'Ship's Cat' ...how to acclimatise?

[Québec]

We may be soppy and foolish, but having seen how our one year old cat Archie has reacted (badly it seems) to the death of his inseparable twin brother, we decided to bring him with us onto the boat last weekend. He immediately hunkered down in the deepest, darkest, most inaccessible recess on the boat, and stayed there for several hours before venturing out. He then spent the rest of the day curled up on the sofa, with only the occasional foray back to his hiding place.

 

We didn't let him out at all, but we'd like to be able to do so. What have others done? We've seen cats on leads in our marina, and also cats that freely roam around.

 

Any advice as to the process and time to get him used to being on the boat (we're weekend users)and getting out and about would be much appreciated.

 

I realise that we should probably leave him at home for the two/three days we're away but, since his brother died, he hardly leaves our presence, and we really don't like the idea of leaving him.

[Graham Davis]

Curled up comfortably in a corner would describe the normal behaviour of our cat.

[cloggy]

Not climbing up the Walls, wailing at the door.

Sounds as though he will be ok with the boat.

My only suggestion would be to cage him when the boat is moving saves all the hassle of retracing your steps to find your cat.

[Wiggins]

It's lovely that you are so concerned for your cat.

Sorry about the other one.

Cats are wonderful.

[dor]

It depends so much on the cat. Our last cat could go anywhere with us. If she came out in the car with us. when we stopped she would go off on her own, but keep us in sight. Give her a call and she would come running back. Our current cat would run a mile if we took her to the boat and let her out. It would be impossible to get her back until she was ready to come back. Even now after 10 years if we approach her in the garden she will get up and move away, although inside the house she demands constant attention (when not asleep).

[Chris-B]

Best thing would be to contact these guys

 

 

Safe Link

 

Chris

[MikeHing]

Our cat has been cruising with us for her whole 7 year life. She first came on board as a kitten of about 7 weeks old. I am sure this had the effect of imprinting the boat as a second home. We do not live aboard but live within about 30m of the boat, so whenever I go down to the boat she normally follows me on and is very reluctant to then leave.

 

All has been OK up till now until our 3 week cruise this summer. The planned route was down the Thames and then visit the River Wey. After a week we got to Coxes Lock on the Wey and the cat went for her normal evening hunt but did not return. We stayed at Coxes Lock for a week looking for her without success. Eventually we had to leave for home.

Two weeks later we got a call on a Sunday evening from some dog walkers out on Chertsey Mead who thought they had seen our cat. We had flooded the area with lost cat posters. My wife travelled down to where the cat had been seen and within half an hour of searching she was found safe and well but very skinny.

 

This is a bit of a long drawn out story showing that cats will always do what they want, when they want to and cannot be relied upon to always return for one reason or another. We still do not know why our cat wandered of, she had never done so before.(she was found 1½ miles from where she went missing)but something out of the ordinary must have happened,ie been chased by something.

 

In an attempt to make finding her easier should anything like this happen again, when on the boat she now wears a collar with a Loc8tor radio tracking device. It has a limited range of about 120m, but had she been wearing one at the time she went missing during the summer it would have made the task of finding here a lot easier. You can walk within a meter or so of a cat hiding in a hedge and you would never see it.

This has now been trialed for a week in early September and although the cat never strayed too far away, I could always detect where she was.

 

Cats are great fun to have on a boat but you must be aware of the potential problems should the animal be allowed to roam. Mooring locations have also to be chosen with care. We were concerned last year about our stay in Limehouse marina but the cat took it all in here stride much to the amusement of other moorers. She wasn't impressed with the lumpy ride down the Tideway though.

[Québec]

Thanks all. A lot to consider.

[Woodford]

Our cat had the same experience! Must be some interesting locals in Limehouse. He got seasick going up the Thames from there as well.