I can't comprehend why some people keep so many cats.

Run_to_da_hills

A mate of mine said he had to get home early this evening because he had 5 cats to feed, two were personal and the other three were strays. Is there anyone here that keeps loads of cats?

Not too long ago a poster mentioned thet he had brought nine cats on the ferry into Ireland. :eek:

I don't mind them as long as they don't jump upon to the table and lick the butter.

Sigma Force

Cats are so easy going in general so if another one pops up then some people don't mind. Some cats love the company of other cats as well. 5 cats isn't too bad though at all as long as they are spayed/neutered of course otherwise there's no end to them.

Might as well have 5 as have 2 or 3 lol. Compared to smallies and dogs cats are soo easy going still need lots of cuddles etc. but when it comes to numbers it's as easy to look after 5 as 2 or 3. Aside from larger food and vet bills their day to day care is easy, feed, clean litter trays, cuddle, feed, clean litter trays, cuddle.

The Sweeper

I have five cats.

They all have very distinct personalities, and they get on extremely well together. They're of varying ages.

Mine are indoor-only cats, and they have a separate room in the house that contains all their food / litter trays / beds so their stuff isn't all over the house. I do spend a lot of time cleaning up after them, so I wouldn't consider a higher number.

There is a big difference between five cats and two or three cats, and a big difference again between eight or nine cats and four or five cats. There is a lot of litter tray maintenance involved in five cats (though if you have the space, definitely embrace the idea of large, covered trays, and go with the number of one per cat plus one extra - it actually makes the litters less work).

Additonally, if you keep a large colony of any animal, hygiene and disease are your two biggest concerns - poor hygiene can contribute to illness, and any illness they get will spread like wildfire through the colony. That also means five times as many vet bills.

Because I keep my cats as indoor-only pets, and I've also had some of them since they were tiny because of my fostering, I have extremely friendly, interactive, interested cats. They are highly social - greet me at the door when I get in from work (and greet hubby in the evening when he gets home too), move from room to room in the house with me as I go about my business during the day, so on. (Hahn climbs into the sink when I'm washing my teeth, for instance. If I'm wearing a long skirt, Sasquatch follows me around the house and climbs under it whenever I stand still, so I look as though I have a tail. Eric sings to me every morning, a mixture of miaows and burbles and chirrups to greet the day. Frank is my couch potato, acting as a blanket in the cooler months whenever I sit down. If Turbo Diesel wakes up in any room on her own, she squeaks the place down until everyone, human and cat, has come to find her.)

Magenta

I have 5 cats.
Only one was planned, we got her at 8 weeks. The rest were waifs and strays that various people didn't want anymore. The last one, her owner lived in an apartment and when she moved out she just left the cat there. The cat had kittens and the landlord was going nuts threatening all sorts so I took them and rehomed the kittens but kept the mammy, she'd settled in by the time the kittens were old enough to be rehomed and I figured she'd already been through enough.
Besides, we already had 4 and have had more than that in the past so one more wasn't much of a stretch. She's a great little cat.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

I lived in a house with 5 kittens before, it was *awesome*.

you don't know joy until you've seen a 5 kitten wrestling match

PinkTulips

i have 6 atm, but 2 are going to their new houses today and tomorrow, but a new kitten will be joining us soon so my total will be 5.

i love having lots of them, the only down sides are the cost of feeding and vets bills but they're worth it for the love and affection they give.

my kids have a house full of little playmates and my feet are never cold in bed anymore

Interceptor

No, I don't get it either but then I'm not a cat fan. My neighbour has six cats and they have the run of the family house - recently one of them gave birth in her daughters wardrobe and the four year old was traumatised when the family dog came in and ate one of the newborn kittens. Some people shouldn't be allowed keep animals at all.

'cptr

Noffles

Our house has 5 indoor cats and the wife feeds 3 cats that are strays but now seem to live in the garden... they're not that much hassle really and as a home worker they provide a welcome distraction at times... The food and litter costs can be a bit high at times when buying it in bulk but that's about it really..

Pye

I must admit I really enjoyed my mums house where we had ten cats. So long as they're all neutered (including any strays you 'adopt') I don't see anything wrong with it.

