Pet Hoarders: How many cats are too many? | Dr. Justine Lee
Do I really need to answer this question? (And yes, I realize this blog will piss off people who own more than 6 cats!)
Unfortunately, I do.
Years ago, I had two women who brought in their cat into the emergency room at University of Pennsylvania. Both women reeked so badly of cat urine, I couldn’t even close the exam door due to my eyes burning from the ammonia smell. When I asked these women some questions about the cat’s environment, they couldn’t answer how many cats they had (I asked, “10? 20? 60? 100?”). Their reply? “Over 100.” These two women, who were cat hoarders, didn’t notice that their cat was ill until it was on death’s door, since they had so many in their “environment.” This cat was severely dehydrated, emaciated, and had a body condition score of 1 out of 9 (See Purina’s body scoring system that we veterinarians use to evaluate weight). This cat weighed just under 5 pounds (instead of 9), and was so comatosed it couldn’t even lift its head (It ultimately died despite several days of hospitalization and life-saving care).
So, can you imagine having so many cats that it prevents you from adequately being able to care for your pets?
You may hear of the occasional crazy “hoarder” revealed on the news – people with underlying mental disorders that live with a hundred cats hidden in their house (and hopefully nowhere near your neighborhood). Sadly for the cats, the m.o. of your cat lovin’, urine-smelling, disheveled animal hoarder is quite sad. Most hoarders are unmarried and live alone (and you thought it was hard to find a date with just two cats…). Hoarders also come in all different socioeconomic backgrounds and typically are over sixty years of age. To top it off, over three-fourths of hoarders are females, once again giving the single, white female a bad rep. Some more scary numbers?
- In 69% percent of hoarding cases, animal urine and feces was found accumulated in living areas.
- More than one in four (> 25%) of hoarders’ beds are soiled with animal feces.
- 80% of reported cases had dead or sick animals present in the house.
- 60% of hoarders didn’t acknowledge that they had dead or sick animals in the house.
- Over 65% of hoarding cases involve cats (although some also hoard small dogs and rabbits).
While most hoarders don’t read my blog, my general advice to any cat owner is this: I usually recommend no more than four to five cats total. Sometimes I offend my fellow veterinarians, veterinary technicians, and friends when I tell them my cut-off for crazy is six cats. After that, I think it’s medically unhealthy.
If this pisses you off, I’m sorry, but I’m looking out for the welfare of the cats and dogs here. Try finding a veterinarian who has that many – it’s rare, because we know how having this many cats can result in severe behavioral problems. Of course, if you ask ten different vets, you may get ten different answers. That said, until those nine other vets write an opinionated blog about it, I still recommend no more than four or five cats per household.
So what’s the problem with having so many cats? Animal behavior specialists often see more problems in multicat households. Having too many cats may result in urination problems (e.g., not in the litter box!), intercat fighting and attacking, and difficulty in monitoring general health. For example, checking the litter box to see if one cat has a urinary tract infection is more difficult when you have six cats.
So how many cats should you get? I have to say that I initially enjoyed having a one cat household; that is, until I experienced a two-cat household. Now I’m a firm believer in having two cats together. Seamus, my 17-year old, grey and white tabby, was more friendly and affectionate to humans (more to the point, me!) as an only child. When I adopted Lily, a now-9-year-old, female, overweight tabby cat, I had less “loving” from Seamus… he wanted to spend all his time playing with Lily instead. Echo and Lily played together (constantly), slept together, wrestled together, and loved each other up. Since Seamus and LIly befriended each other, I was officially demoted to the source of food and to litter box duty. Seamus’ quality of life, social skills, and exercise level definitely improved while he had Lily in his life. After seeing this, I do firmly believe that cats do benefit from having a companion to play with. Note, a companion or two (not six or one hundred).
I’ve been fortunate to have cats that get a long (despite the first few tumultuous days of hissing and cat introductions). For that reason, yes, I support having a few feline friends together.
Do you have any long-term cat companions who hate each other? What behavioral problems have you noticed?
References:
1. Kuehn BM. Animal Hoarding: A Public Health Problem Veterinarians Can Take a Lead Role in Solving. Journal of American Veterinary Medical Association 2002:221,8:1087-1089.
2. Patronek GJ. Hoarding of Animals: An Under-recognized Public Health Problem in a Difficult-to-Study Population. Public Health Reports 1999;114,1:81-87.
As previously published on www.PetHealthNetwork.com.
I need help!!! My friend is a cat hoarder. I want to ‘intervene’, but before I do, I need the name of a good physchiatrist who deals with hoarding in the Deptford NJ area. PLEASE!!! I’m at my wit’s end.
She has 30 cats at her house & just bought another house with a barn. The cats were to be moved there. They never were. She just filled that house up with more cats
Please help me!!
Oh no – I’m so sorry to hear this. You are such a good friend to help and intervene. I wish I had some resources for you but I don’t at this time. Let me contact some people and email you directly.
