Too many cats at 1 time ?

How many cats have you had at one time ?

For me the last  3 years it has only been Bella & Thunder. Long time ago when we moved 30 miles east of Columbus to Hebron Ohio we had 6 at one time. Then after Momma cat gave birth we had 4 more. We got momma cat spayed and gave the kittens a good home when they were old enough to leave. When we moved to another apartment  Momma cat was not there to bring to our next home. I miss her alot.

dejolane

The most that we've had at one time was four- Alafair and Jason plus two kittens that I found.  If the total of three kittens wouldn't have been a considerable amount of work in themselves it would have been no issue at all.  That's the most that we have had, but it was temporary. 
 

We've had eight cats now twice....the first time was when Whisper had her last litter of kittens; they were born in the a clothesbasket back in our bedroom. For many years, we remained right at six cats. Somehow, we exploded and have been at eight now since Muffin came to us last September.

(I think we'll be going back to seven cats very soon.....Whisper is simply not doing well at all anymore. It is getting close to her time. She's almost 19 years old and she's truly a Grand Old Dame.)

I have to admit, I like when others bring up these sorts of questions, because I feel bad when addressing the issue on my own. So this will be a sort of therapy for me.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I have ten; in all honesty, it's three too many.  Alice and Fozzy were homeless "desperation kitties", and Oscar became a behaviour issue when he was at his original home (a friend of mine), and I offered to take him in.  I love them all equally, ten very unique personalities. But sometimes it's hard to manage emotionally, not to mention financially.  I'm a person that's driven by guilt, and making sure everyone is happy (not to mention keeping an eye on everyone for hints of health issues), can be consuming, as many of you know.

I've started to make the joke that I would probably consider getting married again, if just for the help and extra love for my kitties.  I'm never sure how much I'm kidding.
 

Winchester said:

(I think we'll be going back to seven cats very soon.....Whisper is simply not doing well at all anymore. It is getting close to her time. She's almost 19 years old and she's truly a Grand Old Dame.)

Click to expand...

Oh Pam... for Whisper.

The most I have had indoors is what I have now. Six. I have had many, many feral cats outdoors. There is a chance we will be going to seven soon. Pumba ( a very sweet, friendly stray that showed up in my yard shortly before we moved ) is at a sanctuary and has not been adopted. I cannot fathom him living out his life amongst feral and elderly unadoptable cats. He is so very sweet and I hope my hubby doesn't :dash: when I bring him home. NOt sure when that will be, yet.

6:  Dandelion King - Persian

Sweet Pea Posey - Exotic

 Mandevillia Bud - Exotic

Honeysuckle Potpourri - Sphynx

Clover Patch - Manx

Bruce Lee Bamboo- - Oriental

Right now we're at... 12. Which we all agree is too many but they're all well cared for and we're not getting anymore until we're back down to 2 or 3! But some aren't even intentionally gotten and one is a taming work in progress.

Crystal: she's 12 now and we got her to keep our original cat Snickers company

Frosty: found her as an abandoned feral/stray in heat and brought her in. No clue how old she is since we thought she was a kitten but never grew any bigger (we've had her for 11 years now and guees anywhere between 12 and 15)

Felix: 7 years old got him when he was 4 weeks old along with his sister from the feral colony next door (has a chronic nose infection from a rat biting his nose at 3 months)

Rei: 6 years old, gotten for my one brother for college then he moved back in (has IBS)

Lily: 6 years old, got for my grandma and when grandma died we inherited this giant odd ball

Ruby: 5 years old, was a stray that was being chased and kicked by a security guard at the place I used to work at then he jumped into my car when he was 4 months old and has been with us ever since)

Sammie: 3 or 4, replaced Snickers when she died of old age since my dad missed his kitty

Snowy: 3 or 4 adopted to replace Frosty when we were convinced she was on her death bed and we can never find all white cats and my mom has never been without an all white cat and she had been returned to the shelter TWICE even though she's the sweetest cat ever

Thunder: 7 months old, one of the 17 kittens we cared for this summer. Got her at 7 days old (she didn't open her eyes until 18 days!!! Unlik her 2 sisters which did it between 10-12 days old) and we had 3 scares with her making it or not and figured we needed to keep 1 kitten form this experience

Chippie: thunder's twin sister. The person who claimed her never picked her up and now we're stuck with her because we fell in love and her and Thunder are so closely bonded and nobody else wants a kitten and we'd feel bad putting her in a shelter since she craves human affection 24/7

Maddie: my coworker was moving 3 hours away and couldn't take her an instead of letting this 10 year old moody cat be given to a kill shelter we said we'd help find a home for her but she doesn't have an adoptable personality so we've figured we're stuck with her (she's sweet but can try to kill you in a second but is declawed)

Lucy: the feral who "lives" in the basement (she comes up A LOT now and was caught sleeping on the cat tree in the living room the other day) who we are in the process of taming (4 months of having her and she JUST touched me and tried to play with me yesterday which has me really excited) she's only 2 and has had at least 3 litters while outside and would have been 4 if we hadn't gotten her TNRed (she was pregnant with 4 kittens when she got fixed as we found out when picking her up)

Thanks, Lauren...she's really not doing well at all.