My only problem is when people leave out food for feral cats without actually taking them in or having them neutered. I don't believe this does any good and just causes their population to explode without the person doing the feeding to have any real responsibility over it and its progeny. I have one feral caught in my house right now (waiting to be checked out) as he's been in a bad fight. He had chased my duck which was why I had to catch the blighter. It's clear he knows humans will feed him or he wouldn't have been snooping around my chickens and staying in our yard the last few days. Now I have to work out what to do with him.

Test For Echo

I have 2 indoor cats in a small apartment. Almost ended up with a 3rd last year but thankfully got her a place in a sanctuary and she was re-homed within the hour. She was a boisterous little scamp and I was sad to leave her but I'd say it would have been war if I took her home to the other two. Never planned on having cats but I can't imagine the place without them. Endless entertainment.

People already think I'm "crazy cat guy..."

useful_contacts

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

A mate of mine said he had to get home early this evening because he had 5 cats to feed, two were personal and the other three were strays. Is there anyone here that keeps loads of cats?

Not too long ago a poster mentioned thet he had brought nine cats on the ferry into Ireland. :eek:

I don't mind them as long as they don't jump upon to the table and lick the butter.

I have one kittem- and believe me thats more than enough, each to their own and all that but i couldnt have more than one

Call me Socket

I have 9 cats in the house right now....7 of them are mine. Like another poster, 1 was planned- we were going to get one after settling into our new house, and when hubby went to the builder supply place for skirting, the owner's wife asked him if he knew of anyone that would take a kitten. We went to see her the next day and it was love at first sight! Giles will be 7 yrs old next Monday!
The other 6 are a mix of rescued/saved/stray/abandoned....

Our man in Havana

I have a heap of cats - all spayed & neutered - most are dumped here!

I do have 1 male to trap & neuter - I have trapped neutered & tamed 2 feral cats so far - poor Henry had a blooming horrid snare around his back legs/tummy.

At the moment I have

Henry
Hugo
Basil
Saffron
Jasmin
Adolf
Precious
Tabitha
Matt
Sooty
Sweep
Stinky

& the stray male white face.

Suzannem

i have 8, I have had cats all my life, they are my favourite animal ever! my eldest cat will be celebrating his 18th birthday soon! so im going to spoil them with cream and cooked chicken on his birthday!

my eldest cat i owned so far live to be 21, her name was Kitty Cat, she was a small tabby. she was born around 1979 and lives till around 1996

Magenta

I forgot to mention, all ours are neutered, and any kittens they had before this were tamed and rehomed.

Pye

Bond-007 wrote: »

I have a heap of cats - all spayed & neutered - most are dumped here!

I do have 1 male to trap & neuter

I've just trapped an injured one here. Want to neuter and get him into a home as soon as he's fit. How do you go about getting them neutered? Are there any schemes offering cheap neutering for ferals?

Any by the way, hats off to all who have neutered and adopted/rehomed homeless felines. It's good to see!

partyguinness

Dont like cats...the OH has one which she adores and he is very cute but not a 4.30am when he wants food. I am only there at weekends.

He gets a swift flick of a jumper and the Partyguinness patented 'death stare' which sorts him out for a few hours...:D

cotton

They'd want to be insane.:)

I've 10 indoor cats here plus any amount of fosters at any given time.
Each has their own personality, they all have seperate needs & quirks.
It's a lot of hard work but I wouldn't change it for the world. What I get back from them is tenfold.

Here they are.

Jasper, my first ever cat of my own, got her from the DSPCA 14 years ago, a grumpy old lady to say the least.



Cotton aka Snottin, 9ish, inherited from a dear lady called Jacqueline some of us know from other boards who got very ill. A serious abuse case, she still doesn't trust humans.


Max, 7-8 probably the only cat I know of to come from a GSD rescue! All I can say about him is he rocks, not a moggie but we're not sure what he is. This cat is Mr. Cool.


Milo, anyone that knows me knows Milo & all his problems. Was 6 in march.


Maisie, aka Crazy. Milo's sister. She's a bit famous,(or so she tells us everyday!) she's the kitten on the Anvil cat posters. She's now got Crf & is a fulltime evening job but worth every second.


Reuben, the "fat cat" Larger than life & roughly the same age as M&M. Was living rough on the estate where I used to live & settled in a bit too well.


