How Many Cats Is Just Right For You?

[Hairball]

My apartment is small, so I couldn't imagine having more than one cat. lol

[JustOneMore]

Originally Posted by Venusworld21

The most I've ever had at once is 20 (see my earlier post in this thread). I had a mom and her six 3-week-old babies in a very large dog crate in the garage. I had another mom in another large crate away from her babies as they were 10 weeks and I was trying to dry her milk up to get her spayed. Her three babies had run of the garage. At the time, I had another mom and her three babies from the shelter (fosters I already had before accepting the emergency intake of the other two litters) in the laundry room. Plus my five permanent kitties in the house (2 of whom were under a year old).

It was insanity and if it hadn't been temporary I wouldn't have done it.

The shelter batch was only set to stay with me another week and a half at the time the extra two litters came in. If that weren't the case, I wouldn't have been able to handle them all. The only thing getting me through the first 2 weeks is that it was temporary.

For a week and a half I spent an hour every morning and 2 hours every night feeding everyone and cleaning litters. I had 6 litter boxes in the house at the time (1 for each batch of kittens, 1 for the mom who was separated, and 2 for my 5 indoor kitties). It took half an hour just to scoop them. The kittens who had free run of the garage were 10 weeks old, but not box trained, so I was also cleaning up after them. The two crates were destroyed on a daily basis as no one was happy about that arrangement, so I had take them apart and clean them out twice a day. The smallest kittens (the six 3-week-olds) had to be bottle fed because mom was in sorry shape and not making enough milk for everyone. They were behind in weight for their age. It took over an hour to bottle feed them and make sure everyone got enough. Of course, they were all black or mostly black so it was nearly impossible to tell who I'd fed or not yet.

After a week and a half, the shelter batch went back to go up for adoption and I was down to 16 cats. The 3-week-olds (now 4.5 weeks olds) and their mom moved into the now-empty laundry room. At two weeks, the kittens who had free run of the garage and their mom went up to be spayed/neutered. They stayed in the garage primarily for another 2 weeks (so a total of a month) while they healed, then I got the kittens adpopted out. Yay, down to 13 cats! The little guys I'd bottle fed were 9 weeks before they went up to be spayed/neutered. They've mostly been adopted now...I still have 2 of the 6 left. Also, the mom from the older batch got adopted right before christmas, but one of her kittens came back as he wasn't working out in his new home.

So at the moment I have my 5 permanent kitties, two of the kittens from the 3-week-old batch (now 4 months old), their mother (who is nearly recovered from her spay surgery now) and the one kitten who came back (now 6 months old), for a total of 9. The house feels almost empty.

The 9 here now share 4 litter boxes, which are cleaned once daily. No one needs bottle feeding. They get along pretty well for the most part. They're pretty manageable.

*phew
That sounded like a full time job.

[Venusworld21]

Originally Posted by JustOneMore

*phew
That sounded like a full time job.

It was! And it wasn't up to my normal fostering standards either. I don't advocate keeping cats in crates. There was just literally no where else to put them, at all (20 cats in an 1100 square foot house). Again, if it weren't temporary, I wouldn't have done it. As it was, that was only acceptable because the alternative was leaving them where they were to die (as several kittens already had). Since no one died while they were here, I still consider being stuck in a crate for a few days a step up.

But yes...never again, that many at once.

[Merlin_Guinevere]

I could VERY easily become a crazy cat lady, so I will have to keep myself in check. Right now I have two, but I am kind of wanting a third. I am fighting off the temptation. If I get a bigger living space, I would consider four, but I probably wouldn't want to go over that number at this time due to finances.

[Marcia]

This really frosts my butt. The city took 90 rabbits out of a hoarder's house and now they are considering limiting the number of cats a home owner can have to 4. Typical government over reach. Having a lot of cats is only a problem if they are not taken care of. Limiting them will do NOTHING to fix a hoarder of rabbits.

Virginia Beach considers limit on cats in homes

Posted to: Local GovernmentNewsPetsVirginia Beach







Virginia Beach panel weighs options for feral cats - Jul. 15, 2012


By Sarah Hutchins
The Virginian-Pilot
© January 10, 2013

VIRGINIA BEACH
Could Virginia Beach become the second city in South Hampton Roads to limit the number of cats in your home? It's possible, now that the city's Animal Control Unit Advisory Committee has decided to talk about the issue.
The city's animal ordinances are similar to those of its neighbors: a limit on the number of dogs in one residence and no numerical restrictions on cats. Norfolk is the exception, placing a limit of four per home on cats, rabbits and dogs.
The Virginia Beach committee started discussing companion-animal limits in the wake of a hoarding case last March. Animal Control officers removed more than 90 rabbits from a Great Neck home. Five rabbits were dead, and two more had to be euthanized.
The owner was convicted of animal cruelty and unlawfully disposing of a dead animal.
So far, animal hoarding hasn't been a serious problem in the city, said L.D. Davis, who sits on the advisory board. Still, she said, the group decided to begin talking about limits as a preventive measure.
"Where does hoarding stop?" Davis asked. "Do we not have some responsibility to make sure it doesn't become an issue?"
But even if the group decides to recommend that the City Council explore limiting cats or other companion animals, Councilman Jim Wood said the several stages of review means it would likely be some time before anything is decided.
At a Wednesday night meeting, advisory group members agreed that a numerical pet limit likely couldn't be reached. Instead, they formed a subcommittee to study and report on ways to address hoarding problems.

[3gatos]

Limiting the amount of animals will do nothing. They can't really do anything unless other people complain.

[3furbabies]

They could never control this. Where I live you don't need to license your cat - Only your dog so technically I would be allowed to have 20 cats and as long as I took care of them all, no one could say anything. It's not the number of animals that are the issue... It's how you care for them.

A shelter where I live near had the same rabbit hoarder issue just before Xmas and had 50 bunnies take in. They were all in poor shape too .


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[MortyMathers108]

I don't think I could handle more than 12 or so.... my aunt mairie had at least fifteeen when i was a lad

[Desert Hippie]

In the area where I live, I am limited to 4 dogs but can have as many
cats as I want, again, provided they are well cared for. In the neighboring
community, you are limited to 4 pets. That's 4 total, be it 4 dogs the size
of ponies or 4 hermit crabs in a small habitat, which I find ridiculous.

The sad truth is that no law is going to control the actions of a
hoarder or prevent them from starting their hoarding. So very
sad for everyone involved.

[JustOneMore]

I think owners who take care of their pets should be allowed to keep how many they want. Where I'm from if you want more then 3 dogs or 5 cats you have to get a pet avocation permit where they come out to your home and inspect your property and just overall quality of life for the animals. In my eyes this is completely fair. Only thing I dislike about it is your still limited to up to 5 dogs or up to 6 cats but still no more then 8 cats and dogs combined. I think that because they are doing the inspecting they should be more lax about the actual number.