who has the most cats on the forum?

That depends on how much time the person has, how much money the person has, and how much room the person has. Believe me if I were rich, I'd have a mansion full of cats.

May be me 32 in house full time 1 goes in/out as she please and 2 semi ferals live outside that came with the house.
Of the 35 34 are fixed one whos not has serious medical issues. I stay home all day spend a while in am cleaning then just hang with them on laptop. Money is not to bad cause I stock up on things with coupons/discounts and get all items at some discount. Petsmart has come to expect me a few times a week with carts and carts of stuff

I think what I do is not something common/can be done unless your dedication is there. One missed day of cleaning means my house is BAD!!!

I just had 2 construction workers over(bf/gf combo) and BOTH were shocked when I said how many were in house. Hes like wherever I look is either food or a cat(had just came back from petsmart and dumped planning to bring it upstairs in a little while)
My vet does all the fixing at 8 weeks(no cats got pregnant here but a few came pregnant/adopted kittens) and shes great. When I first went there I think she was a bit worried but now shes not and when I go shes always commenting how loving they are/adjusted(ok minus a few misfits....

I think catsallaround has the most on the forum. That I can think of, anyway.

I have 20 cats indoors. Some ferals outside (7 have been TNRed, and a couple of toms I haven't caught yet hang around, but I don't know how many to count as "mine". Some of them live in other neighborhoods and only come to eat occasionally, it's only chance I was able to trap them). Maybe I'll get second place .

It's all in how many pets you can handle. Some people can't handle 1 pet. Honestly, I think that anyone who has unaltered cats (besides those with health problems that preclude surgery, or those part of a responsible breeding program) is teetering on the edge. One little accident and things can so easily get out of hand.

I had 32- now I have 23 because God smiled on me recently and made some adoptions available for my crew.

They are all indoor-outdoor enclosure kitties (the enclosure attaches to our home) with the exception of two semi-ferals who are barn cats unless the weather is nasty then they come inside. Most I have ever had (and never will again) was 45 after they cleaned out a mobile home park and pulled all the rigs out. I will NEVER do that again!

you will find that true hoarders never know their numbers. They fudge or hedge or they lie about how many they actually have.

Animal hoarding is an illness, apparently based in obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is similar to any type of obsessive collecting, but is so very, very sad because it isn't inanimate objects, and the animals suffer.

My4LLMA is right - there is no "number" that works as some kind of limit that determines whether or not someone is a hoarder.

How many can be properly cared for is a very individual thing. For some people, one cat is their limit.

I have seven but I really think that is too many. They are foster failures...
I led with my heart not my head but stopped before I got really out of control.

I am lucky that the boys all pretty much get along except for Casper who is afraid of a couple of the others... they know it and bully him.

I think four would be a good number for me... but of course, these guys have a home with me for life. I promised them they would NEVER see the inside of a shelter again .... EVER.

I have one kitty so not me.

To be honest I originally quit my job so we could start a family after a miscarrage thinking the least stress the better(was working 6 days a week in 3 broken up shifts a day as home health aide sometimes more shifts and VERY physical work) That never panned out as of yet tho I am very lucky husband makes enough to support us. That the coupons for human and pet food allow us to do this cheaply as possible.

Poor husband got more then he wanted but I must say over last year hes come around very well. Heart murmur kitty(shawn) is his fav. When I had to discuss what to do in a emergency(give him pain meds wrap him up and go to vet to euth him if need be) he became upset cause "thats littlies" he hates that plan but knows if he comes home to cat on ground thats what it may come to-happend once few years ago.

I was watching hoarders at my moms house and was so shocked cause guy had about what i had and there was a layer of crap all over and stacks and stacks of objects. Accidents happen, I clean them as I notice them. most of the times they are good tho.

Its amazing to see them get along besides Tyler hating Misty and noah hating the world all are good not 24/7 but you find piles of cats sound asleep, sometimes on top of eachother!!!

I know. . .all of mine get along very well (except for Silka who hates everyone and lives happily alone in the bedroom). It is amazing because I know people with 2 cats who hate each other. It seems like the more cats I have, the better they get along. I wonder if there's some kind of cat psychology science to explain that.

SO TRUE!!!

A few cats were more trouble seems like after a certain point they don't care that much. Keep the dry bowl full and boxes scooped/dumped and alls right in the world. One of my cats, Tommy used to HATE and attack cats then one day I let him out based on a hunch and hes been out since with no issues. old age settled him down a bit I guess...Heck I went to vet to rule out any issues as thought maybe hes sick blood work all came back fine. I felt SO stupid but it was a good laugh. I think he ralized hey wait they get the bigger cat trees and mommys always there she only sees me a few times a day. Something clicked cause he CLEANS the babies(ha 6 month olds)

Tyler is fun to watch cause you can see a few things in him not in others. like he finds pawing the window hours on end...enjoyable? or how he stalks his tail and is welllllll past that age.. He is one of my few door darters. He went the first time in a blizzard so youd think he would have learned, nope. He runs out then stops and if you say daddy over and over he just purrs and lays there.