Kenzie, 14 months old. I've been TNR a colony where I work for the past year. One girl Pepper was about to give birth when I caught her & she had her kittens here. When they were born & I saw Kenz, I knew I was going to keep him & he's my Dun Laoghaire present to me. Aleady bigger than most of the others here, I think he's taking steroids on the sly.


Spice, aka Lucifer or the ginger minger. Kenzie's brother. Ugliest cat you'll ever meet. Nobody wanted to home him so he ended up staying too. Has the best ever personality on the planet & is mum to all kittens that come in here.
[/QUOTE]

Lucas. Also from the DL colony, we got him at 5 months so were unsure if he'd ever come around to being friendly - he definately has!



My beautiful special Suki who went to the bridge a couple of weeks ago. She was 20 & had FIA. A very special girl.



You might not be able to comprehend it but to others it's a perfect way of life.

PinkTulips

they're beautiful cotton

Dixie Chick

oh my god, cotton, those cats are beautiful!! The one you say is the ugliest, think he is gorgeous!!

MsFifers

Spice is absolutely gorgeous!
I have a stray in my back garden I'm looking after - now he is ugly! Broken jaw, drooling, scabby! (I'm doing my best for him! Vet isn't much help though!)

In my case, I have not chosen how many cats I have - they have selected me! I started with Pugs & Milly - cute rescue twins. Then, Princess, neighbour's cat has moved in (her owners and I have a joint custody arrangement! ). I'm looking after Kitty, my friend's cat (she has gone travelling.) And now there are the 2 skinny strays in the back garden who do not seem to want to either be tamed or move away! I'll keep working on them though.

Sigma Force

Pye contact some of the vets in your area some of them might be working with rescues on a spay/neuter sheme.
Or if you're vet is familiar with you they might agree a payment plan.

Halfdog

An old woman up the road has ninteen cats, nearly all strays but would come to her only, she has names for each one of them and would feed them proper cat food, This must take some lump out of her pension. :eek:

hadook

That's one ugly minger of a cat Cotton

I have 8 indoor cats and somewhere between 5 and 13 ferals visiting the feeders (some of them are so wild that I'll only spot them every couple of months really late at night).

One of my indoor horde was a foster cat of Cottons and the two newest ferals are Dun Laoghaire cats (the mother and brother of Lucas and very definitely not tame lol). Of mine 1 is a planned pedigree addition and the rest are rescues/rehomes. I even have a boardsie cat - Cheesecake.

eyesofvenus

I can't understand why people have so many children...
At least with a cat it can look after itself for most the part :pac:

Lollymcd

Hi Cotton, I love all the pics of your cats even/especially the "ugly" one! Some of the things in your post sounded so familiar, I think I may have gotten one of my cats from/through you!!! We adopted Shorty (we call her Esme though!) last August...

As for how many cats it is good to have, I would happily have 10 but I live in a small two bedroom apartment... I wonder what the max number I could fit into the place!!! lol

I would love to foster cats/kittens but my original cat Monty is very unfriendly towards other cats, when we brought Esme back from being spayed Monty hissed at her for two days even though they had been together for months beforehand!!! Grump!

Lollymcd

Monty (Black and White) and Esme (White and Striped)

Demonique

eyesofvenus wrote: »

I can't understand why people have so many children...
At least with a cat it can look after itself for most the part :pac:

It's because of the state benefits, if you could get state benefits for keeping pets then there'd be a load more pets in Ireland...


Anyway, to the OP, I don't consider 5 cats to be a load of cats, I've heard of people keeping FORTY cats

Lollymcd

Demonique wrote: »

It's because of the state benefits, if you could get state benefits for keeping pets then there'd be a load more pets in Ireland...

Ohhh harsh! But I like it

animalcrazy

Often times, cats just show up on your doorstep, especially if you have other cats, and if your a big softie like me, you end up feeling sorry for it, spending a ton on vets bills and keeping it :P I'm not even a big cat fan to be honest.

star-pants

^^ very true, my friend who's always had a few cats as long as I've known her, gets calls from the school or neighbours if someone finds a lost kitten or hurt cat to see if she'll take it in.
currently she's got 5 cats and a dog, and not sure if she still has her hamsters...