Cats will be cats wherever they live. My cat was 100% indoors -- I lived in Philadelphia for 6 years, then moved into a second story condo in Virginia -- so when I moved aboard, she adapted almost immediately. I guess she just thought I moved into a new and weird apartment. ;-) I encouraged her very strongly (with squirt guns) not to jump off the boat, and the training has paid off. She has no interest in roaming. Of course, my cat is also getting on in years, so she's not as spry as she used to be either. My neighbors have two kitten Siamese. They are not "boat cats" in the sense that they do not go sailing with them -- they go to Granpa's in Aptos where they can chase mice and birds instead. The "girls" do go into the drink on occasion, but generally climb back out, shake off the water and pretend that it was intentional. Several cat owners have nailed a piece of carpeting to the dock finger and let it hang in the water so the cats have something to grab onto and crawl back up on the dock.
Here's what else I do for the cat: I installed lifeline netting around the
entire boat. Suzy spent many, many hours on this. I use the clumping
"flushable" kitty litter. I dump it into a plastic bag lined, 2.5 gallon
bucket. When the bucket is full, I dump the bag in the trash dumpster.
The litter box stays in the cockpit most of the time. I have an awning
that keeps it dry. I live aboard so the companionway is never locked. I
have a canvas flap that keeps the cold winds away, but the cat can push
her way past that. When I'm under way, the litter box is lashed
underneath the salon table with a bungee. Food and water bowls have
non-skid to keep them from skittering around. I have a little whisk broom
to clean up dust etc.
The cat is pretty smart, and usually figures out what goes were, although I do make an effort to "tell" her when I move things around. I tried the pet floatation device, but she hates it, so I just worry instead. The netting plus high bullwarks make it pretty tough for her to go overboard unless she takes a jump and so far she hasn't shown any tendency to do that.
So, I guess, in summary, I do what I can to protect her and hope that she doesn't do anything terribly stupid.
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