How many cats are too many?

i have 9 furbabies

Growing up, my family typically had 9 cats, all rescues, strays or ones people dumped (that we would immediately get fixed, of course).
Now that I'm an adult with a house, we only have 2, but are currently fostering a mom cat and her 4 babies.

I am a lot more content having the mom cat and her babies in the house. My own cats are seldom seen and rarely want attention. Everyone is taken care of though. I am a 'housewife' so I have plenty of time for them. So I would also agree with 'as many as you can properly care for' and fosters don't count towards the amount since they will be re-homed (allegedly. I really want to keep my foster kittens )

For some reason in Norway it's often seen as lunacy to have more than two cats. And even my husband is really adamant about not having more than 2, but I'll just never understand that because I was raised with so many.
I love having a lot of lives in the house and I'd much prefer to have cats over human children.
I just think a house feels so empty without a lot of pets.

It definitely depends on the situation. I currently have 7 cats and 4 kittens who will be leaving within the next 5 weeks and that is too many for me financially. 6 is a good number for me and one or two litters over Summer.

Like everybody else here, I think it depends on the person and on the situation. We have six cats and will not take anymore because, financially, we can handle six. One more just might break the bank; I know how silly that sounds, but it is what it is. DH and I have agreed, too, that as these cats pass on, we will not be bringing more into the house. He agreed to Mollipop, but I think that was because I was grieving so terribly after Banshee passed on. He knew how badly I was hurting and when I talked to him about Mollipop, he wasn't real happy, but he agreed to make her the youngest RugCat. (And you should hear how he coos to her and lays with her....he loves that little girl.) People have looked at us when we mention that we have six cats, but we're so used to it that we don't care anymore. Now that our son is grown with his own family, those cats are our kids and we take care of them. All of them (even the little brat who wants breakfast at 4:00 in the morning!)

I've heard about people who have so many cats that they can't take care of them properly. I've heard about people whose children were sent home from school because they stank so badly of cat urine. People who have gone on vacation, come home to piles of feces all over the house, evidently because they didn't have a cat sitter....and were too tired to clean everything up before they went to bed that night. A friend told me one time of a woman whose cat pooped in her hair braids.....she just cleaned them as best she could and left them go. Now THAT'S too many cats combined with a definite lack of housekeeping. If you have cats, you need to keep after them. Every single day. It's a law or something (being facitious here . But you know what I mean.) When your kids are sent home from school b/c of pee odor, there's a problem.

OTOH, there's a lady in town who lives in a gorgeous three-story house. The top floor is completely devoted to her 14 cats. Cat trees, toys, beds, litterboxes, the whole bit. Those babies lack for nothing. She'll come home from work, make dinner for her furkids, make her own dinner and go up to the cat's floor and spend the night with them. The cats are allowed to roam the house and they do from time to time. But, for the most part, they're perfectly content to stay on their floor with their comforts. It's amazing to see that floor and everything that's there strictly for the furkids!

When I was the Zoning Officer in town, people would call the office to speak with me about a project they were working on at the time. They would say, "You know, I don't know her name, but she's a cat lady and she drives a red Cruiser!"

There is a difference between responsible animal care and people who are overwhelmed. Having many animals requires time, money, space and knowledge.

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We consider anyone who tries to care for more animals than they have money, space and time for to be a potential animal hoarder who needs help.

Many people in the early stages of hoarding will put their pets before their own needs. Their animals might be healthy and even over-fed, but this comes at the cost of their own physical and mental well being.

Usually it is their relationships with friends and family that suffer the most.

If you or someone you know is concerned about the welfare of the animals and the people who care for them check out the site and give our team a call. We can help.

For me, 3 is the absolute top limit! Not only emotionally, but also physically. Some days I find it difficult to care for 3. Who knew kittens used the litter box so darn much!!

I would love to have dozens of cats and kittens because so many need homes. But I know physically I couldn't manage. Plus I wouldn't know how to divide my time among them all. Even with 3 I sometimes feel I'm neglecting one at times.