Keycube, I know where you're coming from. We have our eight and honestly, it can get overwhelming sometimes. The vet called yesterday to remind us of our vet appts for Whisper, Bootser, Mollipop, and Ms. Pepe on Friday....four annuals, three rabies shots, more canned food for Whisper and a refill on her meds. It gets to us sometimes. It's not just the vet appts, it's the 28 cans of cat food every week, 50+ pounds of cat litter every week, the snackies, the Sip, etc. Muffin eats a different dry food and she uses a different cat litter; when we brought her home, we didn't have the heart to make her change food and litter on top of coming into a house with seven other cats.....that just wasn't fair to her. We talked about it and we were going to make her change, but we couldn't. She's still eating her own food and she still uses Yesterdays News cat litter (of course, the other cats use her litterbox, too....there's no such thing as a litterbox for just one cat around here! But at least it's still there for her as well.).

But it's also making sure that each cat gets a good dose of cuddles every day. It's making sure that each cat gets combed and brushed once a week; those grooming times are important because I also check for lumps, sores, and anything else that might be a bit funky, especially with our geriatric kids. We've gotten into the habit where we clean Tabby's ears and clip all claws the first Saturday of the month....yes, we are still cleaning that girl's ears and probably will do so for the rest of her life, but at least we're down to only once a month. Muffin tends to get a lot of "eye boogers" at the inner corners of both eyes, so we clean her eyes out regularly, too. (With all the stuff we do to those cats, it's a wonder any of them will have anything to do with us at all! But they do, bless their hearts.....as soon as our butts hit the couch or the chair, their butts hit our lap.)

I'm not whining. And I know that all of you do the exact same thing. Because it's what we do. It's part of our life.

I work to support the cats.

I'm sorry about Whisper, Pam.

Due to allergies, I've only had one cat at a time.

My family live with 3 cats: 2 male Abyssinian and one female American Shorthair.

 

AbbysMom said:

I'm sorry about Whisper, Pam.

Due to allergies, I've only had one cat at a time.

Click to expand...

 Thanks, Karen.....we're keeping a close eye on her. She'll let us know when it's time.

Keycube said:

I have to admit, I like when others bring up these sorts of questions, because I feel bad when addressing the issue on my own. So this will be a sort of therapy for me.

I've mentioned elsewhere that I have ten; in all honesty, it's three too many.  Alice and Fozzy were homeless "desperation kitties", and Oscar became a behaviour issue when he was at his original home (a friend of mine), and I offered to take him in.  I love them all equally, ten very unique personalities. But sometimes it's hard to manage emotionally, not to mention financially.  I'm a person that's driven by guilt, and making sure everyone is happy (not to mention keeping an eye on everyone for hints of health issues), can be consuming, as many of you know.

I've started to make the joke that I would probably consider getting married again, if just for the help and extra love for my kitties.  I'm never sure how much I'm kidding.
 

Click to expand...

Your statement, driven by guilt, hit a cord in me. It is SO exacting as to how I function. It can be completely overwhelming and I think I put more worry/concern on myself than I should. I just can't help it. It is how I am wired, I guess. My cats and two elderly dogs are my priority in life, day in and day out. My whole schedule and plans revolves around them and their needs and schedules. They all have little pleasures each day such as treats, toys, play sessions, grooming, medications, walking (dogs) on top of all of the upkeep and cleaning. It is consuming at times but a labor of love too. I can very much relate to all of what you said. Although, :lol3:, being married doesn't guarantee an animal helper unless you find another cat lover whom may well have cats of their own!! :bigwink: I think when we married I only had two cats but my parents warned Larry. . He didn't heed that warning.

Winchester said:

I'm not whining. And I know that all of you do the exact same thing. Because it's what we do. It's part of our life.

I work to support the cats.

Click to expand...

Pam, I know you would never whine (but please feel free anytime :lol3 sharing our feelings about how overwhelming and time consuming caring for cats can be is never whining. It is therapy, as Keycube says. It feels good to be in such great company here knowing when I am scooping boxes, vacuuming cat hair consistently, feeding cats, laundry for cats, just doing all the work involved in living with our furbabies that I am not alone in my work. AND, it truly, truly warms my heart :heart3: and makes for a better world to know that there are so many other "obsessed" (I use that word in a good way) cat caregivers and others who do work to support their little furballs. Lord knows we need the money at times!!!! So, on that note, :music: I have to finish up kitty chores. Back in a bit.

My 5 ladies are the perfect number.  Any that want to play can always find a partner, and those who want to cuddle and snuggle have a pile to flop into. And at night, I always have a warm, purry, furry back warmer.

It can get a bit rough financially sometimes.  If more than one needs to go to the vet in any given month, I just give up something I don't really need to buy for myself.

Winchester said:

(I think we'll be going back to seven cats very soon.....Whisper is simply not doing well at all anymore. It is getting close to her time. She's almost 19 years old and she's truly a Grand Old Dame.)

Click to expand...

Pam I am so sorry to hear this, I didn't realize Whisper was that old.  I remember her as being so small altho she was always a small kitty. I hope she has some good years left in her.

Thanks, Carol.  Yeah, Whisper was always tiny....hard to believe because she had four litters come of that little body of hers. Bootser is the same way, especially now that she's gotten older. You can tell they're sisters. Heck, even Boo and Ms. Pepe just turned 17 a couple of weeks ago! It doesn't matter how old those two get; they'll always be the RugKittens.

She ate last night and she ate well. This morning, Rick said she seems to be eating better, too. But we'll see. She spent the night on Rick's shoulder in bed; that's the first in a while again. When I left today, she was curled up in bed, wrapped inside Boo. Sometimes with her, it seems that the lights are on, but nobody's home. I'm worried more about how Rick will take this; she's really a Daddy's girl.