Give the Litter Tray One Address and Make It Stay There
In a home that moves, the litter tray needs the security of a fixed address: a corner of the bathroom, the shower tray on a boat when it is not in use, or a low locker with an opening she can reach day and night. Wedge or strap the tray so braking, cornering, and the wash of a passing boat cannot slide it, and choose a lidded or high-sided design so litter stays inside when the floor tilts. Keep the same litter she knows from land rather than experimenting aboard, carry a sealed spare supply, and scoop at fixed times — after her morning feed and before you settle for the night at minimum — so smells never build in a small shared space.
Put Feeding at the Opposite End of Her World
Cats dislike eating near their toilet, and a narrowboat or motorhome makes the distance between the two a matter of deliberate design. Feed her at the far end of the cabin from the tray, on a mat that grips the floor, in bowls heavy enough or non-slip enough to stay put while she eats underway or moored. Measured meals at fixed hours suit life aboard better than a constantly topped-up bowl: they keep food fresh in a warm cabin, let you notice appetite changes quickly, and make it simple to see she has eaten before a day of cruising or driving begins.
Store Food and Water Like a Boat, Not a House
Damp, heat, and small opportunistic visitors are the enemies of stored pet food in a hull or a van locker. Keep her food in a sealed rigid container rather than its opened bag, store it in the coolest locker you have, and decant a few days' worth into a smaller tub so the main supply is not opened to humid air twice daily. Water needs spill thinking: a wide, heavy, spill-resistant bowl in a spot where a slosh does no damage, checked and refreshed at every stop. If you refill from marina or site taps, fill her bowl from the same source for a day or two before judging her drinking, since some cats notice a change in water.
Build the Routine Around Moving and Mooring
Her day aboard runs best when care tasks attach to the events of boat or road life: tray scooped and breakfast served before you cast off or start the engine, water checked at every lock, fuel stop, or rest break, and an evening feed when you moor or pitch for the night. Travelling hours are not eating hours for most cats, so plan her meals for the still parts of the day and let her sleep through the motion undisturbed. On rest days, resist letting the schedule dissolve entirely; a cat whose meals drift by hours in a strange mooring is a cat whose appetite and tray habits become hard to read.
Share the Jobs, Because Cabins Run on Teamwork
Life in a small moving home blurs responsibility faster than a house does, and the cat pays for it in a tray scooped late or a water bowl nobody refilled. Divide her care explicitly between the people aboard — one owns mornings, another evenings, or the jobs rotate daily — and include any older children travelling with you. Whoever feeds also notes whether she ate well; whoever scoops the tray notices what it shows. That division keeps her standard of care steady from marina to marina and pitch to pitch. KinsLe's Care Teams suits life aboard neatly: her feeding, water, and litter duties are assigned to the crew travelling with her, and each completed task is marked with a timestamp everyone can check.