To me the bottom line is if you have the time each day to spend with each cat, as individuals and as a group, having the financial means to provide proper medical attention at all times, and physically be able to keep up with the cleaning. I also have a foster room. To me a foster or fosters are better off in a small room than living in a cage in the shelter. Vertical space is more important than square footage to cats. I just think a person has to know their emotional and physical limit when it comes to the amount of cats you have. I don't know if I have a limit but I certainly would know if I had too many. I have had at one time six cats of my own, plus a couple fosters. Yes, it was work, but to me it is a labor of love.

Nobody who has actually been to my home, and seen my cats has ever called or insinuated I was a hoarder...but multiple people on animal forums who have NEVER met me or seen my animals in person, or been to my house have. Those people clearly have a number in their head, and if someone goes over that number they are automatically a hoarder. (And its a dog forum where I have been called a hoarder or had something said about my number of cats, not even dogs but cats).

I have 9 permanent house cats,1 feral outside, 1 foster adult cat (though she is probably a permanent), and 11 foster kittens (5 being little ferals, and 2 who are going to be adopted this weekend). (Plus random neighborhood cats/ferals we feed)

But I also have 10 dogs, and 1 foster dog. I don't live alone, and I don't deal with the animal related issues alone. I am not the only one who deals with the financials with all our pets. But somehow people automatically assume I am not taking care of them properly because THEY couldn't!! I take my animals to the vet for every little thing! Actually a few days ago had a foxtail removed from my dogs eye. I have a huge box filled with vet bills and vet records from over the past few years.

My house isn't spotless....Doesn't matter how often I sweep there is always cat hair and cat litter on the floor! (And I sweep two times a day on days I work, and probably 4 on my days off!) I am very anal about cleanliness! I clean the cat boxes everyday (And we have 4 big litterbox, and 3 randomly placed ones in areas kittens have had "accidents".

One of my most hated pet peeves is people who don't even know you, who tell you that you must be a hoarder because they couldn't possibly take care of more than 3 cats, so you must not be able to!

And I foster for THE largest cat rescue in California (And actually i think in the US.). And they wouldn't allow me to foster if I was a hoarder. Tell all the other foster parents who have 10+ cats they are hoarders. I don't know anyone who is heavily involved in cat rescue/fostering who don't have atleast 5-8 cats, and usually more!

I've been called a hoarder too on the internet. I once mentioned on a site that I had taken in a mom and her litter and everyone thought I had stepped over the limit of hoarding and had now become a hoarder. My permanent crew is actually not that big. I have two dogs and 4 cats. The rest are fosters though. I have my three semi-ferals that I don't count towards my foster amount since they are not adoptable and then I have the four adoptable fosters which is the max allowed by Illinois law for a licensed foster home unless they are a litter.

"Many people in the early stages of hoarding will put their pets before their own needs. Their animals might be healthy and even over-fed, but this comes at the cost of their own physical and mental well being.

Usually it is their relationships with friends and family that suffer the most."

Hoarding is a mental disorder which is believed to be a version of OCD. Having more cats than you can care for well is definitely not good but I'm not so sure that that's the definition of hoarding. Having many cats and not a lot of money doesn't mean that you have a mental illness.

I think a lot of animal people, especially rescuers, will put the animals' needs before their own to some extent. I could use some more clothes but I think taking my sick cat to the vet is more important. I have several dents in my car that I've needed to fix for a couple of years but the cats are more important than my car.
My house isn't the cleanest especially now that my dogs are shedding like crazy. It's impossible not to smell the litterboxes even though they are cleaned daily. But that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to ensure that the cats I have taken in didn't have to suffer on the street or be killed at some pound.

My family and especially my husband's family thinks I'm nuts so I guess in that sense it has caused problems with family but I don't think I should stop doing rescue because some people think it's crazy to have more than a couple of cats. My husband's family thinks that cats are a nuisance and the only good cat is a dead cat. I don't think these things make me a hoarder, just someone with different priorities than most people.

