Moving with 6 Cats

[dvduval]

We have managed to get six cats (the last one we rescued off the street because we found her with a broken leg).

But now we are trying to move to San Francisco Bay Area and as we make calls to both apartments and rental houses there is nobody willing to let us move there, yet we need to move their for our business. We are a little confused about what to do. We can't easily buy our own place though we are willing to put down a bigger deposit, etc. I'm almost to the point where I feel like we need to just way "we have cats", and if they say "how many?", don't tell the truth. I don't like doing that but I'm not sure what else to do.

Any ideas?

(By the way we keep a very clean apartment, and treat our cats well. We have been married for 10 years, and provide a very stable home for them)

 

[kailie]

Oh goodness hun, I feel for you, I've been there. I hate the fact that some people have given us RESPONSIBLE multiple cat owners a bad name. What I used to do is just say "Are cats allowed?", hope they say yes and not ask how many you have. Do you have any good references that you can give? I am SO glad I don't personally have to worry about that anymore as my aunt owns the home we're now in, she KNOWS how many cats we have and supports our love of cats fully.

I wish you luck, and am sending vibes.

 

[dvduval]

Thanks, yes, I think we may be forced to lie. I don't like doing that but at the same time I know that we are responsible, and that we are prepared to take financial responsibility for any damage (which has been extremely minimal over the years, never lost any deposit money).

 

[kailie]

I wouldn't lie...because you don't want to end up being evicted if they find out, but I just wouldn't offer the information unless they ask. Some DON'T ask, so I hope you find one of those landlords, or even better, an understanding, animal loving landlord.

 

[dvduval]

Yea, I think I won't have to lie about having pets, but the number of pets is obviously an issue, and it would be unlikely someone not knowing us would agree to letting us move in. We have actually been making some phone calls to places and this comes up every time ("How many cats do you have?"). I almost feel like we just have to be prepared to move should they want to take extreme measures like eviction. We have money, and offering an additional deposit or paying for any damages is absolutely no problem.

 

[missymotus]

When I was renting I had a cat resume that attached to my applications. Saying they were indoor cats, not roaming around/bothering neighbours, claws clipped weekly, scratching pole and litter trained etc. Any damage would be paid for, carpets professionally cleaned upon moving out.

It's worked for a lot of people on another website I'm on.

 

[mews2much]

I used to live there and had to make a deal with a place to have 4 cats.
Most in the sf bay area only take 1 or 2 cats.
I know this is terrible but my brother has 11 cats and has been lying to stay at a place.
I sure hope he never gets caught.
He boards the cats when he has a inspection.
My brother hated doing that but he had no choice.
He had 1 cat and the dog listed.

 

[dvduval]

Here is my strategy so far:
1. Only talk to places that accept pets, and probably more individual home owner types that ideally seem like nice people.
2. If the question comes up about us having or bringing pets, we will say, "Yes, we were thinking it would be nice to have cat there, so it is good to know it would be possible."
3. Should the issue arise at a later date, we will offer them $1000 as a "pet fee" that is theirs to keep, plus they can inspect our house, and see that we clearly take care of our cats and our house, and we will explain that these cats were in danger of being put to sleep, and we felt we had no other choice. Should we be asked to move, we will start step 1.

Sound like a reasonable plan?

 

[dvduval]

So we've been here about 12 weeks. The official policy at the apartments is 2 cats. That is standard in 99.9% of all apartments throughout California. I don't like having to withhold information, but we take really good care of our cats and our apartment, and we are prepared to move should there ever be an issue. We even know a hotel that would let us stay for a while in luxury and would accept our pets for about $100/night.

Thanks for everyone's advice. We made it to California and it is a wonderful place beyond even what we imagined.

 

[farleyv]

Really glad to hear that things worked out.

You are great people to take such good care of your animals.