one Bedroom Apartment - how many cats?

Hi,
I live in a one bedroom apartment, and currently have 2 cats - Bugsy (2), and Lucky (1). I went to Petsmart today, and my heart was broken into pieces - there was this black 2yr old DSH GORGEOUS female, who has been there sitting in that cage by the window for the last 3 weeks... She seemed so sweet... Her coat was unbelievably shiny... The sign said she is a little shy, which is my cup of tea - Lucky was very shy, and Bugsy is a little bit too. I asked them, and she is not going to be returned to the Shelter - thank God! - in case she isn't adopted, she will go to another store, and if needed back to the rescuer.
I really can't afford right now, as I am unemployed... But I was thinking about adopting another one once I get a job. Both Lucky and Bugsy have insurance, which helps a lot in case of a disease or an emergency - Bugsy has dental issues, that are not covered, so my "kitty budget" will be full for a little while.
I am also wondering how many kitties I could have comfortably in a one bedroom apartment. I work (not now, as I am unemployed) at home, so I have lots of time to work with the new kitty... There are so many kitties who need a second chance at life, I would love to save another one...
So, for you who live in one bedroom apartments, how many cats do you have, and what do you do you advise?
Lucky and Bugsy get along very well, so I think that it's better if the third one is a kitten, but I am not sure.
Thanks!s

I've got two boys in an apartment and it seems to work well. However, the other two techs at work both have three in one bedroom apartments and they have no problems. I'm seriously considering adopting one of our cats from work...so, if you do get another baby, let me know how it goes, .

My Brother has 7 cats and a dog in a 1 bedroom apartment.
I had 4 cats in a 1 bedroom apartment before with no problems except for my male.
He peed all over no matter what.

I have a one bedroom apartment and have 3 cats. I find that there is plenty of room for everyone. I personality wouldn't have more then 3 in the apartment I have now because it is very small and I could see a problem arising if everyone didn't get along well. My gang love each other so it's not a issue..

More than three cats for anyone, and you have to be able to give them a lot of time if you don't have a lot of space.

The key to many cats in a small space is VERTICAL space. Have LOTS of places to go "up." !!!!!!!!!!!

We rescue, and were going to stop at two. But we just rescued our 7th in November. We don't intentionally adopt them, you know? We spend NO time on petfinder, and we don't visit shelters, and DEFINITELY avoid Petsmart. These are all kitties that found their way to us.

We've lived in an RV since 1993. (We were on the road full time for work, in which we are partners). We rescued our first two kitties in 2002. After 9/11, the nature of our biz changed, and we didn't need to be on the road anymore, though we stayed in the RV because it worked for us and we loved it.

We moved into a house in 2004 because with five kitties (at the time), it seemed like they needed more space. We also needed to be close to our vet, because one of our kitties was really sick and needed to be at the vet basically every day - and for a long time. There were no year-round RV parks near the vet.

All moving into a house with a lot of space did was make the kitties become very "alone" cats, where almost every pic of them we have in the RV one kitty is sleeping cuddled up with another one.

We lived in a house until last summer. Hubby has been VERY ill (since basically a short time after we moved into the house), and we're partners in work, and it just became too hard for me to manage (we were on 11 acres). So we moved back into the RV. We'd been on several trips with them in the RV, and they totally remembered it. There was SO MUCH purring going on when we moved back in!

So the RV is 38 feet long and 8 feet wide - probably more like a very small studio apartment. We have given up most of our space to the cats. We took out the dining area and put in cat trees. They have many of the overhead cabinets. In fact, here's a thread I posted not long after we moved back in: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=172759 We set up the living room for them when we're not in it, and we set up the bedroom for them (move cat beds and boxes in the living room onto the bed) when we're in the living room.

We were REALLY scared about bringing in Billy. But we told our gang - they were all homeless once too, and Billy needs a home, so they'd better just lump it!

Laurie

Similar to Laurie, but I live in a 28 foot trailer with three cats and a large dog.
I gave up my only cargo hold to litterboxes, one of my storage benches for food/litter storage.
They lay around where ever they want, in fact, I sleep on the twin hide a bed in the living room, the queen bed is all theirs.
They are all happy, healthy and well adjusted and SPOILED

We've got three in our one bedroom apartment. They have enough room, but it'd be much nicer if Nova liked the other two. We keep them separate. Boys in the bedroom during the day and Nova in the main part of the apartment. Then at night, they switch. The boys have access to the closet in the bedroom to give them more space... well, we don't have a choice, really. They figured out how to open the doors.

Originally Posted by LDG

The key to many cats in a small space is VERTICAL space. Have LOTS of places to go "up." !!!!!!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Just what I was going to say, make sure they have high spots to get to.

The number would also depend on whether they all got along, trying to keep them apart in small space would be difficult.