I have 11 indoors currently....if I had to do it again I wouldn't have so many (but I couldn't let them be euthanized, either). What's done is done. I have as many as I can space-wise fit, IMO, so no more here. And I finally have (relative) peace amongst them. It would be nice to not have incessant vet bills for this or that, but I won't deny them the care either.

I have four and sometimes that's too many, lol. But I love all of my babies and couldn't give them up for anything!

I can't imagine having enough time, space, or money to care for more than 4. We have 3 now, but 2 is my limit. With a ton of cats, how do you have people over without cats crawling all over them? How do you keep the cat hair under control? The vet bills? Where do you put all of the litter boxes? Water bowls? If you can make it work, more power to ya'...

Our 3rd was not planned (I sound like I'm talking about a baby..), he was sort of inherited from a family member who lost interest. Even after 2 years, our 2nd cat is terrified of him, so he's confined to a small room for most of the day. They are getting better, he used to scare her so much that she would lose bladder control. It's pretty sad. Anyway, for me, 2 are easier than 1, but our 3rd makes things a bit more difficult.

When one of the cats passes away (hopefully many years from now), we'll keep it to just 2.

I have 5 and people think that's alot but even though they are indoor cats I hardly see them to be honest, apart from feeding time and when they want cuddles they are usually upstairs asleep somewhere. x

Just 2 for me so not me

It's pretty obvious we have 10 here. I absolutely love it. They are all spoiled rotten and immaculately cared for. Whenever someone makes a comment or seems shocked, I always say they are more than welcome to come and meet them. My home is not a disaster and my babies are all healthy. I would NOT have them if I couldn't properly care for them.

We have six RugCats in our family. We know that we can financially care for six cats as we've been doing so for the last 14 years or so. Six is OK, but seven just might be that one too many.

I think that, eventually, we may go down to three or four as the two Old Ladies (Whisper and Bootser, who are 16 now) and then the RugKittens (Boo and Pepe are 14 years old, but they will always be our RugKittens) pass on and as we get older, we'll try not to add any more. But who knows?

I'm always pleased when I hear from people who know us that they're amazed that our house doesn't smell, that the cats are very friendly (except for our Amber, who is AKA our Phantom Kitty) and loving, not only toward us, but to our family and friends as well. Nobody is starving. There's always plenty of food, plenty of hugs, and plenty of cuddles to go around for everybody.

I only have seven inside, but like many that have multiple cats - some of them were feral born. They don't come out to bother guests, in fact only four of my cats will even venture out sometimes to see who is here and of them only one or two will come up to other people without much fear. I have one outside who will gladly hop up on anyone, though.
Cat hair isn't an issue, honestly. They're fed good foods and brushed often. I only have one room with carpet, the rest is linoleum and hard wood. The furniture have covers that can be tossed in the washer (good thing, the humans in the house are messy).
I got creative with litter box stash spots and because I can't use litters I only have four boxes now.
Water is in the kitchen... I have two that will play in water so it has to stay on the linoleum. (puddles would quickly ruin hardwood)

Really, it's hardly more effort with seven in the house than it is with two. My routine is the same. The only difference is the amount of space seven cats take up on the bed.

I too have noticed that the larger the group is the less some things bother the cats. Coming home smelling like vet used to set a few of them off. Now no one cares.. .that or they're used to the smell.

I don't mean to stereotype, honestly, since I know not all living in them are like this - but what is it with trailer parks? I had to deal with a group that was half skittish and half feral - the skittish ones had been without much human contact for months and their offspring had none at all. It was ridiculous. People would move in and out, leaving cats and even dogs in the process.

[quote=Sakura;2989297]I can't imagine having enough time, space, or money to care for more than 4. We have 3 now, but 2 is my limit. With a ton of cats, how do you have people over without cats crawling all over them? How do you keep the cat hair under control? The vet bills? Where do you put all of the litter boxes? Water bowls? If you can make it work, more power to ya'...

When anyone comes over its usually my mom and sister or my cat nut friends who LOVE them. When husbands family came over they stayed put in their room for the most part(large group and they were very loud) But when my sister comes I try to get most of them in the cat room(aka converted to family room garage/sunroom both heated) shes allergic and gets very watery eyes/sneezing.

