So how many cats do you have? I feel like the mad cat woman!

[jazee]

Hi everyone, I really do feel like the mad cat women. We have always had 2 cats, but for some silly reason we got a kitten last summer, So then we had 3. With 3 kids 3 guinea pigs and 3 cats, that was ok.
Then we thought it would be great for our cat to have kittens - the ds would love it - they did - what a wonderful experience it was. We had to keep one though - the gorgeous grey tom and he really is adorable. But mummy cat is so naughty now and overly affectionate. She would wake me by pawing my face, licking my eyes[shut ones obviously!] and rubbing her gums around my mouth - oh dear - very smelly! If I hid under the duvet she would swipe me under the duvet with her sharp paw. She is very hyper and her and her little boy are partners in crime - dashing madly around the house. But worst of all she still uses the litter tray as kitty needs it so its there. BUT worse than that she misses the litter tray most of the time as she hangs her bum over the edge!
I am paranoid my house smells so go over the top with cleaning!
My 2 older cats are so calm and lovely. Sometimes wish we hadn't decided to get more. My carpets around the door are becoming frayed at the door frame. We try and keep all doors open - but that doesn't always work.
Would love to hear your stories.

Can I just ask all you fellow cat women - what do you do about having a Christmas tree?

Our cats are very young. One is a year old and last year at only a few months he had the tree over about three times.

He's def much calmer this year and is quite restrained, but we now have another kitten who is just 4 mths.

He is quite bonkers and such a determined little daredevil. He gets into all sorts of scrapes. He climbs and leaps up at things and chews wires. It's like having a toddler in the house again

A tree for him would be a personal challenge I just know it. Is it really worth putting one up. I've tried to prepare dc for the possibility that we might not be able to this year but it seems such a shame.

I have 3 cats - 2 kittens of about 6 months and a 16 year old old man. And 2 guinea pigs. I would have more of everything if we had a bigger house and more money.

I am worrying about our christmas tree as well and wondering how long it will be before the kittens have it over.

It will be very different here from last year. We have 2 new kittens but I lost 2 cats this summer, (1 died and 1 had to be PTS).

Oh crikey, I'd forgotten the palaver with the Christmas tree. Gave up half way through decorating it one year, was impossible to keep it upright with a cat aiming to climb to the top every five minutes.
Will see what happens this year, luckily my kids are grown up so no great drama if we don't have one.
Maybe have a small one to keep the children happy, not as likely to topple over then?

I even bought some orange smelling spray last year and sprayed it on the tree cos I heard cats don't like the smell. It made not one bit of difference apart from making the room smell unbearably orangey

We skipped a tree the year we got youngest cat (he's a 'July baby' so was still fairly kittenish come Christmas) but the next year he was fine with it. My lot have always been good with the tree.

My parents cat less good when they came to stay.

Hopefully he'll calm down a bit (not too much though I hope!)

Ours is also a July baby and is now desperate to go out and full of beans but I want to keep him in a bit longer yet.

We sometimes take him supervised round the garden but he wants to go off exploring. I think he's still too small and he shivers when he's out cos he's not used to the cold.

I did the same, supervised garden access (one day it snowed and I wanted to see him play in it, he was very cold that day) but he wasn't allowed out properly until a few weeks after he'd been neutered.

They are so cute at the kitten stage. He's an enormous lazy fat lump now, still fairly cute though.

Have to reply to this.

We have 9 cats, 3 dogs (border collies), 2 horses, 3 ferrets, 5 chickens annnnd.... 280 cows and 400 sheep! (DH is a farmer)

Seriously though, the cats are "house" cats, in the summer they are out all day and in the winter they are all drapped around in front of our log fire. .

Wowww! QuietTiger wins paws down on this!!

I love seeing cats toasting by the fire but 9! They must be jostling for poll position I imagine them all as the cast of Top Cat.

Are they all related? Were some kittens you couldn't bear to part with? Aw I bet they're really lovely.

I used to have 9 cats but have 3 currently. They were mostly the products of relationship breakdown or a new relationship where the new partner didn't like cats .

I actually worked in rescue for a long time and the 9 are just products of foster cats I couldn't bear to part with. Their histories are horrendous, but they live the life of luxury now. :)

The only two who are related are a brother and sister pair who were removed from a Dog-fighting house (where they had been used as dog bait ) by the RSPCA in a raid 2 years ago. They actually adore my collies, but that's because the collies are super soppy.

One belonged to DH before I met him and to be fair, fitted in with my 7 when I moved in. Number 9 is a feral who lives up in the cattle sheds by choice. :)

We have a few chairs in the lounge that are cat chairs and we're used to sharing the sofa (and our bed) with 4 or 5 cats! It's a bit off putting when you're DTD and a cat jumps on the end of the bed to watch though!

How lovely that they are spoiled now thanks to you QT. They sound as though they have a wonderfful life now.

and that people can be so cruel. Using them for bait in dog fights - appalling

If allowed to make all the pet related choices I would have many. However, DH has very firm rules there are four vacancies in our house (a dog is two vacancies) how I fill them is up to me, but I must not exceed my allowance!!
So currently I have gorgeous girl my PFB (cat), arrogant boy (cat) and the mobile mop (dog).
To be fair being a vet if he didn't have this system almost every waif and stray that passed through my door would come home.

I get what you mean, Lizcat. My DH has a strict system, in that we have 8 house cat vacancies (#9, Sid shed cat doesn't count as he's feral and lives in the shed) and 3 farm dog vacancies. Anything else is only allowed to "pass through" until it's rehomed. Of course, he'd never let anything go hungry, or cold, or without shelter....

We have six. A couple months ago, we had two. Then someone dumped a young mama cat and her four kittens at the library and I caught them all. One kitten disappeared in the days before I heard of them.

Lola is 2, a house cat who goes out a lot. Rosie, a male, also 2, is an outdoor cat but likes to visit inside. He showed up last winter in the cold. He was young, someone had dumped him. He is now tall and beautiful--grey tabby w white bib and feet. Both of them wrestle and play with Molly, our dachshund.

Mama Cat and her three kittens will live outside (heated houses--two, as kittens don't remember mama). Breezy is grey plush, Oliver is black, and Georgie Girl is a gold tabby. Mama Cat is a black and gold tortoise.

Everybody is fixed!