I think it's up to each of us my limit is 2 I can feed them keep them healthy and clean and give them plenty of love if you can do that and have a hundred cats I say go for it there are so many out there that need love (100 cat

don't think so lol )

The mad cat lady now theres one I've heard lol my family said that when I had 1 cat imagine what they say now I have 2 lol my daughter tells me I'm going to turn into the old cat lady off of the Simpsons lol ( mind due it is said in fun ) if you love them hun who cares what others think our kittys love us can't beat that

You know, I'm so sick and tired of being branded a "crazy cat lady" (as recently as last week), so I now just tell people "3", when they ask. I have 9 (formerly, 10). I swear that people don't accept invitations to my house because they know I have so many cats. Frankly, if they're that narrow-minded, I'd rather socialize with my cats. They're nicer people.

The correct number is what you can reasonably care for: provide proper food, medical care, litter management, and love for. Another big factor is how well you can keep your house clean and healthy to live in. I manage to do all of those things for my crew. Not to brag, but my Mom had only 1 cat. When I visited her house (and she calls herself a neat-freak, and me a slob), I could smell the litter box all the way from the back of the house, to the front door. In my house, with 10, you can't smell anything cat-like if I know you're coming to visit--and it's not exactly bad the rest of the time. I say this to prove that is is possible to have many cats, and still have a nice, clean fresh-smelling house. I;ve know plenty of single-pet owners whose homes were disgusting. And when people who do dare to visit do so, they always remark that, if they hadn't seen a cat toy or 2, they would have never known we had a cat! I really try hard to destroy the myth that all multiple cat owners are "crazy cat ladies".

Being a cat at La Casa MargeCat isn't exactly a hardship! I'd love to be a cat here. Our lives revolve around them. They get TONS of love and affection, good food, 24/7 litter box service, cat treats, toys, their own fluffy blankets, and medical care. They have the run of the house; they even have their own bathroom (the garage)! They also have plenty of feline friends to share their lives with--all of them, except Marge vs.2 of the boys, get along so well, it's amazing. Not too shabby for a bunch of stray and abused street cats!

Interestingly, I get that quite often. People say that if they didn't know we had cats, they wouldn't know we had cats.

Last fall when the guys showed up to put our elliptical together, they came in the house and walked back to the bedroom....that's where the elliptical "lives". As they were taking parts from the boxes, the cats started to show up to be nosy. When one of the cats came out from under the bed to su-purr-vise, one of the guys looked at me and said, "How many cats do you have?" I told him we had six of 'em and he went to his van to get his allergy meds. Turns out he was allergic to cats. And he never knew they were in the house until he saw them.

One of my GFs is always amazed when she comes to visit because she never "smells cat". Never. She's not really a cat person and I guess she thinks that all cats stink or something.

But that's what I want to hear. I want to know that you can walk into the house and not smell the litterboxes. Our house is smallish and we have 3 litterboxes in the bathroom and one in the kitchen. You don't know the kitchen box is even there.

As of right now, I would not do more then 4, I have 3 right now and with the exception of a few neighbours, they think I have 2. I live in a condo/townhouse and "are only allowed a maximum of 2 animals." So those of us with more then 2 keep it on the dl. I have 4 litterboxes and about 6 waterdishes and 4 food dishes all kept in different corners of the house.

I would love to be able to help more and eventually I would love to set up a cat rescue, obviously with help

While 1 cat is more than enough for my household as I stated earlier, my dog limit is a little bit higher.

I firmly believe everyone is different. Some can handle way more than my "max" numbers and some less. Just a simple number doesn't tell me what I need to know about everyone across the board. And I think keeping animals for life and especially fostering is a great thing to do and very much worthwhile. The key is knowing your limits in time, energy, funds, space, health, etc. as many have already said.