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?

Your house sounds wonderful, thecatneuterer. I would love to foster cats once I retire and have the time to devote to them.

I would love to have 30 cats - but only if I were living on a farm.

It does sound like a lot, but it can be hard to say no as a fosterer then there are few other options. I used to foster rats and ended up with 18 once, due to taking on rats which were pregnant. Are any of her cats litters of kittens?

@Thecat, it sounds like you have a lot of insight into animal hoarding I find this an interesting subject I wonder if you would share any of your insights?

My position on cats is generally neutral I'm not really a pet person but I understand that pets are an important part of human culture.

@Wordthe I'm not sure I have much insight. I deal with it a lot but can't profess to really understand it. The hoarders seem to fall generally into two camps - there are those that don't get their cats neutered, end up with kittens, that then have kittens, and find themselves going from one or two cats to around 40 within only a couple of years. They tend to be vulnerable in one way or another - and often have mental health issues or drug/alcohol issues. Or they simply find themselves overwhelmed and the situation becomes too severe for them to face and to feel they have the capacity to sort out.

Then there are the ad hoc rescuers who take on stray/abandoned cats and find it hard to cope but impossible to say no to an animal in need. Official rescues are always overwhelmed/full and it is easy to slip into this situation. It becomes an issue when they become unable to cope themselves.

The person the OP is describing doesn't appear to be either of these things. She is just someone doing her best to help.

Too many is not enough.

There is nothing more to say on the matter.

I wonder if the trend for multiple pets has lowered the barriers into animal hoarding and that's why it's more common these days?

Wordthe - I doubt it. Deliberate hoarders are vanishingly rare and always seem to have mental health issues. The main problem is that people just don't realise how quickly cats multiply. They can get pregnant at five months old. They have an average of four kittens per litter and give birth twice a year. Once the kittens reach five months they too start getting pregnant. It's a classic geometric progression and I think, if all survive, you would end up with an extra 12,000 cats from just one in seven years.

Thanks I understand
so the neutering is the crucial thing hence your username😉

Indeed - and that's why I take any opportunity I can to bang on about it

My cat just ran up a huge dental bill - the only thing that appears to be excluded from our insurance policy - so much as I love her, one is enough.

1 is too many

One would be several too many for me.

MiddlingMum - just as one child would be too many for me - but I wouldn't dream of commenting on a thread about the maximum number of children a family should have as my not liking children would be irrelevant to the topic.

We have 18 cats was recently 19 (R. I.P Sylvester) however only 2 (plus the late Sylvester) are housecats as Dh isn't catty. I would often consider trading Dh and have the rest of the cats but reluctantly I suppose that's not practical

I would often consider trading Dh and have the rest of the cats but reluctantly I suppose that's not practical

Why not?

My next door but one neighbour has about 12 cats and they pooh every day in my path and garden. Make footprints all over my car and have scratched the windscreen. They generally have driven me nuts for three years. The kids and I constantly have to watch where we tread every day and can't even use the garden anymore.
It's one of the main reasons we are moving in the next few months. I will never again live next to a cat owner with this many cats.

Prob a cattery type arrangement

One is one too many. I prefer to see wild birds.

I agree.

I have a cat and a garden full of wild birds. Also squirrels, hedgehogs, badgers and a fox.

@XingMing my cat couldn't catch a bird if you placed it in front of him. The only thing in danger are funny looking leaves which he likes to fetch me as a gift. He even failed at killing a slow moving spider

I have three.

Kind of regret the third. We love him to bits but he can be nervous and spray in the house. I should have stopped at 2.

With 30 cats, they can't all be well behaved. There is surely the odd spray of urine and the furniture must be scratched to pieces. And I dread to think about the cat hair.

30!!! OK if you have a designated cattery, but if they are just roaming about your home that is not really on - they will 100% be vying for territory and will piss everywhere. Very unsanitary! I would have thought two in the house maximum.

I have 20 cats. I live in a very rural location away from all other houses and accessible only by a long dirt track. The cats could pretty much have a room each if they wanted to be alone. It's a perfect set up. They're rescue cats, with disabilities, behavioural quirks or elderly in the main. I love each cat individually very much. However, I'll never have so many again as the pleasure becomes lost in the several hours daily of work and housework attached to having so many cats. Every time I fuss and stroke a cat I'm running my hands top to bottom checking for matts, injuries, ticks. I watch how they walk (or hop in the case of the tripods) to check all is well. It feels like a lot of the pleasure is lost in the business of caring for and monitoring them all and in keeping a welcoming, fresh clean home despite the continuous muddy footprints and the fur.