How many cats is too many?!

We currently have 4 cats and also 4 gorgeous kittens. Unfortunately we have to give away the kittens as we just can't take them all with us when we move to another rental property, not to mention the fact that it does take a lot of patience and cleaning to keep up with that many! our families think we're insane keeping just 4 lol We often do consider keeping them all because we can't bare to part with them but it looks like we will have to do it soon, as sad as it may be.
Just curious as to how many cats you all have?

We have 4 adults, and 3 foster bottle kittens. I won't be keeping any of the kittens, 4 is my limit. Although, I said 3 was my limit and then last year I kept the lone survivor of another litter of bottle kittens. LOL But this time I really mean it!

We do have a big house and a HUGE screened porch that the cats love. I guess I could fit a couple more... but financially and emotionally and physically, I'm tapped.

We have 2 two years old and they're so spoiled that I don't think we could have another kitten. They're both jealous and very territorial it took a little incident for them to get along but now they love each other so much. They groom each other and love to play.

The answer is not a number, it is how many can you give enough attention to, how many litterboxes you want to deal with, how much food and vet bills you can afford, how much space does your home have.

Too many is, when there is neglect in any of those questions. Too many to generously give all of the above.

Too many is not noticing the minute one cat is not feeling like itself because your attention is spread around a bit thin.

Personally it's an individual decision based on your own situation.

I don't think 4 is too many, but you really should let the kittens go to another good home

I totally agree catwoman. We will let the kittens go because 8 definitely is too many for us. Just worried that the people we give them to won't love them as much as we do Seems hard to find genuine people these days.

Also, I've heard that you're legally only allowed to have 3 cats per household (here in Australia anyway). Not sure if that's true though.

That is true of some counties in the US too. The restrictions are imposed on how many dogs one can have also.

Haha... well let's see... -cough-

I have 6 cats and 2 horses/dogs. I only started out with my two mainecoons when I moved in with my husband about 6-7 years ago. My husband wanted this pitbull puppy a friend of mine had . The puppy was being severely abused by my friends husband. They left him out in 80-100F weather with no shade or water. He would kick and punt the puppy like a football and so many other horrible things. I finally talked him into letting me have him for $50. He is now 3 years old and a big baby. After him we had just moved into a our new home and found a stray kitty on our porch. I swore I was only going to take her in to make sure she was healthy and then find her a home. We got attached and she was pregnant! She had her litter and we never found homes for those two and kept them. Well the male finally found a new home and we kept the female that I have still to this day named Ciesta. Then a friend of mine  told me she knew someone who was trying to find homes for boxer puppies. I was like hell no! No more animals! My husband talked me into it! We still have her to this day and she is 2 years old. After about a year of getting Sadie (The boxer) Ciesta got pregnant with a litter of 3 and we ended up keeping them all because I had gone through a really tough time with 2 previous kitties that I no longer have and became VERY attatched to them. So we have those three to this day and they are a year old. Now....Ciesta had a litter of kittens 3 months ago and I am in the process of trying to find these 4 a home because she got preggy while waiting to get her fixed. Runt (Ciesta's last litter) got pregnant as well and I didnt even know it while we were waiting to get her fixed! It takes 3-6 months to get an appointment to have a cat fixed out here in the country.

So all in all I have 6 cats, 2 dogs and 6 kittens. Two of those kittens I am raising/bottle feeding myself.

Honestly 6 cats is too much for me to handle sometimes even though we have a large area for them. However, I am able to take care of them and give them attention but any more than that and I couldn't do it. It wouldn't be fair to them or me. I have to clean out litterbox 2x a day!

lindz said:

I totally agree catwoman. We will let the kittens go because 8 definitely is too many for us. Just worried that the people we give them to won't love them as much as we do

Seems hard to find genuine people these days.

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I understand. It's not easy adopting one of my cats/kittens from my rescue. I want to know all sorts of things.

What other pets, where they live/apt/house, rent or own, are current pets spay/neutered, ever taken pet to shelter, how long they will leave cat alone during the day, cats they owned prior and what happened, if rent, is there a pet deposit, and make them sign a contract that if ever they couldn't keep the cat they will return it to me.

Then they are microchipped in case they are ever taken or picked up and end up at the shelter they will call me.

Oh, and if there are young children, since kittens can't escape or protect themselves where adults can, all sort of things.

I have applications and the contracts.

I want to know that this saved cat will be loved and well cared for.

That is all great advice and will have to make sure I ask all those questions. I want to get them to sign contracts too but my husband doesnt think it's a good idea because it's too formal and might put people off since we're not an animal shelter etc.

lindz said:

That is all great advice and will have to make sure I ask all those questions. I want to get them to sign contracts too but my husband doesnt think it's a good idea because it's too formal and might put people off since we're not an animal shelter etc.