Originally Posted by missymotus

Just what I was going to say, make sure they have high spots to get to.

The number would also depend on whether they all got along, trying to keep them apart in small space would be difficult.

Click to expand...

That's my fear - that they don't get along with each other... Do you think that they would get along better with a kitten, since it could develop its personality in my home, or with an adult cat?
I could always foster-to-adopt one from my rescue lady, but with the current situation I would rather get one from the Shelter, as kitty season is here and the shelters are on overload... If I take one from the rescuer, she could have more space and funds to rescue one from the shelter as well, so it might be a wash...
The advantage of fostering prior to adopting is that for a while they would be responsible for vet care, and most importantly that I could test their personalities before making a final decision... Opinions?

Sorry, I got carried away playing games and thought I'd bump this up a bit

But since I'm here lol I don't have a 1 bedroom apt but I'd get a kitten at the shelter. A kitten wouldn't have time to develop a big personality yet and it would probably take a whole lot less time for adjustment. There's lots of homeless kittens right now. I know lots of people foster but I don't know how they don't get way too attached, might as well adopt.

I am talking to my rescue lady - she is in desperate need of foster homes... She will, in return, rescue a cat from the shelter, so I would still be saving a life. I think I am more comfortable with that arrangement, since I can chose a personality that fits Bugsy and Lucky - she is pretty good with that. If things don't work out, I know it is not going to be permanent... If things do work out... well, I adopt the kitty!
I am asking her about the vet fees during foster... If she takes care of it too, it would make me feel safer, that's for sure.

We have a two bedroom apartment, but I am going to post this anyway. Our second bedroom is really just full of computers and is closed off to the cats when we are not in there. We are very cluttered people and don't want the cats to get hurt on our "office" clutter. So it is our clutter room, and the cats are allowed in when we are there.

That said, I would easily have more cats if I were allowed to (via my lease). I am only allowed to have two cats, or I would probably have another pair.

Good luck!

We have 2 in our apartment. We got them as very young kittens, (they are sisters from the same litter) so they don't know any different. We have a small cat tree with 2 perches, although they sometimes fight to see who gets the top perch. They have 2 windows in which to sit, and a screen door to look out of if they want when the door is open.

They normally sleep on the bed during the day, or under the bed at night. I think they are happy with the arrangements.

I've heard somewhere that there's a rule for cats, one cat for each room in your house. Am I crazy or does this sound ok?
I have 6 cats now (more if I could but money and space don't allow this)
and we have a 1700 sq ft house not counting the finished basement, so I figure with, three bedrooms, 1 ginormous dinningroom, 1 big livingroom, and all the rooms in the basement (mostly an exercise room, storage room, bar area in the main room, and a room off the main room that has no use yet so there's 4 more rooms not to mention three bathrooms, a laundry room and umpteen big closests) so I think that if this rule is right I have more then enough space for all of them to have their personal space. I also have cat trees in most of the rooms, (or backs of furniture to sit on to look out windows).
So what I'm saying (long story longer) is: I think two cats maybe three would be ok in a one bedroom apt.

i have a one bedroom apartment with two very happy cats!

I think they like the amount of windows and how quiet it is verses when I lived at my parent's. (but I only had moo at that time) My parents have a gaint dog that used to chase moo all the time.

I currently am living in a basement with one bedroom, family/living room, kitchen, bathroom and dining area and 6 cats.

In the past, I've lived in 1 bedroom apts with 4-6 cats. It worked out pretty good. The only challenge I had was when I lived in MD with 6 cats (I adopted the 6th cat recently at that time- had no other choice- long story) and another cat kept attacking Heidi. I ended up keeping Heidi in the bedroom when I wasn't there with 1-2 other cats who got along with her and that worked out well. When I was home, I'd leave the door open and spent a lot more time in the bedroom so she wouldn't feel lonely and other cats were in the bedroom. That way, I was able to keep an eye on Pepper and intervene if needed.

When I moved here to Utah, things changed and Pepper who used to attack Heidi stopped so Heidi can roam whereever she wants in the home now!

I would recommend you go slowly if you add another cat and make sure you have a spacious room with a door if needed to keep them separate for a while.

I never intended to have 6 cats but I love them all dearly and would not trade them for anything.

We have a single wide trailer and we have 4 cats at the moment. I would almost rather go with a grown cat.
We had 3 happy cats and then we adopted a 6 week old terror that we named Google. The 3 grown cats are all pretty mellow with their moments of playfullness but Google is a ball of energy and we have had some issues with fighting. Keiko has never accepted Google from the get go but it is getting a little better now that he is calming down a bit.

You said your other 2 were shy so I would rather go with the grown one that is also shy in hopes that the personalities would match better than with a little mean kitty LOL! (And dont lie... kitties are cute but we all know they can be mean!)