HOW many cats?

ldg

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I was at the vet Friday (taking care of our bill YAY!) and chatting, as usual, with the front desk staff about ... yes, cats.
I was also purchasing their prescription food, and one of the newer front desk staff asks me "it doesn't matter which cat I put it under, right?" And I said - no, it doesn't matter, but there are probably a lot of cats listed under our account that are ferals or were adopted out, so just put it under Lazlo." She takes a look at the account - and there are just pages and pages of cats. She said - wow, there ARE a lot of cats listed here! (I didn't make her count LOL).

It was pretty quiet in there, but there was another woman checking out, and she overheard this conversation, and said, "do you rescue too?" My face lights up, and of course I say yes - and ask her what kind of rescue she does, because at this point we just primarily TNR....

She does too (YAY). Then I asked how many kitties she has.... and she hesitated. I asked with a laugh, "Counting?" And she says no... I'm wondering whether or not to lie or tell the truth.


Now I'm laughing. I said - "I network through the forums of The Cat Site, and I know plenty of people that have enough to make most people do a double-take." She relaxed, and I heard her say "60."

My heart skips a beat or two, but I'm assuming she's talking about the feral colony...

"Did you say 60? Do you mean in your colony or... ?"

"No, 16!"

"Well,that's still quite a handful. We only have 8 indoor-only cats - but we do live in an RV."

Now she goes a bit wide-eyed. Turns out she's got 3 indoor-only cats, currently three fosters - and 16 is the number in her TNR colony.
 

bastetservant

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I'd do a double take too. I was scared for a minute there. That "Animal Hoarding" show was on, hour after hour, last night on Animal Planet. I don't watch it. I have once or twice, but not anymore. Same with those "animal police" shows. It's too disturbing to me.

Anyway, it makes me wonder just how much this goes on. And how to deal with it.

But, then, again, anyone you meet at a vet's office is taking care of their cats and most likely not a hoarder. But my heart would have skipped a beat or two.

Robin
 

white cat lover

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One of my co-workers jumped out of her skin today when I told her I have 11 indoors only cats.
 

Willowy

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Back when I only had 8 indoors, the lady at the feed store asked me how many cats I had. "Farm cats, right?" she asked, LOL. She hasn't asked since, she might faint if I told her I have 20 now.

I did know a lady with 40-60 (she took all cats from her town's animal control and either placed them at farms or found indoor homes for them, depending how tame they were, so the population wasn't steady). I never saw her house but I do believe she took good care of them. She was always getting postcards in the mail from vets (I work at the Post Office), anyway
. It seemed like she kept it to 10 cats per vet. . .whether this was to avoid trouble or just because different vets do better with different cats, I don't know.
 

kailie

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Originally Posted by white cat lover

One of my co-workers jumped out of her skin today when I told her I have 11 indoors only cats.
I get that all the time as well when I tell people we have 10 of our own PLUS the fosters.
Doesn't bother me a bit though because I know how well they're cared for and anyone who knows me does as well. People's reactions used to bother Dana, but he seems to have gotten over it.
 

MoochNNoodles

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LOL! Too funny! I wish we could have more; I'd go for 6 cats and 2 dogs. But DH won't clean that many litterboxes...and I don't think his allergies would agree with that.
 

sharky

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Originally Posted by Winchester

Geez, I've had people tell me we're weird because we have six. Just six!
I have been looked at strange with Only four...
 
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