How do Dogs and Cats adjust to Charleston? (Goose Creek, Summerville: apartment, rental)

[emilybh]

I have an indoor cat and I've trained him to do tricks including coming when called. I used to let him outdoors for short amounts of time and then call him in and I'm hoping that if I can find a place with a screened porch, he'd like it out there but I'm also wondering about the possibility of letting him in the yard for short amounts of time. If I was near a marsh, are their snakes or birds or alligators that might bite him or try to eat him that I should know about?

[DJShymansky]

If you're near a marsh, snakes and alligators would be a possibility, but only if you're right ON the marsh. A fenced in yard would solve the alligator potential though.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by DJShymansky

If you're near a marsh, snakes and alligators would be a possibility, but only if you're right ON the marsh. A fenced in yard would solve the alligator potential though.

Yikes. O.K. I wonder if a snake can somehow get into a screened in porch?

(Darn. I guess the outdoors in the Low Country is not a safe place for felines. Maybe my cat should continue to be an all-the-time indoor cat.)

[RiWrites]

An outdoor cat has a shorter life span than an indoor cat. It is best to keep the feline indoors. Since your cat probably has never been near an alligator or snake it won't have the fear to avoid them.

I have an indoor cat and he is going with me to Charleston. He has never been around another animal since he was born. He is now 17 years old and it was funny when I moved into my apartment a few years ago and a neighbor's female cat came on the balcony and was doing the feline equivalent of flirting. He looked at the cat and then at me like what the heck is this? He showed no interest. Now I don't know if this is because he hasn't been around any other cats since he was a few weeks old or because he is fixed. Either way he couldn't care less.

The one thing you should remember is make sure you cat stays cool in the summer. In Florida it gets really humid and hot and I am sure it is the same with South Carolina. I was trying to save on my electric bill so I wasn't running the a/c. I almost gave my cat heat stroke. When I checked the thermostat it was 80 and the cat was breathing hard. Sometimes an electric fan isn't enough.

How are you getting to Charleston, driving or flying? I would like to drive to Charleston but unlike a dog you really can't take a cat for a walk. I have to figure out how to do a litterbox that won't end up creating a mess all over the car.

[wesacat]

emily
I've lived here all my life and I've had cats since I was a child. I've also live right next to the marshes. I've never lost a cat to a snake (I don't think there are any pythons here last time I checked...lol) or an alligator. Outdoor cats are usually more at risk from cars than from any creature around here.

I have heard of alligators eating small dogs though. I've been told that alligators are attracted more by sound than by sight and barking dogs make an easy target.

[RiWrites]

Hope you never get pythons in South Carolina. Florida is having problems with them because of people buying them as pets than just releasing them into the wild. In the Everglades they had one that tried to eat an alligator and exploded.

And don't forget dogs also love jumping into the water. Cats will scratch your eyes out before they would do that.

[charlc318]

Originally Posted by wesacat

emily
I've lived here all my life and I've had cats since I was a child. I've also live right next to the marshes. I've never lost a cat to a snake (I don't think there are any pythons here last time I checked...lol) or an alligator. Outdoor cats are usually more at risk from cars than from any creature around here.

I have heard of alligators eating small dogs though. I've been told that alligators are attracted more by sound than by sight and barking dogs make an easy target.

Well, now I'm afraid of bringing my 2 dachshunds down to Charleston next year. I do plan on getting a house with a fenced in yard, but I would die if anything were to eat my dogs!!!! I presently have to worry about coyotes getting them at night, so I never leave them outside alone, but when I move to Summerville or Goose Creek next summer, I was hoping to have a doggie door so that they could go out in the yard alone, but I would think twice about it if I thought an alligator could snack on them!!!

[DJShymansky]

Your puppies will be fine. Just fence in the back yard.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by wesacat

emily
I've lived here all my life and I've had cats since I was a child. I've also live right next to the marshes. I've never lost a cat to a snake (I don't think there are any pythons here last time I checked...lol) or an alligator. Outdoor cats are usually more at risk from cars than from any creature around here.

I have heard of alligators eating small dogs though. I've been told that alligators are attracted more by sound than by sight and barking dogs make an easy target.