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When I was first rescuing and adopting out cats/kittens, before I got linked up with a great local rescue who I now foster for, I had to handle all the adoptions myself since it was just me and my husband doing this. I created my own adoption form/contract. Nothing crazy, just two pages. Basically:

Name

Driver's License #/state

Address

Phone number

e-mail address

Living situation (like if they own or rent, and if they rent, does the landlord/their lease approve of cats)

If everyone in the family is aware of and ok with them adopting this cat

Their vet name & phone number

Other pets currently in the household

If they plan to declaw (a dealbreaker for me)

If the cat is going to be indoor, indoor/outdoor, or outdoor (we only adopt to indoor only homes)

If they have ever surrendered a pet to the shelter

If yes, why

Under what circumstances would they give up the cat they are adopting

2 personal references

I then call their vet and check them out, or if they do not have any current pets, and thus do not have a current vet, I call the 2 references and then recommend a vet to the adopters.

Then I usually google their name/email address and/or look them up on facebook just to make sure they are not psychos, or do not have any animal cruelty charges or really big red flags (I don't tell them I am doing this... but once I found out a potential adopter was a hoarder from facebook, so it pays to check!)

Then they sign the 2nd page which is a contract stating that if for any reason, at any time, they can no longer care for the cat, it will be returned to me. I go in to detail about the fact that I will ask no questions and will be more than happy to take the cat back, even 10 years down the line. We have found in the past that if rescues "shame" people for trying to return a cat, they are more likely to just drop it off at the shelter as a stray or owner surrender, so I am very clear when I go over it with potential adopters that I KNOW sometimes things just do not work out how we plan for them to, and I will never have any issues with taking back one of my foster babies.

I have had zero issues getting adopters to agree to or fill out any of this. I think adopters like to know that the animal they are getting is coming from someone who truly cared/cares for it.

I also microchip all my fosters before adopting out. I register the microchips to me, and give the information to my adopters to switch it over to their name. Most people don't. I'm OK with that.

I have a facebook page just for my foster cats & kittens. I post progress/growth pics and stories about all of them, and then "happy ending" pictures of them with their new adoptive families. I invite my adopters to "like" the page and post pics or updates about their new cat. Many of them do! A few don't use facebook and will just text or email me every so often. I don't hound my adopters for updates, but do check in with them after 2 weeks, and again after 3 months & 6 months; just to make sure the cat is a good fit. After that, it is up to them to send me updates if they would like to.

So far, all my fosters have gone to excellent homes. I have not had any returned, and even recently babysat one of my previous foster for her adoptive family while they went on vacation

As for how many cats is too many, It really is just about what you can handle; both time wise & financially. Right now I have 28, most of which are fosters... which likely sounds crazy to some (or most) but 5 of those are babies, being cared for by a mom cat and surrogate mom cat, and the others have several thousand sq feet of living space, fully decked out with many carpeted wall shelves, 8 cat trees, hundreds of toys, and dozens of cat beds. It is a 24/7, full time job caring for them. Just the cleaning and litter box scooping alone take hours daily. I have to vacuum their living space every 2-3 days, shampoo the carpet every 2 weeks, etc.

It only works because I do not work outside the home, and we do not have children. It is definitely not for everyone! Usually I have about half that amount, but since kitten season is in full swing, the adult cats at the shelter  are getting overlooked, so I have taken in a few more fosters than I planned to over the last 3-4 weeks. Vet bills can get crazy at times, but since I foster for a rescue now, they cover a lot, and I have a great vet that cuts me great deals! Food is also very expensive; I go through about 600 cans of food a month and many, many pounds of dry cat food. Oh, and litter... we go through about 200lbs a week!

Wow oleander, that is amazing! I would love to do what you are doing if we had our own home. I really appreciate all your advice. Id like to have a form similar to yours but since we are not foster carers or a shelter etc, I think people will just look at me like I'm crazy (well that's what my husband thinks anyway!).

Oleander said:

 
When I was first rescuing and adopting out cats/kittens, before I got linked up with a great local rescue who I now foster for, I had to handle all the adoptions myself since it was just me and my husband doing this. I created my own adoption form/contract. Nothing crazy, just two pages. Basically:

Name

Driver's License #/state

Address

Phone number

e-mail address

Living situation (like if they own or rent, and if they rent, does the landlord/their lease approve of cats)

If everyone in the family is aware of and ok with them adopting this cat

Their vet name & phone number

Other pets currently in the household

If they plan to declaw (a dealbreaker for me)

If the cat is going to be indoor, indoor/outdoor, or outdoor (we only adopt to indoor only homes)

If they have ever surrendered a pet to the shelter

If yes, why

Under what circumstances would they give up the cat they are adopting

2 personal references

I then call their vet and check them out, or if they do not have any current pets, and thus do not have a current vet, I call the 2 references and then recommend a vet to the adopters.

