# of pets in home and how many are too many?

[MichelleCarmen]

Someone on another board I frequent asked how many pets are too many and the best answer I read is that you know you have too many pets when you cannot give them the attention they need. We''re almost to that point.

My female cat we are trying to put up for adoption is a shy cat who doesn''t cuddle. We know her and her personality and are use to her. Someone called today expressing interest in her and the other cat we already put up for adoption and my husband told the caller that they''re already gone. Then he asked me, "what about Luna?" So, I told him he already knows how I feel.

Four cats is too many isn''t it? When is an unhealthy point reached? I can care for the cats - feed them, change their litter boxes and vaccum, but ahhhh, what to do. . .

Sorry to post about this twice, but up until yesterday, I''ve never given a pet away. I always thought pets were like kids, once you have them, you are their parents for life.

 

[decodelighted]

Oy. I can sympathize. We have four cats and a tiny dog. Its A LOT. When we moved in together his two male cats joined my two female cats & girlie doggie. Chaos ensued. One of the cats is such a bully that he "lives" in our master bedroom 90% of the time. I feel awful about it (and hate having a litter box & food in our BEDROOM) but he can''t stand the idea of putting him up for adoption -- no matter how many behavioral problems he has. Strangely he seems pretty content living in there solo ... king of his own castle. But its much less space to roam/explore than he had @ DH''s old apartment.

Complicating matters further -- I''m now 100% in charge of housekeeping (long story) -- and the cat box stuff was HIS old chore. So I''m kinda knee deep in litter for the first time in two years. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.

Least fave chore EVAH.

I''m sure I''d be sad to adopt out or lose any of them ... but, man, I am NOT NOT NOT ever getting a cat again! Dogs, however, are pure bliss.

(Can you tell I''m not a "cat person"

)

Did I even answer the question? Five pets is A LOT, but whether its "too many" is a personal decision I guess.

 

[bee*]

We have three dogs, a cat, a macaw and a mouse in our house and it''s fine. We have a huge back garden so the dogs can play out there whenever they want, but mostly they stay in and sleep on our couch. The dogs are a golden retriever, a standard poodle and an afghan hound so they are three big dogs, but we don''t feel like we''ve too many.

 

[FrekeChild]

We have 3 hamsters, and 2 red ear slider turtles. If we had a tiny yard I would try to talk BF into getting two dogs (on the bigger side-over 60 pounds) and would probably stop there. If he had his way we''d add a cat or two to the mix, but they don''t do well with hamsters, turtles or my allergies. I have a feeling that once we get a house with a decent size yard, all bets are off and we''ll have about 3-4 dogs just because neither one can stand to see strays, see them at the pound, or see them going for adoption or about to get destroyed. We''re going to have a zoo...

 

[isaku5]

Date: 2/8/2008 6:48:40 PM
Author: decodelighted
Oy. I can sympathize. We have four cats and a tiny dog. Its A LOT. When we moved in together his two male cats joined my two female cats & girlie doggie. Chaos ensued. One of the cats is such a bully that he ''lives'' in our master bedroom 90% of the time. I feel awful about it (and hate having a litter box & food in our BEDROOM) but he can''t stand the idea of putting him up for adoption -- no matter how many behavioral problems he has. Strangely he seems pretty content living in there solo ... king of his own castle. But its much less space to roam/explore than he had @ DH''s old apartment.

Complicating matters further -- I''m now 100% in charge of housekeeping (long story) -- and the cat box stuff was HIS old chore. So I''m kinda knee deep in litter for the first time in two years. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.

Least fave chore EVAH.

I''m sure I''d be sad to adopt out or lose any of them ... but, man, I am NOT NOT NOT ever getting a cat again! Dogs, however, are pure bliss.

(Can you tell I''m not a ''cat person''

)

Did I even answer the question? Five pets is A LOT, but whether its ''too many'' is a personal decision I guess.

I''m sure it''s easier to look after one dog than it is to be knee-deep in the litter of four cats,

but no one needs to "walk" the cats and unless you want to shovel doggy-do from your backyard every spring, cats RULE!!

 

[Catmom]

LOL, Isaku!! At one point in time we had 6 cats, 3 birds, 1 tortoise, 1 bearded dragon, 1 chinese water dragon and numerous fish. We are currently at 5 cats, 2 birds, 1 tortoise, 1 bearded dragon and the fish. I never thought I would say it but 6 cats are too many cats. For us the perfect number of cats is four. But I am a feral cat colony caretaker and more seem to frequently find their way into my home. I don''t know why that is.

