Pets Aboard

If you already have a pet and are planning to move aboard your boat, the decision to include your pet or leave it behind is a hard one. We've known cruisers with cats, dogs, birds, sloths, turtles and monkeys. There's lots to consider. Each country we visited had its own rules regarding pets. It's easy to find out the requirements either on the internet, through cruiser's nets and threads and/or in cruising guides. Some animals, like cats and dogs, are relatively easy in most countries. Other, more exotic pets, may require a bit more planning.

The primary and probably only reason for having a pet aboard is the sheer pleasure of having a pet aboard, so logic flies out the window when you're making your decisions.

There are some real challenges, however, and it's important to consider them seriously before bringing your pet aboard.

• There are extra costs involved when checking into many countries with a pet. We paid anywhere from $10 to $50+ to have a “health inspector” clear Jelly in and out of a country. Sometimes they showed up; sometimes they didn't, but we were ALWAYS required to pay. Many countries also require an International Health Certificate which means locating a reputable veterinarian to provide one.
• Many times the pets need to be confined to the boat. For a dog used to a morning walk, this might be a problem. If we were at anchor with Jelly, it was easy. When we were in a marina, it was harder to confine her to the boat. David spent many hours devising cat-proof netting to keep Jelly aboard only to have Jelly sitting on the dock watching him finish up the final touches.
• Older pets may not acclimate well to the sailing life.
• Whenever you leave the boat for inland travel, you'll need to find either another cruiser or a trustworthy local person to tend to your pet. We have pet sat for other people's cats and other cruisers have cat-sat for Jelly. It wasn't always easy to find someone though for any extended time.
• In third world countries, dogs and especially cats, are not treated as well as they are in the US. It is sometimes difficult to find good quality pet food. In Ecuador, we ended up feeding Jelly tuna because it was significantly cheaper than cat food. Finding litter was also an issue.
• Some countries require “chipping” (pet ID implant) and quarantine (NZ and Australia) which we felt was unreasonable for both us and Jelly.

Do you have a pet aboard? What sorts of challenges have you faced? What advice would you give to people considering moving their pets aboard?

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

First Day of Passover

Passover (Pesach) celebrates the deliverance of the Jews from slavery in Egypt. Want to learn more? This passover megasite has tools, guides, insights, stories, inspiration - and just about everything you need to celebrate Passover (but bring your own wine). Go ahead and learn something new or reinforce what you already know.

Jelly's 13th Birthday

 

Magellan Louise Lemay, aka Jelly, JellyBelly, Jells, Jello, was our ship's cat for seven years. We adopted her from the Seabrook SPCA in Texas the day she was street legal (6 weeks old).

A gray-nosed, white and gray domestic short hair, she had us at “meow”. She moved aboard Nine of Cups with us as our ship's cat in April 2000 and it was with sincere regret that we opted to leave her with my Mom in 2007 when we decided to sail to New Zealand and Australia.

Jelly was a natural at sea. She got her sea legs almost immediately and got seasick only once in all the time aboard. She was a good sailor. David built her a cat door, so she could go below or go up on deck whenever she pleased. This worked out well when we were off the boat for errands.

Though she never fell overboard at sea, she fell overboard three times when we were in port. Once in Charleston, SC, she was intent on watching sea gulls floating on the water near the boat. Probably figuring she could walk on water, too, she jumped in and found out the hard way that cats do not float. Another time on the dock, she was chased into the water by a fellow cruiser's loose dogs. She was plucked out by fellow sailor. She did NOT enjoy being wet. Obviously, the nine lives myth was proving true.

We really enjoyed having her aboard. She was fun to play with and good company. Though she was not good at standing watch, she certainly was happy to snuggle up with the off-watch crew for a nap. She did keep birds, moths and other critters off the boat except when she caught them and brought them below.

Quite honestly, she was the best pet we've ever had. It might be that the sheer amount of time we spent with her was significantly more than pets we'd had while working full time and raising a family. We certainly developed a closeness with Jelly that we don't remember having with other pets.

Moving in with my Mom has allowed me to spend time with Jelly again and today was her 13th birthday. We celebrated with a Happy Birthday song sung in falsetto cat voices and a special cat food treat. She's an old lady now....a teenager if you're a human, but she's 74 in cat years. Of course, we all know 74 is the new 60, so really, she's still a spring kitten.

Jelly still has her own page on the website. Forgive the quality of some of her baby pictures … poor camera … poor photographer!

Having pets aboard has its challenges. Check the blog tomorrow for our take on having Pets Aboard.

Days and Ways to Celebrate

A daily list of mostly obscure holidays and fun ways to celebrate them.

Longitude Day

On this day in 1693, John Harrison, British clockmaker, was born. It was his lifelong efforts to develop a precision timepiece that would work at sea which allowed sailors to finally be able to calculate longitude. Read Dava Sorbel's book Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time or watch the movie.