How many cats is TOO many cats?

[rainbow]

Originally Posted by kado

Mine is a multi cat house hold. I have 12. Four of them are 7 months today. My OH said only one well that didnt happen. I would never turn a cat away i just couldnt but i would have to find it a home now. There fine most of the time we do get a few squabbles but it works out ok. We do have a boss of the house which is Maisey. If any one of the cats is sitting near where she wants to sit she swipes them so the usualy take a wide birth.

Thats ALOT of cats I hope the 4 that are 7 months old are neutered/spayed or you could quite easily have 30 cats soon!

[rainbow]

The more cats you have, the less human attention each gets and thats not good. Financially as well, the more you have the less likey you are to afford what the cats truely needs medically and diet wise.

I think more than 5 cats, and you are on shakey ground. And if you must become an "animal collector" the very least you should do is make sure ALL cats are neutered/spayed at 5/6 months.

[Liz]

Just to say all ours here at the Clan are neutered/speyed, fully injected, have a programme injection every 6 months, are wormed every 3 months and all are ID chipped - same for my outside crew - trapping is an art form for them

We chose to have this lot and spend well in to 5 figures annually on them for vets fees - the normal ones and they eat the best of food - Royal canin, Hills, Purina and eat 10 tims of wet every day - my 2 dogs are also injected, ID chipped and have kennel cough and all the things doggies need

Any bills not in the usual zone result in beans on toast for as long as it takes to pay of OH credit card - we also both work full time and they are our world

Elaine can testify I have a happy home although a bit fur ridden at times!!!!

[farthing]

Same here Liz, although the indoor oldies aren't microchipped. We feed Hi-life, and have found them to do very well on it. All the animals get good quality food and good quality hay. Cats, dogs and horses are vaccinated yearly, the rabbits get their VHD vaccine once a year and their Myxo twice a year. We follow the vet recommendations for all the other animals for worming and any vaccines needed.

We have a happy, if untidy household, but the animals are clean, well fed and content- not so sure about us though!

[dandysmom]

I have only the greatest respect for you, Liz and farthing, for what you do for your animals! Where would they be without compassionate people like you? But I do think that for most people without so much dedication, there is an upper limit, both emotional and financial. For me, three is ideal. Just as all cats are different, so are owners.

[farthing]

I don't think either Liz or I are making any judgement on how many animals people have- perhaps the opposite.
I don't know about Liz, but I often feel I have to defend myself, because people either judge you as a nutter, a collector or that you can in no way look after the animals you have properly- not on here but in the 'real world'.

[dandysmom]

Oh I hope you didn't think I was being judgemental ... just the opposite!

[farthing]

NOOOOO, I was worried you thought I was.

[dandysmom]

Sigh of relief! We so frequently have stories in the paper about people who are "collectors" and have 20- 30 + cats in deplorable filthy conditions; breaks your heart to read about it. I do wonder how they can not see that they're not helping the cats, but harming them ....

[farthing]

I guess they just don't realise how bad things get, and in many cases there are other problems. I know of a case from another forum, where 600 mice were taken from a house. The owner had mental health problems and just kept breeding them- something like 400 had been taken from him the year before. Some of the mice were dead, living in buckets and many died young due to tumors because of so much inbreeding.