That's good to hear wescat. I was hoping that at least on cool dry days to be able to let my cat out onto a porch or a patio with me (to enjoy the nicer Low Country weather) while I was watching, but I'd hate to look away for a second and have some big bird swoop down and pick him up and fly off with him or a snake appear and take a big bite.

[emilybh]

Originally Posted by RiWrites

An outdoor cat has a shorter life span than an indoor cat. It is best to keep the feline indoors. Since your cat probably has never been near an alligator or snake it won't have the fear to avoid them.

I have an indoor cat and he is going with me to Charleston. He has never been around another animal since he was born. He is now 17 years old and it was funny when I moved into my apartment a few years ago and a neighbor's female cat came on the balcony and was doing the feline equivalent of flirting. He looked at the cat and then at me like what the heck is this? He showed no interest. Now I don't know if this is because he hasn't been around any other cats since he was a few weeks old or because he is fixed. Either way he couldn't care less.

The one thing you should remember is make sure you cat stays cool in the summer. In Florida it gets really humid and hot and I am sure it is the same with South Carolina. I was trying to save on my electric bill so I wasn't running the a/c. I almost gave my cat heat stroke. When I checked the thermostat it was 80 and the cat was breathing hard. Sometimes an electric fan isn't enough.

How are you getting to Charleston, driving or flying? I would like to drive to Charleston but unlike a dog you really can't take a cat for a walk. I have to figure out how to do a litterbox that won't end up creating a mess all over the car.

I know RiWrites. I'm always more concerned about my cat's comfort than my own even. When I used to let him out it was exclusively in my small back yard that is completely fenced in with stockade wood fencing (which he never attempted to climb because I think his hind legs are weak).He liked to crawl under the Hosta plants and spy on birds or try to find bugs and pounce on them with his front paws. I'm keeping him in now because he has REALLY long, fur being a Norwegian Forest Cat, and even though he's been getting a very high quality diet and immune boosting supplments, I'm worried about a flea jumping on him and then taking a ride on him into the house.

Regarding traveling with him, he's now gotten really used to being in his carrier for an hour or more in the car because every time a realtor comes with a prospective buyer, he and I leave and take a ride.

I've also read websites that say you should only give your cat one meal at night at the end of the day's drive (if you are making a two day trip -- or make sure to only feed him or her the night before the morning you leave).

At home he usuallly uses his litter late at night or early in the morning after his dinner and when he has his breakfast, he sometimes does right after his breakfast or sometimes during the day. So by eliminating the morning meal, I think the need to use the litter during the day may be eliminated. However, I'd planned to take breaks every 4 or 6 hours and pull over at a rest stop and let him out of his carrier and put him in his litter and give him water and Rescue Remedy and Homeopathic Calms to try to keep his stress level down.

It would probably be a good idea for me to get him used to his harness again so when I am letting him out I can keep him on a leash,( if I'm standing next to the car with the door open),so if he get's spooked and jumps out, he won't be able to get away. Hopefully, I'll make enough space inside the car so i won't need to have the door open when I let him out of his carrier.

I have something like 925 miles to drive. I think if I don't have any traffic, I could make arrive by 8PM if I leave at 5AM but I think Mapquest says it might take another two hours.

There are motels that take pets and surprisingly the Woodlands in Summerville also does so if I stretch the trip into two days I could stay in one of those Comfort Inns or Sleep Inns or whatever they are for one night, (but the idea of staying in a strange place en route I think woud just stress my cat out more), so I'm leaning towards not doing that and just driving straight down there. I thought if for some reason, I didn't yet have a place to move into, I could stay at the Woodlands for a few nights and treat myself.

I thought I'd have my realtor help make arrangments for a rental ahead of time though, and have him Fed Ex me the key, so my cat and I will be able to at least arrive in our new "home" even if the furniture has not arrived yet. ( I was thinking of using ABF to move my furniture and just hiring helpers to load and unlaod the containers at both ends.)I'll just bring a folding chair and a sleeping bag and maybe a cot and my cat's bed and a bunch of towels and my clothes and my cat's food and make due until my stuff arrives.