How many is too many?

I say if you have enough room and can afford to feed and vet them......go for it. I never thought I would have 4. I always had 2 and then we had 3 for about 18 months and now 4 LOL. I honestly think 4 is enough for us. Our house is fairly small.

It depends on your finances. Are you able to put money away every month toward emergency vet bills? do you have a credit card that can be used? If one of the cats becomes ill, will you be able to take him or her to the vet, and get the treatments and tests s/he needs?

It also depends on your life style. Do you have time to give six cats all the special attention they require? Do you have time to groom them every day, play with them, cuddle them? Keep the litter boxes clean? Do you ahve space enough for seven litter boxes?

I understand how you feel. Every since Ootay went to the Bridge I am longing to go out and adopt another adult cat from a shelter. I love having four cats. But....I am having health problems right now that has affected my income. While I will (and have done so) go into debt for my cats, I think it's better that I wait until I know what's going to happen to me.

We can't save them all. You've saved two, which is a wonderful thing. But only you and your family can decide if two more will overburden.

Maybe someone can let me know that too....at last count I had 21. All outside and 1 in. they are well taken care of. fed alot. all been to the vets and all but one is fixed (and that's only cause he's a snot who won't let me get near him) We live on a farm and have the room and its really safe here too. Plus they never leave the yard (except for the snot) so I don't feel there is anything wrong with it. I take care of them and love them all! PS...they all have names too, altho I'm running out. So hopefully no one else will drop anymore off!

If you have the space, time to spend with them all, & can financially afford vet bills - then go for it. I have 7 cats plus 2 foster kittens in the house right now (plus 3 cats in an outdoor enclosure & 5 farm cats). That said, I've had huge vet bills from 2 or 3 of the cats come up at once - make sure you can afford it. (With this economy - we seem to be seeing more & more people who come here that can't afford vet care, so instead the cat is euthanized)

Go for it then!!!!!

Just keep in mind that even though the four shelter cats know each other, is not a guarantee that they will get along right away, as they will be in a new place with many new smells. (and make sure they are okay with dogs! )

I know a lot of people with six cats. That would be too many for me, though I did love having four. Some day again...

Too late, I think you probably already qualify for the crazy cat lady title - like 99% of us here.

Sounds like you could be the perfect home for the new kitties.

If you can do it, I say go for it. Two more saved and in a loving home!

I live alone with five cats. Never thought I'd have that many, didn't plan on ever having that many, but could NOT give them up after all the work of socializing them (all are ex-ferals).

And today, there's not a one of them I'd ever consider rehoming. Not ever.

(But I don't trap ferals or foster kittens any more, either. LOL!)

I second everything everyone else has already said. I personally am at my max for cats having 3. It was only supposed to be one but then it was two and then we found GiGi. If I could afford to have more and had a bigger house I would take more in in a heartbeat! In your situation..Go for it!

If you can afford it, go for it! I started with one, then I got another to keep the one company. Then I trapped two feral kittens whom I was going to foster then rehome, but I fell in love with them and now I have four! I live alone and these are my babies. Whimsey, my darling, in the four years that I've had him has probably cost me over $4,000 in vet bills ( and counting) , but I adore him and he is family. If I had more money and more room, I'd probably rescue two more.

Go for it!

I only have one (possibly two now?) outside kitties who've picked me and i'm planning on getting two kittens when I move back to the states and people call me a crazy cat lady just becasue i'm excited about the new kittens...

Well...then again...this is comming from strickly dog people

Indeed. You're a good person, Ink.

When you literally are going crazy.

I'm at nine so far. I can feel my mind starting to fray a bit (probably unrelated to cats...). I really want to be able to rehome my three feral kittens but finding suitable homes that will pass my requirements for them is probably going to be very hard (indoor, no young children, patient adults/older kids, quieter home). I don't want kittens, one of them is going to be Trouble (yes, with a capital T) when I finally let her out into the rest of the house.


IMO, those who prefer kittens over adult cats are crazy.

I agree with others. If you can afford it and have the time for everyone and enough space, go for it. Of course it depends on the cats aswell which I noticed when I got my third cat. The oldest just didn't accept him so the new one moved to my friend's place. A bit later I got 'another third' and everyone is getting along just fine. And I always said that 3 is the max. amount of cats for me, but in 7 days I'm getting fourth kitty... Yeah, I'm crazy.

I don't think that's too many. I say as long as you can room, feed and keep up with them, it's fine, especially if there's 7 family members to help care for them.

They don't like being walked up to, stood above, any sort of loud or sudden noises, fast movements. They even have to be picked up carefully if one wants to avoid stressing them. As I said semi-ferals. Cute things, very sweet and do enjoy pettings. But not ready to go anywhere unless going to a home that understands their needs.