 

[movie zombie]

i have had as many as 9 cats at one time and now have 5. when you can''t appropriately care for them is when you have too many. care includes but is not limited to physical attention, changing litter boxes, food, and medical care. as pets age, their medical bills go up. if one isn''t able [or is unwilling] to pay vet bills for multiple cats, then perhaps that is the ultimate definer.

movie zombie

 

[Haven]

I agree that you have too many pets when you can''t adequately take care of them.

We have an enormous problem, at least in the US--there are far too many homeless cats and dogs, and there are also far too many irresponsible people who adopt pets and then realize they can''t adequately take care of them. I''m not saying this is you, MC, I don''t know the circumstances surrounding your situation. But I do have to say that I think this thinking should be the way it works: "I always thought pets were like kids, once you have them, you are their parents for life."

That being said, I grew up in a four cat home, and it wasn''t too much for us. Right now I have two cats and two dogs (had three cats until two years ago), FI has three cats, SO we''ll have five cats and two dogs when we marry. I''m sure people will think we''re crazy, but we love our pets dearly and taking care of them is a priority for us. Having pets is an enormous responsibility--these animals are in your care, and they rely entirely upon you for everything that they need. I know people who don''t change their cats'' litter daily, and even some who don''t change their pets'' water daily, or they just let their dogs out to run in the yard and never walk them or take them to the park, and it is so sad to me. Why adopt a pet if you aren''t prepared to take care of him?

Okay, rant over. This is obviously something I feel quite strongly about. Bottom line: if you aren''t sure you can handle the pet, that''s one pet too many.

 

[vslover]

Date: 2/8/2008 6:48:40 PM
Author: decodelighted
Oy. I can sympathize. We have four cats and a tiny dog. Its A LOT. When we moved in together his two male cats joined my two female cats & girlie doggie. Chaos ensued. One of the cats is such a bully that he ''lives'' in our master bedroom 90% of the time. I feel awful about it (and hate having a litter box & food in our BEDROOM) but he can''t stand the idea of putting him up for adoption -- no matter how many behavioral problems he has. Strangely he seems pretty content living in there solo ... king of his own castle. But its much less space to roam/explore than he had @ DH''s old apartment.


Complicating matters further -- I''m now 100% in charge of housekeeping (long story) -- and the cat box stuff was HIS old chore. So I''m kinda knee deep in litter for the first time in two years. HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE.

Least fave chore EVAH.


I''m sure I''d be sad to adopt out or lose any of them ... but, man, I am NOT NOT NOT ever getting a cat again! Dogs, however, are pure bliss.

(Can you tell I''m not a ''cat person''

)


Did I even answer the question? Five pets is A LOT, but whether its ''too many'' is a personal decision I guess.

EWWWW...I think you should immediately implement a "boy job" rule and tell DH that it''s his job to deal with poop going forward. It works on DH for our 2 dogs. lol.

 

[Haven]

Date: 2/8/2008 7:46:43 PM
Author: movie zombie
i have had as many as 9 cats at one time and now have 5. when you can''t appropriately care for them is when you have too many. care includes but is not limited to physical attention, changing litter boxes, food, and medical care. as pets age, their medical bills go up. if one isn''t able [or is unwilling] to pay vet bills for multiple cats, then perhaps that is the ultimate definer.


movie zombie

movie zombie said exactly what I was trying to say. And you''re so right about the medical bills--my 17-year-old cats cost us over $100 in medicines per month. (One needs fluid injections for kidney disease, another needs a smear in the ear for hyperthyroidism.) They are both active and playful as they were when they were young, though, my little old ladies. And take a look at my avatar--that''s FI''s little guy after an emergency surgery ($1500) a month after he was adopted (Geddy was about 10 mos old at the time) so the medical bills can add up at any age, too.

 

[Cind11]

I had three cats for a long time and it didn''t seem much more than two. Then when we got cat number four, suddenly it seemed like a lot more. We can afford them and give them LOTS of attention, but I think my big hang-up is litter boxes. The amount of um stuff in the litter boxes seems to have gone up astronomically. I adore my boys though and don''t want anything to happen to any of them. But I think in the future, we will stick to three cats.

