To think having 30 cats is a bit too many??

[SarahH12]

Friend of ours is a foster Mum to cats. Speaking to her last night she said she has 30 cats at the minute

Whilst I think it's great she looks after cats (I couldn't do it, I'd get too attached!!) I'm not sure 30 is in the best interests of the cats? I suppose what's worse - not taking them in or then having 20-30 cats in your quite small house?

ScreamingValenta - the only reason can be that they are misinformed and woefully behind the times. That used to be the recommendation - about 15 years ago but no longer. In the same way that some vets still say you should wait until cats are six months old before you neuter, even though the official recommendation has been four months for many years now.

What a shame, thecatneuterer. I saw a beautiful cat who sounded just right in terms of his personality, but the rescue said he could only be homed as an only cat or with another FIV cat.

We’ve got 4 and thought that was hard work!

I don't think any cat rescue would let someone foster 30 cats. I call bullshit. The risk of cat illnesses like HIV and cat flu rocket in multiple cat houses.

I have a cat with FIV who lives quite happily with my other cats who don’t. They won’t catch it from grooming or bowl sharing and are not aggressive to each other so there is very little risk of a deep tissue bite.

The biggest risk for FIV is unnueted toms. They will be more aggressive and wander further so they have the added risk of coming into contact with feral cats.

The cats I have fostered came from a multiple cat household of 30 cats. The RSPCA took them all away. (I loved one of my fosters I kept him)

It's likely that she's an independent rescue. I came across one of those a few years ago. A woman with lots of cats in her house that she rescued/fostered/rehomed etc, with a website and some fundraising.

I foster for a medium size rescue organisation and I think 30 is far too many in a normal house. We don't generally have more than about half a dozen fosters per fosterer apart from one woman who does hand rears full time and she has lots of cages and incubators, they don't all run free because most are too small.

The most we've had is 13, 4 or 5 of our own and 8 or 9 fosters and that's too many even though all the cats got on with each other and it was only temporary anyway - some cats got moved to another fosterer within a few days.

I'd rather not have that many, and it can be hard having nursing mothers because they can be very agressive towards other cats. I had a tiny mum who wasn't even a year old herself and she had my biggest 5 kilo boy cat pinned up in a corner because he dared to just look at her babies out of curiosity.

I knew a woman who had a similar number of cats in her house. She also had six dogs and approximately two dozen rabbits and guinea-pigs. Majority of rabbits and guineas were in hutches in her garage - she had accrued more because she didn't realise how young rabbits were capable of breeding were; she thought the kittens were too young to breed and left them in the same hutch. Many of the rabbits and guineas had never been outside and never seen grass or soil.

The cats also bred. She didn't buy parasite treatments but did take them to the vet if they seemed ill. But the worst thing was she used to take them off the street and keep them. My DSis and I had our work cut out to persuade her not to take a cat sheltering from the rain by someone's hedge: "Oooooh! He's lost! He's abandoned! Let me get the poor thing!" (We were only teenagers but we were revolted at the thought of how many pets she had stolen to feed her own desire for a houseful of cats )

Not saying OP's friend is anything like this of course, but the memory of how that woman's house stank to the rafters, with the cats and kittens weeing and pooing all over the place

@Rockbird - my DCat was one of a pair of siblings who were gorgeous together, sleeping cuddled up etc. The more outgoing of the two got run over leaving the more timid one alone. He became a completely different cat - bolder, more loving, more adventurous, and stopped over eating. Even though he was part of a bonded pair, he is far better off on his own.

Well they obviously need to be neutered... whatever charity it is need to sort that out.

30 CATS! The only sensible domestic pets in that number would be 30 Tropical Fish. And small ones at that.

I do not like cats. I am not alone with that either, so please acknowledge that.

They are our masters at the end of the day. Selfish creatures who bring in dead mice, shed hair, need litter trays, worming, flea eradication etc. yuk, They are creatures of the night too.