It would be extremely irresponsible of me to send any of them into a home with a young child - at this point they could still be a danger to a child.

Now if the kittens would stop playing in their water... I may just loose my mind sooner rather than later if this habit stays around.

What a thread for the cat forum
Didn't really think anyone would talk you out of adding another did ya?
My personal cat limit is different than my dog limit. I like to have 3 dogs, but only like one cat at a time. I own reptiles and the reptiles and dogs get along great, but the cat and reptiles not so much. Cats and dogs yes.
Please post some pictures of your kitties and welcome

One more item for your consideration - it's not just can you afford them now, can you afford them all when they're seniors? Can you afford for them all to have cancer at the same time? Can you afford the imaging, the surgeries, the meds?

We have 7 cats and 2 people. Of course part of the issue with space and cats getting along is their personalities, and in that respect we've been lucky. But once you have more than 3 cats, it can take a LOT of work. And a lot of money.

You have to make sure you have time for them all. And as to the money, we've worked out an arrangement with the vet whereby every time we can, we pay money, and they stick it on account. We've used it up with varying problems in our kitties, but we're building it back up again. Four of our seven are now seven years old, so they're all aging at the same time.

That is a good question. If every single one of your cats took ill right now and it would cost around 3-5k for each cats care. Would you have the money to cover these expenses?

While I can afford their care, if every single one took ill at once and to the extent that it cost 3-5k I couldn't afford it. But, then who has a spare 30-40 thousand dollars laying around? The average working middle class family does not have this sort of funds.

Does this mean that only those who are upper class should be allowed pets in case of the eventual possibility that there could be a crisis that needs that much money? On that same train of thought, caring for a child is even more expensive and caring for a spouse who can't work is, too. Should these privileges only be allowed for those who are rich?

My cats view my geckos as potential tasty treats. They don't have to get along, but the cats do have to stay out of my gecko room.

It depends on a lot of factors. First and foremost to me is the financial factor. If you couldn't handle a surprise $200 dollar vet bill for each cat in your household, you should cut down. It's amazing how little emergencies always happen in the same month, .

Second I would consider the cats. If you're already having fighting/behavioral issues with your current number, don't add any more! I think the higher you go the closer your get to tipping that lovely balance in the wrong direction.

Third is a space issue. If you don't have enough space for each kitty to have his own private place as well as room for plenty of potty and food stations, be wary.

It really just depends on the household and the individual cats. Right now I have 3 males in a 700sq ft one bedroom apartment. It works well, but I'm definitely at full capacity.

At the clinic we have 8 clinic cats, 3 adults up for adoption, and 3 kittens up for adoption. So that's a grand total of 14 cats (not including the select boarders that get free roam when they come in) roaming around the app. 4,000 sq ft clinic. Usually it's a very harmonious group, though lately one of our clinic cats has been getting in stare down drag out fights with one of our adult adoptees. So right now we're back to using about 6 Feliway diffusers around the clinic and it's helping, so....

The main mistake I see clients making is only considering their wants. They'll already have 4 cats in a 2 bedroom house and then they come in and see this adorable kitten that's so cute and sweet and all reasoning flies out the door. Trust me, I would adopt every single cat I could afford, but I have to consider the cats I've already got. It's a very delicate balancing act to be entered into with extreme caution.

It was more of a point, and I hope you know that. It's one thing to consider their care as growing kitties - it's another potential issue as seniors. The point is to consider when all your kitties would become seniors, as they tend to have more health issues.

A couple aging at a time isn't as much of an issue. Preventative care and planning can help with that.
But you stepped around what I was asking - think back a couple years to the households that had several pets made ill from the Masterfoods recalls. If you had all 7 damaged from food like that now, and all 7 needed thousands of dollars of vet care - then what? It could total upwards of $40k. Could any of us handle an extra debt of that much?

At what point in a health crisis is it too many? Would two be too many for an individual?

Purrsonalities are definitely important when considering new additions. If you have three cats, two bold and one shy, and want to add a fourth - you might think about adding another shy cat to give the one you already have some comfort in company.

Purrsonalities played a part in my adoption of the kittens, for sure. Allen, from my first rescue litter, needs a "buddy". He first lost Ollie (his brother) in the 2007 poisoning, then Oscar (my daughter's cat) when my daughter moved out, and then Jasmine (the Yorkie) when Jaz passed away last summer. When Allen doesn't have someone "special" to hang out with, he beats on his sisters unmercifully.

I adopted Spencer because he adore me - and I him - but also with the hope that he would become Allen's new buddy. It's taking time, but praise the Lord, the two of them are becoming close.

I have the space and money for more cats, but I won't even house-sit another one (again) because I don't want to upset the balance between my five.

We all just do the best we can with the information currently at hand.