We have 7 cats and I’m tired of people judging me because of it. Our perfect number was three but over the years we got involved in cat rescue and soon realized there are not enough homes for all the ones who need them. We have found homes for many cats, but the ones we couldn’t we kept. My husband and I have good jobs, no kids, our house is clean, and our cats are healthy and well cared for. If I could rehome some of them I would but I refuse to kick a cat out or take it to be euthanized if I know I have the resources and room for it. Instead of shaming the people who are taking in these animals we should be shaming the people who don’t fix their cats and allow the over-population to continue.
You’re doing great, cat momma! It sounds like you’re providing an excellent environment for them, and I think that’s fantastic. Thank you for rescuing those cats and rehoming those you could. I think the most important thing is that as long as the environment is good for them (and it sounds like it is), there’s no inner-cat aggression, they are kept healthy, there’s environmental enrichment, and they are safe, you’re doing great.
Phew! This made me feel better.
I have four of my own kitties, and now two fosters (which won’t be going anywhere until a suitable home is found).
I’m so worried that I was borderline with the hoarding.
I’m in the process of building a giant cat enclosure in my yard, and they all have enough stimulation.
I have a few that ‘crank’ at each other, but physical aggression rarely happens (those two were my first cats).
Thank you, Lisa, and Justine.
Needed to read this today!
Do not let an opinion define who you are!!! I have 9 rescues currently, and I am no hoarder at all.
I agreed with the checking first before condemnation but then you just found someone else to blame. ?
It’s ironic, I’m as judgmental on people who have 5 kids, as they are when they learn I have 6 cats (we only have 1 kid). I think each household is going to be different. We only adopt males, and prefer black cats (knowing they have a harder time finding a home). All 6 get along perfectly (only 2 of them are brothers), and there is little to no aggression in the house. Do we have to divide our time between them? Absolutely but no different than if you have 3 kids. And I stumbled upon this page, because we are considering adopting another black cat. 🙂
i LOVE black cats – that’s what I have now. 🙂 Thanks for adopting these guys.
Thank you for this blog. I’m single and live alone with my three cats. I’ve been feeding and socializing a feral boy for several months while trying to find him a home or get the local rescue to help me, with no luck. I just brought him inside this weekend, since we’ve had bad weather. I’ve fostered a couple of cats before, for about four months each.
The problem is that I adore him, and my neighbors all agree he considers me his human. He runs to meet me and could spend an hour on my lap if I let him. Even my family, who think three cats is a lot, were sort of shocked when I said I was still trying to find him a home. I really want to keep him.
My cats are very much cared for, well fed and very much loved, but I always thought three was the cut-off for “too many.” Even when I struggle to clean up after myself, I keep their litter boxes and dishes clean, clean up any of their messes and put them first.
It’s good to see that I won’t be quite into cat lady territory yet if the fourth kitty ends up being a foster failure. I still worry he’d be better off with a home of his own, but I love him as much as my three perma-cats and I’m not sure I’ll be able to give him up. Thank you for this reassuring post.
Of course – it sounds like you are providing an amazing home for them, so 4 is ok in my eyes. 🙂
My husband read this and sent it to me. We have 3 inside cats. One old lady and 2 young boys. She doesn’t like the boys very much. She tolerates them. My question is this. We have noticed a couple of strays hanging around. It’s bitter cold and snowy here right now. They are very skittish so I just put out food and , so far one shelter house. I noticed a third different cat this morning then he saw yet a fourth! He told me I’m over my cat lady limit because you said so. I said your limit shouldn’t include stray/ferals. What do you say?
Lol. I’m ok with it!
I currently have ten cats and one dog…all rescues and all spayed, neutered and with proper vaccinations. I do not want this many cats at all! I found homes for six kittens last year, and then just acquired a mother and her kitten, and no luck so far with homes for them. I have one that is 15, one that is 11, two that are ten, and the rest are younger than that. The dog I acquired last fall, running through traffic, matted and filthy.
I actually have bad dreams about this! Please, no more! I am 77 and worry about the person who is going to inherit my house having to make decisions for all these animals.
