June 1999 - Cats on Board
By the middle of June, we had given away or sold practically all of our furniture and electronics (TV, VCR's, stereo, microwave, huge desktop computers, etc.). Our two cats, Precious and Xena, basically had the run of the apartment to themselves, as we had been spending almost all of our time on the boat. With all the furniture gone now, they looked up at us with a look of confusion, wondering where they were supposed to sleep and trying to figure out what on earth was going on. We decided it was time to introduce them to their new home.
Once on board, Precious, the timid one, immediately jumped up into our bunk where she remained for her first few days onboard. She then discovered the wonderful shelf above our large clothes locker, complete with her own porthole to look out of. With a cozy towel to curl up in, it became her favorite sleeping spot. Xena, always the adventurer, quickly began to explore her new surroundings, checking out every cubby hole, rubbing her face on all the hardware on deck, sprawling herself joyfully on the teak decks in the sunshine. After about a week, both kitties were comfortable in their new home; they were happy to get to be outside (with a close human eye watching out) sniffing the salty air, chattering at the birds, watching the fish and jellyfish swim next to the boat.
The first item of business was to develop an effective toilet for the cats. We had read several articles on the internet about toilet-training cats and thought that now would be an excellent time to try to do so. We relished the idea of not having to deal with litter anymore! We bought a stainless steel mixing bowl that fit into the bowl of the head and filled it with litter. The kitties caught on right away and began to use the bowl. It was so entertaining watching them use the toilet! Gradually we reduced the amount of litter to only an inch or two. After a couple of weeks, we emptied the litter out altogether and decided to replace it with toilet tissue, hoping that if they used that we could make the transition to using just the head with toilet paper in it. The cats did not like
this step and after not using the toilet for almost 12 hours, decided to use the carpets instead in the middle of the night. We hated to give up our training, but realized that they would only be properly trained if we were able to be home with them more. The next day, we bought another covered cat box and one of the grass-like plastic doormats, another idea we'd read about. Cutting the mat to fit the bottom of the box and sprinkling only a tiny handful of litter over it, the cats immediately took to their new box, loving the scratchy sound the plastic grass mat made. It has turned out to be the perfect solution; no litter to track around the boat and the cats still get to scratch to their little hearts' content.
We had read that it was a good idea to introduce cats to the sea by purposely tossing them in, rather than waiting for an accidental cat-overboard event. We decided to give Xena the first swim one warm evening; with her leash attached to her new halter (both of which neither cat enjoyed having on) Michael tossed her in the water between the boat and the dock. After a quick submersion, she bobbed to the surface and immediately began padding around in circles with her little face pointing out of the water. Sara, holding her leash, pointed her towards the dock which she quickly grabbed onto and swiftly pulled her little body out of the water. She was a terrific little swimmer, a true salty kitty. A few days later, Precious got her dunking; she did surprisingly well, for being older and never having swum at all before. She had more trouble getting onto the dock as she is declawed, so we plan on nailing on a little wooden step for her to climb onto should she fall overboard without us looking.
Having cats on board can be quite a challenge. We've now added a number of interior teak refinishing projects to our ever-growing list of boat projects due to some claw accidents. And then there was the rainy morning we found Precious soaking wet and shivering on a neighbor's boat. And all the times we've walked down the dock calling for Xena.... Really, though, all the trouble they cause is definitely overshadowed by the joy they provide with their silly antics, never-ending curiosity, and their affection when they curl up next to us in our Pullman berth and purr us to sleep.
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