# Does the U. S. Navy still have ship's cats?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 18, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867 "2015-06-18T17:21:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/1 "2015-06-18T17:21:38Z")
I was reading an article in Wikipedia about cats on ships, military ships in particular. It said that the British Navy no longer allows cats on ships; has the American military done likewise? (I hope not.)
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/2 "2015-06-18T17:24:09Z")
Mr./Ms. Moderator, please move this to General Questions, where I MEANT to put it!:o
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/3 "2015-06-18T17:24:48Z")
Don’t know but this message board has cats. 😉
Reported for forum change.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/4 "2015-06-18T17:27:01Z")
**Moderator Action**
Moving thread from ATMB to General Questions.
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### Author:  [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/5 "2015-06-18T17:47:48Z")
In my 28+ years in the Navy I’ve never seen a cat on a ship (or a dog for that matter) nor have I ever heard of it (but I have heard of dogs).
I have seen CO’s dogs (including mine) at shore commands however.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/6 "2015-06-18T18:38:05Z")
> [@spifflog](#):
>
> In my 28+ years in the Navy I’ve never seen a cat on a ship (or a dog for that matter) nor have I ever heard of it[…]
This bodes ill for a time-honored tradition–and for the cats. ☹
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### Author:  [@tonyfop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tonyfop)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/7 "2015-06-18T18:44:13Z")
20 years in, never saw an “official” ship’s cat. We did have a couple of “pet” pigeons that we picked up in Gaeta on the USS Mount Whitney. They had nested somewhere in the aft part of the ship. When we were at sea, they would fly laps around the ship together. That was until we were conducting helo operations in the North Sea and one of them flew through the tail rotor while it was operating. Then we had 1 pet pigeon, that made it all the way back to Gaeta. It spent a total of 5.5 months with the ship, as we puttered around Northern Europe and the Med.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/8 "2015-06-18T20:22:24Z")
Cat’s didn’t always fare so well. Poor [Mrs. Chippy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs._Chippy).
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### Author:  [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/9 "2015-06-18T21:08:05Z")
Are rats still a problem on Navy ships?
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 18, 2015, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/10 "2015-06-18T23:27:09Z")
Related question: Do Navy vessels still use those rat - guard disks on the mooring ropes?
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### Author:  [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/11 "2015-06-19T03:19:41Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#):
>
> Are rats still a problem on Navy ships?
Much less, now that they have refrigeration & freezers on ships. Food is much more securely locked away, in places that are much harder for rats to access. So with less food, there is much less reason for rats to be aboard ships. And thus much less need for cats on ships.
And I don’t think the US Navy ever had ‘official’ ships cats. They were there, but nothing official about it. No doubt the officers knew about them, but didn’t get bothered about it. If that kept the sailors happier, the officers were glad to ignore it officially.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/12 "2015-06-19T03:57:36Z")
Not the same thing, but the unit that a friend of mine was in had an infantry dog in Vietnam. They found him wandering through the minefield on the edge of the camp. A Lieutenant was going to shoot him, but his men talked him out of it. They managed to coax him out of the minefield without anything going Kablooey. The dog was given the name Private Dud. The dog stayed with the unit after my friend got shipped back stateside, so not sure what happened to him after that.
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### Author:  [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/13 "2015-06-19T04:09:56Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> The dog was given the name Private Dud. The dog stayed with the unit after my friend got shipped back stateside, so not sure what happened to him after that.
I have heard stories of charities springing up in the US to help soldiers from Iraq/Afghanistan bring dogs they befriended back to the states.
Don’t think there are a lot of them but there are some feel good stories about it floating about. I thought the US military was trying to be at least a teeny bit better about stuff like this (good PR, not because they officially care).
Unfortunately no word on Private Dud (great name).
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### Author:  [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/14 "2015-06-19T04:40:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Do Navy vessels still use those rat - guard disks on the mooring ropes?
I don’t know, but at least some cruise ships do, suggesting that they may still be a good anti-rat device.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/15 "2015-06-19T05:37:21Z")
Or a good pro-passenger device. If the paying customers expect a ship’s cat, then you have a ship’s cat.
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### Author:  [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/16 "2015-06-19T06:46:53Z")
A [ship’s cat](http://www.picton-castle.com/captains_log/category/chibley/) I was lucky enough to know.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/17 "2015-06-19T07:11:17Z")
We had a dog as a crewmember at the LORAN station I was on. SNDG Stache. We got him when he was an SA.
Oh, and occasionally, while at sea, someone might catch a seabat and keep it as a pet.
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### Author:  [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/18 "2015-06-19T10:01:30Z")
I thought all ships use rat guards. It is close to impossible to eliminate water rats.
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### Author:  [@spifflog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spifflog)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/19 "2015-06-19T11:48:04Z")
Yep, (U.S.) Navy ships still use rat guards.
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### Author:  [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2015, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-the-u-s-navy-still-have-ships-cats/722867/20 "2015-06-19T14:55:54Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> A [ship’s cat](http://www.picton-castle.com/captains_log/category/chibley/) I was lucky enough to know.
You and that crew lost a real friend. ☹
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