never left the marina. “I have no idea why she decided to come back, but we were absolutely amazed when we found out that’s where she was,” said Karen. “Back when she disappeared, we were very upset. We went out searching, we put up posters, we asked everyone if they’d seen her and after a while thought that was it, she was gone. We had no idea she was on one of the boats and just must have always missed her. To think she was there all the time is amazing to us. We’re laughing about it now, she was there living with a chap on one of the boats, right under our noses. I feel a bit of a fraud now for making a fuss at the time!” she added.

 

Liquorice has settled back into her old home, and the couple have agreed with the boat owner that both will look out for her – but with a cat as nonchalant as Liquorice, they know no one really owns her. “We know now if she does go missing that she’s probably hanging out in her ‘second home’,” said Karen.

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