Then I usually google their name/email address and/or look them up on facebook just to make sure they are not psychos, or do not have any animal cruelty charges or really big red flags (I don't tell them I am doing this... but once I found out a potential adopter was a hoarder from facebook, so it pays to check!)

Then they sign the 2nd page which is a contract stating that if for any reason, at any time, they can no longer care for the cat, it will be returned to me. I go in to detail about the fact that I will ask no questions and will be more than happy to take the cat back, even 10 years down the line. We have found in the past that if rescues "shame" people for trying to return a cat, they are more likely to just drop it off at the shelter as a stray or owner surrender, so I am very clear when I go over it with potential adopters that I KNOW sometimes things just do not work out how we plan for them to, and I will never have any issues with taking back one of my foster babies.

I have had zero issues getting adopters to agree to or fill out any of this. I think adopters like to know that the animal they are getting is coming from someone who truly cared/cares for it.

I also microchip all my fosters before adopting out. I register the microchips to me, and give the information to my adopters to switch it over to their name. Most people don't. I'm OK with that.

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This is identical to my applications.  

However I don't ask for references, but an alternate contact person. I find that people in general, because the fact is, none of us can predict the future, they like knowing that at anytime in the cat's life they can no longer keep him/her, they can return to me. 

Everyone is vaccinated, dewormed, de-flead, spayed/neutered, microchipped, and tested for felv. 

I don't expect you will be able to do all this simply because of the cost, but it's important to do these things too so talk to them about doing these things too.

You might want to get at least their first vaccine, just in case some unknowing person decides to put their kitten down outside in the grass....

Yes, I am definitely going to get them all vaccinated, wormed and microchipped before they go to their new homes. Hopefully our vet can give us a discount because things are tough financially!

This has been really helpful as we are expecting our first litter of babies and i was unsure wether to vaccinate and microchip. I think for the extra few pound it sounds like a better idea and much safer/healthier for then kittens.

lindz said:

Yes, I am definitely going to get them all vaccinated, wormed and microchipped before they go to their new homes. Hopefully our vet can give us a discount because things are tough financially!

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Also check for local low cost clinics or shelters who have a clinic. Our local shelter, as much as I dislike them, has a low cost clinic where you can have cats/kittens spayed or neutered, vaccinated, dewormed, microchipped, and combo tested for FIV/FeLV for under $50. There is also a local low cost clinic that will do all the same for just slightly over that price. At my vets office, all of that would cost about $150!

Since it is kitten season, check around to see if any vets/clinics/shelters are offering any specials. One here is offering $5 neuters for male cats this month. You never know what is out there till you look! A lot of places have gotten grants to help out people such as yourself, so if at all possible, have everyone fully vetted and ready to go before they are adopted out.

One more thing. Having your kittens fully vetted and spayed/neutered will really set you apart from all those others who are trying to find homes for/sell unvetted kittens. I do believe it brings in a higher standard or class of adopters, if that makes sense.

Yes, I am considering getting them spayed/neutered as well but I've read that 12 weeks may be too young to have this done, and also it seems like it could be stressful getting it done and also re-homing them all within the same week or 2!
Oleander, are you in the US? Don't think there is anywhere that cheap in Australia!

lindz said:

Yes, I am considering getting them spayed/neutered as well but I've read that 12 weeks may be too young to have this done, and also it seems like it could be stressful getting it done and also re-homing them all within the same week or 2!
Oleander, are you in the US? Don't think there is anywhere that cheap in Australia!

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Yes, I am in the US. One of my best friends moved to Australia after College, so I know from her that things are much more expensive there, although I have no idea about vet costs.

Here we spay/neuter at 8 weeks/2lbs. I've never had any issues doing this, as long as the kittens are healthy. Some kittens weigh 2lbs by 8 weeks while others don't hit 2lbs till 9-10 weeks, but as long as they are 2lbs all vets here will do a spay or neuter. 

i also totally agree with catwoman707.

i know that for me 4 would be the absolute maximum i'd be able to give individual attention and love, afford proper vet care/food/toys/gifts for, have enough room for us all to comfortably live together and for each cat to have room to find alone time as desired, and for me to be able to quickly notice that any of them seemed even a bit "off" or ill in any way. i would prefer not to need to properly maintain more than 6 litter boxes. ideally, i'd like no more than 3 cats, one that is 3-4 years older than the other two -- the idea being that all three wouldn't become seniors at the same time.

currently i have one cat, snick. snick's brother, mickey, crossed the rainbow bridge last year.

Sorry to hear about mickey we have 2 adult cats that around about 2 years old and another two that are 7 months old so I think we couldnt really look after any more properly.