I can't decide! Help. Eight Cats too much?

autumnblueangel · Dec 24, 2006

As you all know by now, due to my other posts, I have four cats, Keylah 3, Jerryn 2, & Lily-Jade & Jessavyn 12mo+. I love them all to death and they're not my problem. My problem is, I love cats too much. Lily had babies. She had four babies, which I posted about a while back. They're all 3 months old now, vaccinated and ready for homes. That's the problem though. I don't want to give them up. I want to keep them. But that will make my total eight cats and I'm not sure I can cope with that. I'm coping now pretty well and that's with 6 of them indoors and one in and out, but i'm not sure how i'll be as they get older. I have a 3 bedroom house, and a huge backyard, I live in the suburbs, away from busy roads as i'm in a court. I also have a dog who is cat friendly. The pro's are that I can afford them, I can look after them, I love them, they'll get a good life with me, but the con's are do I have the space? i'm only legally supposed to have 2 cats (the other 2 are seen to be my "relatives" cats... they don't do any harm and do have bells on their collars) can I give them enough attention? is it selfish to my other cats? also my real estate agent doesn't know I have pets, am I pushing it? So far, the kittens, Miah, Sin, Alex'n & Sapphire are all indoors, along with Jess who is an indoors cat 99% of the time by choice & Lily who is indoors until she's de-sexed on the 2nd (she's been booked in for a month) Jerryn comes in and out, Keylah for food, so sometimes I have all eight inside. Am I pushing it? What do you all think. Advice would be greatly appreciated. tomorrow I have to give Sapphire to my sister, but i'm dreading it, it's tearing me apart, Sapphire is a beautiful charcoal Grey Persian looking fluff ball with blue eyes, and she's sooo gentle and definite lap-bed cat. Sigh. what do you all think?

xxtashaxx · Dec 24, 2006

i have 7 cats , and have been asking myself the same question , my lilly had kittens and i couldnt bare to rehome them all so i homed one to my sister and kept 2. but now i have 2 angry cats , 1 the mother and 1 of my long term cats.
there attacking all the other cats , not drawing blood but vilent.
i was told maybe some they didnt like sharing with so many cats , but at the same time i cant bare to rehome anyone of them. so i will be checking to see what advise you get lol

momofmany · Dec 24, 2006

If you could look into a crystal ball and know how they would all react to each other as they all mature, it would be an easier decision for you.

I live with 13 cats (10 inside, 2 semi-feral that go in and out, 1 outside feral). After about 5, you start adjusting your life to the cats. If you are willing to do that, then by all means keep them. Let me share the down side of adjusting:

As the cats mature, if they don't get along, you may have nasty litter box wars (e.g. a cat is attacked as it tries to use the litter box). The cat quits using it and you end up either rehoming the cat or locking it up in its own room to give it space. If you chose the latter, you lose a room to your home. Hopefully it only happens with only 1.

When a URI hits, plan on it hitting the entire household. You spend a lot of time researching health treatments so that you aren't dragging the entire gang up to the vet each time one of them starts to sneeze. You can afford to do so, but its not practical to do so.

Your garbage cans get really heavy from all the litter you are dumping each week. You spend at least 20 minutes every day scooping litter and a couple hours each week cleaning up all of the paraphenalia related to them.

And then there are the hair balls and cat hair that you will be constantly cleaning up. Think about how much cleaning you do right now and double it.

Kiss things like nicknacks and christmas trees goodbye. If you collect things, buy an enclosed glass case to display them. Your house will lose a lot of human touches and must become cat proof.

Don't leave glasses of any beverage out ever. Keep a spotless kitchen - if you fail to wash dishes after a meal, they will be all over them. When guests come over, you will follow them around to make sure they don't things that aren't cat proof.

You will replace pieces of human furniture with cat furniture. People will walk into your home and even if you are meticulously clean and can't smell them, they will say "oh, you have cats". Be prepared to justify having all of them because people are just so nosy, and if you have a 2 cat limit, you must come up with a plausible explanation (I also have a 2 cat limit in my subdivision).

You must spend enough time with each cat to really get to know it. If anything changes with them, either their behavior and health, you must be able to respond immediately. Not doing so can unbalance the house and set all of the cats off with bad behaviors (fighting, litter box wars, etc). When one cat gets sick in a household so large, the other cats will start to pick on it. It gets ugly fast.

The hardest part of having so many cats is the time you personally devote to them. You might be able to afford them, but can you afford to give up a lot of your personal time to care for them? We have given up most entertainment things like going to movies and restaurants. When we go out of town, you need to plan weeks in advance to make sure someone can come out to take care of them. If you don't, you also give up vacations.

Last thought. Cats, if left completely in their natural element, tend to form colonies around related females (prides) or males (coalitions). Females might accept males from outside their family, but male coalitions rarely consists of more than 3 unrelated cats. As males mature in prides, they are usually driven out of the pride. On the positive side in your situation, you have at least 5 blood related cats that could ease your pressure. But the wild card will be acceptance from your unrelated cats - they could be pushed out of the "pride".

My cats came from a feral colony and I know that at least 9 of them are blood related. 1 of the remaining 4 is most likely related (by the reaction of the rest of the clan with him), 2 are brothers to each other, and 1 is a loner. I'm able to get away with it because of the blood bond.

Don't think that my life with cats is a downer. My lifestyle has simply changed because of them and having my furbabies around is worth it.

I'm sure there is more, but hope this helps.

autumnblueangel · Dec 24, 2006

Well, one upside I suppose, is that not only are most of them related - Keylah & Jerryn are mother and son, Lily-Jade & Jessavyn are sisters from the same litter, and the kittens are Lily's babies (and some of them are Jerryn's - the colorings & fur give it away as he is a Norwegian forest cat domestic and has very striking eyes that are a dead give away, so by default at least 2 of the kittens are related to Jerryn & Keylah as well) so therefore related to Jess by default - but out of eight cats, only 3 are male.

