Dog vs Cat

[Reduckto]

Hi all,

Lovely to be back and a big well done to Cathrine for getting the ship sailing again!

I just wanted to vent here for a little while. I currently live on a canal boat on my own. I can't say as I'm hugely lonely as I'm at Collage monday to friday till late in the evening and I work weekend. It does seem like something is missing though on those evening when I'm sat aboard on my own.

I've been trying to feasbly plan how it could be possible for me to have some animal companion aboard but currently haven't come up with any answers. and im obviously not going to introduce an animal to my home if there was 1% doubt that I couldent look after it properly.

A lot of people keep cats within their Canal boats, install a flap. A hear that the cats really enjoy their hunting grounds changing every two weeks. There only problem is out of term time I back home (somtimes for up to 6 weeks) at which I have 2 Jack Russels and 2 Yorkshire terriers. Im pretty sure that the Jacks would have the cat for Lunch.

So it seems that for now I wont be having any additional company onboard but I thought it was worth a vent.

Merry christmas and a happy new year to all

[LPC]

Lovely to hear from you! I'm glad that you found the new forum. In advance I wish you a happy New Year, too! I'm afraid that I'm inclined to agree with your assessment about the feasibility of having a cat or dog in your current situation. But never mind, a little later in your life you can always get one, when you have a settled home and more time to spend with a pet.

[Tobi]

Happy New Year for you for 2014!
Yes, it seems having either a cat or dog would be too difficult for you. Although both cats and dogs can enjoy riverboat life, taking a cat to visit his Jack Russell 'cousins' might not be appreciated!
And, being alone, it is never such a good idea to have an animal if you have to spend hours away from home in the day. A cat could probably handle that, but it would be too tough for a dog.
Maybe one day your life will be different, and then you can give a good home to cats AND dogs?!

[Catherine]

Thank-you and welcome back.

I know how you feel. During a traveling time in my life I couldn't have any pets. I have made up for it since them.

If you can't have any pets of your own, consider yourself the honorary parent of our animal lovers pet family. We just have to keep posting about our pets so you can at least enjoy knowing what they are doing.

Check out "Guinea pigs gone wild". Robbie and Murray were rescued from a lady who wanted to see them fed to a big snake. She brought them to the reptile centre for that purpose. We took them, but had no intention of hurting them. I took them home when she came back to see if it was done yet. We had to be sure she couldn't take them back.
They have settled in to their life with me and are providing a lot of laughs.
I am sure if you were here you would have rescued them just as happily.
For now, welcome back and enjoy hearing about the pets you would like to have.

[Tobi]

Oh phew!! Robbie and Murray must be very happy.
I know snakes have to eat....but still....I couldn't do that to poor Robbie and Murray either.

[Catherine]

I know it is hard. Snakes have to eat, but we don't feed pets to them.
Rats and mice are bred for snake food and they are humanely killed.

Robbie and Murray are pets. How could she hate them so much. What kind of person has that kind of anger towards a pet. I can understand that she didn't want them any more(actually I don't understand), but this is worse than dumping them somewhere. She wanted them dead and she wanted them scared. That is cruel. If I knew who she was I would want to say things to her. I certainly would not want her to ever have a pet again.

[AnimalFamily]

This might be totally impractical as well, but have you considered the option of a cute little hamster or a gerbil, guinea pig, etc?

[Catherine]

I would think a hamster would not mind life on a boat. they are pretty adaptable. Good suggestion.

[Reduckto]

Its not all bad. I have 3 Guinea pigs and a rabbit at home with the parents so when I visit them I get chance to spend some time with them.

We used to have a fleet of guinea pigs 7 at one point. It was so lovely seeing them all eating and sqeaking. They live in a huge run outside. We have some that lived a long time but of course as hard as it is pets have to due at some point, hence the reduction in numbers.

Yeah that could be an option. I did consider rats but to be honest I dont think any pet is really practical. The boat is heated by a log burner (which is lovely) but I dont run it in the day and I think in the winter it would just be too cold for them in the day. What do you think?

[Catherine]

I remember your guinea pigs. You always had such good names for them. They have lived a good long time.

The cold would be a problem. If you have a wood heater then you can only run it when you are there. How cold does it get? Dwarf hamsters like it cooler. Most other pets would not do well in the cold.