Multi cat household - how do you manage? - Page 2

I took in my 4th this time last year (boy it's been a year already? sheesh!)

I don't know if it's just me, but they are no trouble at all really. They are independant and sleep most of the days away but seem to have developed their own time slots for affection which don't interfere with eachother.

I have 2 dogs in the house also. No problems there either. When my daughter comes home from college, she always has to comment on the "harmony" in the house amongst the animals.

That makes ME feel warm and fuzzy!!

we are a multi cat household and Feliway makes a huge difference!

Owning 3 cats for me is heaven as they all get along with one another, and also the dog (thank god!)

Although they don't play with one another like they used to, it's nice to see them together in other forms i.e. sleeping next to each other or all eating from the same bowl at once..

The two youngest ones (Shark and Arwen) do have the odd days where they will play up and fight with each other, but they seem to make it up in the end. Brandy does his own thing, he is more of an outdoor cat, whereas the other two enjoy time indoors sleeping.

Overall, I love al three of my cats, no matter what they want to do with themselves during the day, be it sleeping, getting on my nerves with constant mewing or just being there for cuddles!

Well we now have six. I originally had 3 dogs and 3 cats and 2 cockatiels and 2 budgies, in a 1000 sq foot home. I rescued a stray who had 5 kittens and one didn't make it. I got all the kitties home and before that we had lost two of our dogs. Well two homes did not work out, one never called me back and the other didn't commit to them and we ended up with my kitten and an additional cat. So now we have six and I did try to find the recent cats homes without any luck and I just could not turn them over to the humane society. They are all extremely special. We joke that we spend less in dog food and more in cat litter now. We now have two dogs, one a smaller dog from the pound. I made a purchase of two of the scoop free cat boxes and they do work well. I also have changed to the crystal litter and I pick it up a lot more than before. We are now looking for more room for us but we have managed quite well and would not give anyone up. Everyone is spayed and neutered.

I have 3 right now... I had always planned on only having 2 cats at any time, but things didn't quite go as planned (happily enough for me).

That said, ours seem to fulfill each other's social needs pretty much. Only one of mine really craves attention on a regular basis, the other primarily wants to play, so it works out pretty well.

On the topic of expenses:
Two things have been really important for me in terms of keeping cost down.
1. Buying large bags of food that everyone can eat (I buy online, enough for 4 months worth at one time, it's cheaper than getting several smaller bags).
2. Finding a good quality litter that clumps well (so that less is wasted on loose clumps) and finding a cheaper litter... I was using chicken feed at one point, ($10 for 50lbs) but have gone back to feline pine right now... Hopefully I can get them to use the regular FP pellets, so that I can eventually switch them to the stove pellets which are very cheap

As to vet visits, our vet is pretty good about giving us a "frequent buyer" discount But, spreading the regular trips out helps. I try to keep their dishes, etc. very clean (and the litter box) to keep down on germs. I think also, that feeding them seperately (in seperate bowls) helps reduce the spread of germs.

Art

I have two cats right now. They are from the same litter, though we got Molly a week earlier than Polly. Obviously, I play with them both, but they do a great job of occupying each other. The cost of food, spays, and shots have been larger together than for one cat, but it isn't too much more. They spend a lot of time together and are very close, so I don't feel as guilty when leaving the house as I would if I only had one cat.
Though they are sisters, they are individuals with particular needs, but it always works out. They usually want individual time with me at different times, and it's nice when they both want to cuddle.
I cleaned the litter box the week we had Molly before getting Polly (and I've had 7 cats at once when I was younger, so I'm used to it), so it wasn't much of a change since you do that whether there is 1 cat or there are 4.

i would always try to have 2 kittens. i think they grow up faster if they don't have a buddy to play with.

Like people, they all have different personalities. Katie, my oldest, is high-demand when it comes to attention. More often than not, I'm typing with her sprawled in my lap. If we're on the couch watching a movie, she's in my lap being pet and/or brushed. The rest of the time, she's pretty content to nap on the bed or the back of the couch. Marrs is 7 years old and pretty independent. When he wants/needs attention, he seeks it out. (Often ruffling Katie's feathers if she's already in my lap...I have to explain that we don't bite or hit, but she quickly forgets.) Tiger is three and he was a ferral kitten. Usually he just wants a few minutes of petting in the morning and then he goes his own way the rest of the day. Jewel, the baby of the bunch at 6 months old, isn't overly concerned with attention at the moment...there are ficuses to climb and stray dog kibble to be used as hockey pucks on the kitchen floor! They all tend to pile into bed with us at night, so that seems to satisfy some of their need for closeness, too, without requiring any extra effort on our part.

As long as the litter boxes can all be kept in only one or two spots in the house, it's no more bother to clean several than it would be to clean one. I use the bin feeders and watering bowls so I don't have to refill a bowl every single day. I have short haired cats as well, so there's usually not a lot of intense grooming to be done.

I foster, and it is only tricky when you have more than one cat wanting to be on your knee at the same time, or play with the same toy, and they dont get on. I only have one of my own cats at the moment (will be adopting one of my fosters at some point this year) and she lives in my bedroom, so has her time early morning/late night, either when i Am on the PC, or in bed, and the nearly permanent foster has fallen into that routine too.