Jerryn, Sin & Alex'n and Jerryn is de-sexed and micro chipped so hopefully less territorial and easier to find if he decides to go walkabout's which I honestly don't seem happening, as he is more of a wimp

lol mommies baby boy, besides he LOVES his girls. I've been considering for a long time building a cat enclosure in my backyard as my backyard is very big and can house one.... that way, even if the kittens don't get along with the others as they grow, they can at least be kept separate.

It'll cost me about $500 total for that. I've never had a problem with cat wars, I had another female cat living inside once (keep in mind that usually, all my cats are outdoors by choice... they choose it, jess is the only one who ever chose to be my inside lap cat) and she wasn't related at all, Jess loved her, and then she left when her owner left, and they both went nuts for a while. It's very strange, i've always been told that cats will stress being with other cats, but Jerryn, Jess & Lily aren't all related to each other except for jess and lily, and they will sleep together in the same laundry basket, purring their hearts out

I don't think that'll be my problem honestly as their growing up, as i've come home in the last few days to find all the kittens asleep on one couch, and the adults on the couch opposite, no fights and a clean house, even my knickknacks on a low level seem safe.

thankyou for the advice, it brought to mind a few things I haven't considered which i'll now do so

halfpint · Dec 24, 2006

Originally Posted by Momofmany

If you could look into a crystal ball and know how they would all react to each other as they all mature, it would be an easier decision for you.

I live with 13 cats (10 inside, 2 semi-feral that go in and out, 1 outside feral). After about 5, you start adjusting your life to the cats. If you are willing to do that, then by all means keep them. Let me share the down side of adjusting:

As the cats mature, if they don't get along, you may have nasty litter box wars (e.g. a cat is attacked as it tries to use the litter box). The cat quits using it and you end up either rehoming the cat or locking it up in its own room to give it space. If you chose the latter, you lose a room to your home. Hopefully it only happens with only 1.

When a URI hits, plan on it hitting the entire household. You spend a lot of time researching health treatments so that you aren't dragging the entire gang up to the vet each time one of them starts to sneeze. You can afford to do so, but its not practical to do so.

Your garbage cans get really heavy from all the litter you are dumping each week. You spend at least 20 minutes every day scooping litter and a couple hours each week cleaning up all of the paraphenalia related to them.

And then there are the hair balls and cat hair that you will be constantly cleaning up. Think about how much cleaning you do right now and double it.

Kiss things like nicknacks and christmas trees goodbye. If you collect things, buy an enclosed glass case to display them. Your house will lose a lot of human touches and must become cat proof.

Don't leave glasses of any beverage out ever. Keep a spotless kitchen - if you fail to wash dishes after a meal, they will be all over them. When guests come over, you will follow them around to make sure they don't things that aren't cat proof.

You will replace pieces of human furniture with cat furniture. People will walk into your home and even if you are meticulously clean and can't smell them, they will say "oh, you have cats". Be prepared to justify having all of them because people are just so nosy, and if you have a 2 cat limit, you must come up with a plausible explanation (I also have a 2 cat limit in my subdivision).

You must spend enough time with each cat to really get to know it. If anything changes with them, either their behavior and health, you must be able to respond immediately. Not doing so can unbalance the house and set all of the cats off with bad behaviors (fighting, litter box wars, etc). When one cat gets sick in a household so large, the other cats will start to pick on it. It gets ugly fast.

The hardest part of having so many cats is the time you personally devote to them. You might be able to afford them, but can you afford to give up a lot of your personal time to care for them? We have given up most entertainment things like going to movies and restaurants. When we go out of town, you need to plan weeks in advance to make sure someone can come out to take care of them. If you don't, you also give up vacations.

Last thought. Cats, if left completely in their natural element, tend to form colonies around related females (prides) or males (coalitions). Females might accept males from outside their family, but male coalitions rarely consists of more than 3 unrelated cats. As males mature in prides, they are usually driven out of the pride. On the positive side in your situation, you have at least 5 blood related cats that could ease your pressure. But the wild card will be acceptance from your unrelated cats - they could be pushed out of the "pride".

My cats came from a feral colony and I know that at least 9 of them are blood related. 1 of the remaining 4 is most likely related (by the reaction of the rest of the clan with him), 2 are brothers to each other, and 1 is a loner. I'm able to get away with it because of the blood bond.

Don't think that my life with cats is a downer. My lifestyle has simply changed because of them and having my furbabies around is worth it.

I'm sure there is more, but hope this helps.

Oh my gosh Amy you wrote my life also, mine is almost like yours

.
It is very hard I have 8 inside cats 8 of those are rescues, I only had 2 for the longest time. I have the 6 that are related also. I actually had 8 that were and found homes for 2 of the girls, because I couldn't give up the rest I kept the Mommy Cat and her 3 girls.
No one can tell someone how many is to much, The work is great but the Love is Greater for me.
Sometimes it is overwhelming that's for sure, sometimes I wish I hadn't kept so many but those moments are few.
No tree this year, fewer nick knacks for sure, but when I look at there faces I know why I have them, we don't do what we do for pats on the back it's for the Love of the cats.
I guess everyone has to decide for themselves how many is to many.
Just know that of course things will change and be prepared for that, and make sure you know what your getting yourself into sometimes it's way overwhelming..

Good Luck Autumblueangel, I'm sure you will do what is right for you

I can't decide! Help. Eight Cats too much?

autumnblueangel

TCS Member

Thread starter

xxtashaxx

TCS Member

momofmany

TCS Member

autumnblueangel

TCS Member

Thread starter

halfpint

TCS Member

Latest Posts

Connect with us