But anyway, a commercial entity is not a problem, but if 30+ cats are inside a house, yes big problem, to my mind anyway.

It's not the number. it;s how well she looks after them, if they have enough space and are not stressed from living in such a herd. I'd never be able to do it even if I lived in a mansion. Our 2 cats don't particularly get on.

I have one and I already feel terrible that I don’t have more time to give her more cuddles 😂

How could you have enough time to cuddle 30?!

Wow, I have 4 cats and that's plenty for me. (Probably more than enough for my DH, but he's very tolerant thankfully! ) Good on your friend, there are so many unwanted cats. And, as she's a cat fosterer, presumably she's been vetted so the cats are being well cared for.

Dread to think the state of her house with 30 cats! The smell and stench!

I have that many cats. In fact I thought this thread might be about me when I first saw it (then I remembered I don't have any friends ).

I have 25 or so permanents/semi permanents and normally an extra 6 or so fosters. The most I ever had at one go was 56. At that time I was trapping a colony of 60 plus cats and needed somewhere for them to recuperate for a few days post neutering before being re-released at site. As it happened I was having my bedroom refitted, so it was completely clear and I had relocated to my living room for the duration. So I put the building work on hold and filled the bedroom with hospital baskets. That was a one off though.

My house does not smell at all. I have had an outbuilding built for my very temporary fosters, and other, slightly longer term fosters are in a separate room in my house.

I have also had a cat toilet extension built with a good extraction system and a door with a cat flap into it, and from it to the outside. That is where the main litter trays are. Many of the cats use the garden of course and I have made a large area of soft earth for them to use.

Everything in my house is designed to withstand that number of cats, from the flooring to the furnishings.

I end up keeping cats that have little hope of ever being adopted, mainly because they are old/have health problems or are unfriendly to humans/semi-feral. As someone said upthread - few people actually want to have this number of cats. In an ideal world I'd have two. But the choice is either take them in, have them put down or leave them to die/reproduce on the street. The choice isn't even to take them into your home or to leave them in cages at the shelter. As those cages at the shelter won't stand empty. The minute they are emptied they will be filled again. It just means that more cats can be helped. Sadly those that will still only be a tiny fraction of those that need the help.

For as long as people think it's ok to not neuter their cat, or it's OK to buy kittens from someone on their street/Gumtree/whatever, this situation will never improve. All the rescuers can do what they can, but still only a fraction of the cats that need it will ever be helped.

I only keep cats permanently that like other cats. And they all live happily together - forming bonds and sleeping together and showing no signs of stress. Of course it would be nice to be able to devote more time to each one (although the semi ferals wouldn't thank me for it) but it's either live in a house with a little less attention or die on the street.

My 'disgusting' house is pictured (they particularly like the kitchen - i had underfloor heating installed just for the cats). In the second photo the cage is for a cat that is being introduced to the household.

There's a few of them laying claim to that square bed cat.

Where did you get the round pod beds from? My lot would probably like something like that.

At what point does it become animal hoarding?

I know - i took that photo as it was unusual to see so many on one bed. There are enough beds and space to go round - honestly.

I found the pods on Amazon (i think if you put cat pod in the search it comes up). But I've recommended them to other people who have said that their cats don't like them - so I hesitate to recommend them again.

I deal with a lot of animal hoarders. They normally have let their own cats reproduce and quite obviously can't cope themselves and the welfare of the animals is suffering.

That does look amazing CatNeuterer.

Do you ever just curl up on the floor with them for a nap?

One of the volunteers at the rescue I'm with has even more than me. However he lives fairly rurally. He also only takes black cats so that the neighbours don't realise how many he has as they never see more than half a dozen at any one time:)

Yes. Definitely. Your friend sounds like the crazy cat woman off the simpsons.

SaucyJack - funnily enough I did that for the first time a few nights ago when I had a bout of insomnia. The floor was lovely and warm and the beds were fluffy and I was covered in cats. I drifted off ...