VACUUM, OFTEN, EVERYTHING!!!! The only place I dont like them is on counter, obviously they get there but I have many spots in house so that they dont seak that out as the best. The sunroom has windows into it and I leave one open so they can go into their room as they please(has a big table in it for them to sunbathe, and most of the litterboxes are in the garage. Only thing that sucks is I was going to lay down a berber rug but we are moving at some point so leaving it be. They have most of the cat tree in those 2 rooms along with a HUGE bowl(salad serving bowl I think) for dry and a few bowls/pots for water(bowls they tend to tip but a few like to move the water then drink so keep those low on water)

vet bills are not to bad. I got slammed by a kitten I hand raised and then she started going downhill fast-liver failure. 2 er trips was BAD. My cats don't get yearlys(stopped that long time ago cause of to many rabies reactions)

But my cats also never suffer. With this many you can't put lots of money into one cat. Like liver shunt kitten(angie) was 3000 to even start to try to fix it. Or the little guy Eric was badly run over(still think he got dumped here) and even the vet didnt want to put him in the repair/ adopt out program as to bad injuries. My seizure cat we tried medicine but it got worse in a day so vet thinks there was a tumor so we euthed her.

Blood work needed it gets done, dentals(so far only one cat but I noticing a few will need them soon) I am usually pretty good far as what feels right/wrong for that cat. umbilical hernias enlarged kidneys and heart murmur(well knew somethign was up didn't want to believe that was it tho!) I knew before the vet trip. Very hands on with them so notice things fast

I always say it might not always be clean(in sense id have to stay up 24/7 to stay on top of every little thing) but its far from a dump, my cats may not eat the best food but they never starve, may not get the best medical but they never suffer if its to much they are let go to not be in pain) May not be perfect but I have seen/heard of far worse.

Trailer parks I have been to fall in 2 categories. The low budget ppl always in/out and the parks maintained like real homes. This goes for apartments too imo.

The ones where ppl are in out I feel are probably not that stable to start with and many seem to be struggling just for their own needs. Friend lives in a real low budget one and constantly a string of sick kittens/fights/pregnant cats. Even with low cost spay/neuter its like a depression takes over and no one wants to do anything.
NOW!!! I am not saying thats everyone in the park but thats what it seems to me the many times I have been over.
There are plenty of ppl there who take great care of their own and trying to do what little they can for the strays(TNR) on the other hand I saw plenty with pregnant cats with the idea oh we live on a quiet street she ca have a litter. That was one place I really thought late term spay wasn't to bad of an idea. the limitied funds compounded by so many ferals, the owned pets just added that much faster to the core issues.

Yeah, this one was lower cost. What I still don't get is how the one person lived there for 5+ years and just up and left Sherman. Thankfully she left the a window open on that trailer, otherwise he would have been left trapped inside. How do you raise a cat from a kitten then just abandon them?
Another moved out and left her kids 9 month old kittens. Cats aside, who does that to their children?!

Only one of my cats wasn't an abandoned cat, lost, or feral born. And I honestly don't know if Tomas was actually lost from his home, he could have been a dump off. ...And that's how we all end up with so many, little choice because others can't be responsible.

I have 5 which is 1 too many. Partly I feel that way because, Tonya, who has been home 3 months, is still living in the guest room and is afraid to come out. However, progress is being made on that front, very slowly.

Probably 3 is the perfect number for me. Eventually, I will stay at that number - about 15 years from now! (I hope.)

Volunteering at a shelter does not help my resolve to not get more. There is one there now, who I am particularly attached to. He's been there 10 months. If he doesn't get adopted in the next 6 months or so, I may bring him home.

However, he is male, and my two male cats do not get along so well. There is no real fighting. But the hissing, growling, and sometimes caterwauling is disconcerting. There are minor skirmishes between the others. And sometimes my boys are very lovey-dovey with each other.

It is odd to me because they were all "floor" cats at the shelter living loose among 25-30 other cats. And conflicts there are minimal. I don't know if it is because this is their actual home and they are more territorial here, or what.

Cat hair is not an issue because I vacuum and use washable towels and throws everywhere they go. Also, I brush them, which they enjoy. I also think the quality of food they are fed influences that. Certain times of the year, also, are worse.

They don't scratch the furniture, thanks to training using "Sticky Paws" double sided tape.

They are free to go anywhere, except I don't want them on the kitchen counters, and they don't go there (at least when I'm around). That is probably partly because I'm a vegetarian and no food is ever up there that interests them (except when dishing out their food).

They are all shy (except for Harlow sometimes), so when people come over, they all hide, or go to a room far away from the guests. I have a big basement that is open to them all the time. All the litter boxes (except Tonya's) are down there. People come over and say, "What cats?"

I really would like to have more cats, because I love cats more than about anything, and so many need homes. But because of the on-going expense, and behavior issues, I am, hopefully, not going to get more. Also, I feel my 5 take up a lot of time and energy. If I had more, I'm afraid that they wouldn't get the attention they need.