Hello, thank you for your blob and post! Thank you to all who have posted on your blog! I have 3 cats: 1st female tabby was rescued at 7 weeks old, she is now almost 3 years old and is the first cat in my house. The 2nd cat is a male black and white, he is about 2 years old and was also rescued at 7 weeks old, the 3rd cat is a female tuxedo and she was rescued at 6 months (TNR), but she purred so much while in the trap I knew she was super sweet. Well, she turned out to be a blessing because she and my male black and white are inseparable, They rough play together, chase each other, and just completely love each other. My 1st cat, the female orange tabby is like the grumpy cat and is definitely a loner and enjoys playing by herself! She doesn’t care about the other animals. There’s more: I have a female chihuahua who is 10 years old, she has a lot of spunk and now thinks she is a cat and I have a what I like to call a miniature black lab, did a DNA and he is mixed with miniature pincher. He is only 16 lbs, I figure God knew I couldn’t handle a big dog with all of the little ones running around. So…. that’s 5 pets, I sometimes think I’m a pet hoarder. My home is clean, they all have pet insurance and are updated on their immunizations. I do TNR in my neighborhood and currently is also taking care of a female calico on my back deck. She is the reason why I started feeding the cats in the first place. She was a kitten with her mom and sibling, my heart melted and I started feeling them six years ago. Once I saw that the colony consisted of six cats in the neighborhood I became responsible and learned how to TNR. Every feral I come across if I’m able to trap will get spayed or neutered. The reason why I am writing on your blog is my feral calico is super friendly to me and now wants to come inside. I love her dearly and she is the last of the original colony, if I take her in will I officially be an animal hoarder. I do understand that if I bring her in, she will need to be in quarantine for a few months, get her into the vet for vaccinations, and make sure she is healthy and disease free before introducing her to my existing pets. I just worry about her and want to protect her. Writing this lengthy message may make others think that I am a crazy cat lady. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
I have 4 cats and one dog in a 2 bedroom 3 level house. I have 2 litter boxes on each level and water bowls on each level. The cats all get along with each other and my dog. I would never keep more than 4 cats at a time for many of the reasons in the article.
Grew up close to an auntie working in rescue, with 5 dogs and an average of 20 cats in a beautiful old villa and a beast of a wild secured garden (really nice unless you needed to find a specific cat). Many were unadoptable. But she had help, family and rescue volunteers coming several times a week.
I always wanted us to have 6 cats but due to circumstances, we ended up with 7. It doesn’t quite work out, as the one we took in to be the playmate of #6 (he’s younger and kept troubling the others, even bullying the sick one) isn’t happy with the situation. We even moved to a bigger house partly because of them and now plan to let the the younger ones be outside cats as this is a village now – but I’m scared, just the other day we saw a run over young kitten.
Rehoming them failed. No one wants a cat that can bite and tear you up without a notice. We suspect he was kicked or beaten before, he spent 3+ weeks in hiding when we got him and the poor frightened boy’s first contact with me was biting my hand and stare at me. Or one who poos and pees into your bed or anywhere else really. Even when explaining that it would likely go better in a new home. And everyone wants kittens or fancy looking cats. The rescue we had her from said she likely wouldn’t be adopted again and spend the rest of her life in the shelter. That’s not going to happen. She’s my baby, she sleeps with me often and we just can’t abandon her like that.
It got a little better since we moved – double the house size and two balconies already cat-secured. Once we are done with renovations and they’ll have a cat flap to the hopefully soon secured garden it might all normalize.
The worst annoyance for me is when people try guilt tripping us into taking more cats, especially now that the house is so much bigger and we have a big garden etc pp. “Take a few more, what’s the difference?” Uh, food, litter, vet costs? Good places to put the litter boxes? Time to clean after them and keep their vet appointments? Noticing when they are sick? We already have older, sicker cats which require medication and litter box patrols. In case any of the readers is one of those “take one more” people please stop doing that, find someone without so many cats to rehome yours. It adds to the hoarder problem because some of those people just can’t say no and then are afraid to admit what they consider failure.
Once we’ve settled in and if it all happens to work out we might add one more cat just to be able to say we have an infinite number of cats so can’t add any more. #8 – turn sideways, infinity symbol! But that cat would have to be a perfect fit for what we already have, which is difficult so we will probably just let a rescue relocate some outside cats to our garden for us to feed and monitor. Or a cat will just find us again.
Hello, My boyfriend found this post and freaked out saying im over the crazy cat limit lol. So now im slightly worried. I have 5 cats currently 3 that have been with us for years. 1 female (Calico age 8) and two orange tabby brothers (Age 4.) About 8 months ago we moved and found a black and white kitten kept coming to our door and desperately scratching to get in. Since it has been so deathly cold out lately I relented and let her in. She quickly navigated the home and settled herself right in the middle of my bed (Very odd behavior I would think for a stay cat.) So I called up my landlord. Turns out the old tenant had 4 cats and this little one matched one of the discriptions. Shes been here ever since. (Renamed her Eclipse.) The 5 is a 4 week old kitten who is left out of a barn litter where i keep my horse. I kept her because the poor little thing lost her tail and 4 toes to frost bite before she was found. So I guess the real question is is there too many? We live in a one bedroom duplex with two floors, and none of the 4 cats have been fighting, there is a cat tree in everyroom (Save for the kitchen) and a litter box per cat.
There definitely is something as TOO many, but it sounds like you guys are caring fore them well – I would recommend one more litter box or even an automatic litter box like Litter Robot. As long as they get along, they are healthy, they are getting preventative care at your veterinarian, sounds like they are in good hands! I’d try to avoid anymore though… 🙂