How many cats is too many cats?

[Fridaynightfuntime]

We currently have two ... much adored and worshipped by all of the family. We’re completely obsessed with them.

They’re about 18ish months old now.

I keep thinking we have room for one more. I just love them and love how happy they are lazing around our house and when I see kittens for sale I think we could give another one that life and we know it’s one kitten that’s ‘safe’ if you know what I mean rather than going somewhere it’ll end up rehomed in a few years.

Would we be mad?

[ballsdeep]

One is too many 😉

[ColdRainAgain]

The right number of cats for your household is 2 more than you currently possess!

[Hoppinggreen]

For us it was 4.
3 was fine but when we got no 4 it suddenly felt like there were cats everywhere.
We are at 2 now (and a dog) and I can’t see us getting any more now

[Fridaynightfuntime]

Do they tend to be ok when you introduce a newbie? Mine are half sisters and we got them together as kittens so no issues.

We might possibly be moving house so no decision made till then but these are encouraging answers.

[BovaryX]

I have two and we had two disastrous attempts to introduce a cat and a kitten at separate times which just ended in total failure. You currently have two happy kittens. I would really think carefully before introducing a third because if it doesn’t work out, it will be load of heartache. My experience is if they aren’t siblings or together as kittens, it can be very difficult.

[RedSheep73]

In your situation, 3. If you've got two who are happy with each other, just stick with it, surely? a new cat will get picked on. You say you've got 2 girls now - in my experience girlcats are incredibly territorial and will defend their territory against all comers. They are ok with each other because you had them together as kittens, but that window is closed now and any new cat you introduce will become The Enemy.

[Twooter]

Not all cats like living with other cats - there’s s reason that vets ask about other pets when cats come in with urinary signs, for example. I would at least wait until the current cats are 8-9 years old - space it out a bit.

[sweetkitty]

We have 3, 2 a brother and sister were a year old when we got number 3 a little boy. They all get on great. All snuggled up together.

My ideal number would be about 6, DH disagrees

[Grumpyoldpersonwithcats]

I think 5 is too many for two reasons.

1. we've never had more than 4
   
2. DW has told me that we can't have more than 4.
   
   4 is actually quite a good number (two pairs) but having three black cats at present it sometimes feels as if we have black cats everywhere

[Skade]

My DM was the original crazy cat lady so I would say 12, at one point when I was a teenager you couldn’t sit anywhere in our house without sitting on a cat

[AnnaMagnani]

For us it was 3. But we could never agree which of the 3 was the cat too many.

Then we lost a cat and we were devastated - she was definitely not the cat too many

So we are back to two. But if we lose another cat, we will get 2 kittens and have 3 cats again and so the cycle will repeat itself.

For you, you have 2 kittens that get on. However they are about to reach maturity and who knows what will happen then - quite possibly they will start to hate each other. Plus they definitely won't like one new kitten. Our old cat reacted like her life had been ruined. 2 years on, they still have punch ups although things are generally peaceful.

I'd give it another year at least. but I still ask DH every week if we can have more kittens

[Esmerelda1988]

I have 2, introduced the second as a kitten to a 1 year old after her companion died. Really horrible for a good few days, lots of hissing and growling, then they ended up snuggled up together washing each other. I think if you were to get another then make it a kitten so there's the hierarchy in place and it might make your two motherly of it like it did with ours. I sometimes think about a third but wouldn't want to upset the companionship our current 2 have.

[ImaginaryCat]

My grandparents took in strays in Cyprus. At various points they had anywhere between 15-30 cats who, to varying degrees, treated their house as home. That still wasn't too many!

[StayClassySally]

Couldn't resist...

In short, how many cats is too many cats? There's no such number.

[Nonstopbuttmachine]

Three, it's the perfect number! Although I'm swithering about a fourth at the moment; a poor little kitty who I can't find a home for

[Costacoffeeplease]

I have 15

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I have 15 Is it a case of if you can see the floor there's room for more

How did you aquire all these felines


I've got two young beo/sis and of course I look at the homing sites (ours were CPL) and think "Ahhh you could come and live with us"

But then I remember the early days with ours and the fact they'd be very judgey . And our male took a long time to settle .
So , no, we're sticking with two

Two parents
Two DC
Two DCats

[slipperywhensparticus]

I have three all brothers but they came at different times we bought one he wasnt settling well so we bought his brother a little crackers but they settled had them vaccinated and castrated but then the new owner of there brother decided to get rid of him for free on Facebook so I nabbed him...honestly they dont always get on and when they fight its usually him they fight he is the "outsider" cat its getting better but he is still a bit of a square peg in the house recently it's got better with him cuddling up to bully cat and less fighting but its still been hard on him plus he is anxious everytime he goes in the cat box like he thinks we are getting rid of him like his previous owner did

[helloisitmeyourelookingfor]

18 months?

You have forgotten the psycho kitten phase haven't you?!

I have 5, 2 are siblings the rest arrived at various points and ages but fortunately they are all very clear on the pecking order and bumble along quite happily -apart from feeding time when they mob me and do their best to trip me up

[YetAnotherSpartacus]

*I think 5 is too many for two reasons.

1. we've never had more than 4
   
2. DW has told me that we can't have more than 4*
   
   Although currently you do have 4.5... :)

[Toddlerteaplease]

Cheddar is the equivalent of about four cats, so I'm
Sticking at two!

[FenellaVelour]

We have two. I would like three but wouldn’t have more than that, I don’t think.

We tried introducing a kitten to our older cat when she was three, it went very badly 😬 he harassed her constantly to play, he adored her but sadly she hated him and got very stressed. We didn’t know what to do for the best and were considering rehoming him when he died very suddenly from cardiomyopathy.

Our oldest cat is ten now. We spent a short time a couple of years ago staying with my parents who have two elderly cats, and she tolerated them, then when we moved back out and bought our own place she decided she missed them and cried in the night. So we searched for the right companion for her and ended up adopting an eight year old cat, same breed, same temperament, about six months ago, we drove a nine hour round trip to get her. The crying stopped. They are never going to be best buddies but they get on OK. It’s very important if introducing new cats that you put the work in to find one who is compatible personality-wise. I learned that the hard way.

[Costacoffeeplease]

@70isaLimitNotaTarget we’re not in the uk, and there is a big problem of street cats and dogs here so we’ve just gradually accumulated them. Some we’ve picked up off the street, others have been found by friends or abandoned as newborns and one bottle fed them. It’s so difficult to get good homes for them that most tend to just stay

Our youngest two are unrelated but one, a black and white girl, came to me feral for socialising and I wasn’t happy with the plans the rescue had for her so I kept her, and kittens are always best in pairs, and my vet had a one eyed male tabby about the same age, so we took him too. She’s been spayed and he’s having his balls off tomorrow

We also lost two this year, our oldest girl who was 17, and was our first cat, and a 15 year old boy who was found sitting in the middle of the road at about 6 weeks old

[Costacoffeeplease]

Our youngest two

[Costacoffeeplease]

The two we lost - Harry