Robin

Trailer/RV parks have no exclusive on that one. It's happening all over as people lose their homes. And look what happened to Genesis (the kitty of bellaandme's neighbor who moved and left the cat behind - and no window open).

Not just in trailer parks. A house on the street behind ours burned down. The animals that were outside at the time lived. The people left and never came back for their outside pets. I know 1 neighbor on this street, took in their tuxedo cat.

There was a neighbor on this street. He gambled all his money. He and his family left. They left all their pets behind, didn't tell anyone about them. I don't know how 1 of their bunnies got out, but we were able to rescue him. Their next door neighbor heard dogs barking, she broke into the house and found all the animals, most were dead. She saved the ones she could.

I'm talking about pre-2008, all the way back to the 80s when I lived in one myself and was always taking in kittens people left or neglected.

And another thing about so many cats, I don't have a dishwasher because when I had one, I didn't use it and so got rid of it. My current 1920's house, with the 1940's kitchen (charming, but . . .), doesn't have one or room for one. I wash a lot of cat dishes every day. It's almost reason enough to get a dishwasher.


Robin

I am down to 8 cats right now. My ideal is no more than 5. But there was a long period of time where I had a lot more than what I have now (got up to 27 at one time), and frankly all the work that goes into that many just got too much for me. It was easier when I didn't work, but during that time it fully dawned on me how much they had been taking care of each other, rather than getting the attention from me that they all deserved when I did work.

In 6 months, all of my cats will officially be seniors. Half of them are already seniors, and I lost 2 this year due to old age related diseases. It gets very difficult to care for this many when they are old. Put special diets and vet visits aside, they get more demanding of your time at this age.

It is a very rare person who can take more than a handful of cats successfully. And that's if you are being completely honest with yourself.

Let's see. . .
Litterboxes:
I have 3 rooms set up for the kitties, with baby gates/cat doors to keep the dogs out. The "porch" (not sure what else to call it-it's a proper room that used to be the front porch, but is now enclosed, heated/cooled, and insulated), the spare bedroom, and the basement (half of the basement is the laundry room--no cats allowed--and the other half is one big room). There are 6 litterboxes in each cat room (lined up against the walls), plus 2 in Silka's bedroom (she only enjoys the company of 2 other cats, and usually one of them is in with her, they switch off), plus one in the spare bathroom, because that's Mooch's safe haven (the other cats pick on him so he spends a lot of time in there). I use Tidy Cats and Special Kitty clumping, and I dump/wash/refill with new litter one litterbox a week.

I have found that food has the biggest effect on litterbox odor. If I go with the cheaper foods, I get stunk out of the house! So I stick with mid-grade foods (Chicken Soup, 4Health, etc.). They don't cost much more than the cheaper foods, all things considered. And I get a discount at the feed store for being a good customer .

Food and water:
There is one pan down for dry (a large stainless steel "puppy pan" with a raised middle) in the porch room. Also a large ceramic water bowl in there. There's a small glass bowl next to the kitchen sink that they all prefer, I fill it almost every time I go by the sink, LOL. There is also a large plastic water bowl on the "back porch" (same thing as the front porch--now enclosed) for the dogs, and the cats can get to it when the dogs aren't closed back there (when I'm not home). I put 2 large plates of canned food down every night.

Guests:
I don't really like having guests. It's more fun to go out with friends instead of having them over. When people come over, they do get mobbed, but not by all 20! 5 of them are feral and several are quite shy and just hide. But if you don't want to get cat-mobbed, don't come to the cats' house! LOL. If I wanted to have people over without cats bugging us, I'd shut them in the basement.

Cat hair:
Not a problem? IDK, it just isn't an issue for me. Regular vacuuming and a washable slipcover on the couch takes care of everything. Maybe it's the food, but really the cats don't shed much. The dogs, on the other hand. . .

Vet bills:
So far so good. Other than spaying/neutering and kitten shots, most have never had to see the vet. If they need vet care, they get it, but I won't go to heroic measures to save a cat who likely won't have much quality of life afterward anyway (but that would be the same whether I had 2 or 20). They will never be allowed to suffer. Plus my vet is nice and will let me get antibiotics, de-wormer, etc. without an office visit. All I have to do is talk to him and describe the symptoms, and he'll tell me whether the cat needs to come in or what I can do at home.

Attention:
I don't think they lack for attention. Like I said, some are feral and don't want my attention anyway, but those that do want attention are not shy about demanding their due!


I am not a neat freak or a control freak, so if things get a bit chaotic, I'm fine with that. If someone had a problem with chaos, I think it would be terribly stressful for them to have so many cats.

I really do not feel overwhelmed by the cats. I do sometimes feel overwhelmed by the dogs, and after they're gone I will only have one dog at a time. I like having lots of cats around, although I probably wouldn't choose to have 20. Maybe 10. But they need homes, and I can provide that home, so why wouldn't I?