 

[sumbride]

We have 3 cats (1 mine, 1 his, 1 ours) and some days it feels like a bit much, but they all get individual attention and we have 3 floors so we figure "one cat per floor" is reasonable. And in our city, if you have 4 or more cats you need to have a "kennel license" so we figure 3 is our limit!!!

For a while, we figured we''d stick with 2 after we lost one to cancer, but the remaining parties did not get along, so we adopted a kitten to bridge the gap. It''s working. The 2 older cats still don''t like each other, but they don''t pay as much attention to each other now that they have the other cat.

 

[Heidi137]

I have three dogs-a miniature schnauzer, standard poodle (best dog ever) and yorkie. I think one more would be too many especially with the grooming involved.

 

[lyra]

I think when YOUR quality of life is compromised, then it''s too much. For us, that was 3 dogs. Now even with 2, it''s still an all day/all night thing of taking care of their needs. As they age, they complain more it seems. I would imagine if you''re still stressing about whether the cats are getting enough quality time, then it''s still "too many". You deserve to have a full life too!

 

[zoebartlett]

We have two cats and we''d love to get a dog someday (that will have to wait until we have a house). I love the idea of getting another pet but right now we just don''t have the space and it wouldn''t be fair. As others have said, it becomes too much to handle when you can''t properly take care of them. Also, as mentioned already, it''s probably too much when the cost of taking care of so many animals becomes overwhelming. We love our kitties as if they were our kids (which for right now, they are) but we won''t be bringing home any more...not for a while.

 

[movie zombie]

Haven, and i thought you said it better than me!

movie zombie

 

[Kaleigh]

I think you know the answer, if it gets to the point where you are overwhelemed you have too many. We have 2 dogs and a bird. The dogs keep each other company so that makes it easier. The bird is a diva and would have the dogs waiting on her hand and foot if she could. She''s a riot, and really get a kick out of her.

 

[brazen_irish_hussy]

We have two cats and for awhile we raised 4 abandoned kittens. Giving them up was one of the hardest things I have ever done, but we both knew we were not in a place in our lives where we could handle more than our two.

My parents are settled, have money and plenty of space, and they have three cats which they have no trouble taking care of.

I have a lot of problems with my FMIL, but one thing I could neer fault her on is her love of animals, especially cats. Until this year, she had three cats and three dogs. One of the cats had been sick for a long time and died last month and one of the dogs who was quite old, 13, died last night. She was able to take care of all of them well even when monkey, the sick cat, needed constant care and attention. 6 was fine for her because she could handle it.

My point is, there is no magic number, just what you can do with your situation.

 

[monarch64]

I really don''t think there is a magic number either. My brother and SIL have two dogs, 11 cats (yes, eleven), and all of the animals are really well taken care of. Most of the kitties were rescues or strays, they''ve all been spayed/neutered, and my SIL doesn''t believe in declawing so she either trims their claws or puts those claw cover thingies on them. (11 cats walking around with rainbow brite nails, it''s kind of cute!) The dogs are rescues as well, a chow mix and a lab mix, and they are really well trained and just very nice dogs. Their house is spotless, I''m amazed every time I visit them how clean they keep it with all those animals! Living with that many animals is not for everybody, but they''ve done a great job of making it work, and every one of those animals is happy and loved.

I''m a two animal person myself...two dogs, no room for a litterbox so no cat, and that''s enough for DH and me to look after!

 

[firebirdgold]

We''ve got three cats and a large dog. (and fish and a lizard) That''s pretty much our limit as we''re maxed out on handling poop and fur. (somehow I''m in charge of cleaning both... wait a sec, how did that happen??)
We don''t have any trouble giving them all attention. Monster dog does takes more work than the cats, what with walks and outings and play time and baby talk, etc... The cats seem fine with cuddles, using us as pillows, and the occasional play time. I sit on the couch a lot when on the laptop, and I always have at least one pet and usually two or three on or snuggled against me at any one time. I can even have all four furries with me! And dh wonders why I prefer to work on the couch!

 

[Gypsy]

We had four cats and a dog in a fairly good sized home in NJ, and it was totally manageable. I would been fine with 7 cats... but still only one dog. I think it just depends on the animals, you, and your lifestyle. We don''t have kids.

 

[Elmorton]

I think it really depends on the space you have, too. I refused to get a second cat when I lived in a tiny one-bedroom apt (kinda caved on that one, but moved soon after). For now, 2 cats is more than enough to fill our small house. When we move to somewhere permanent, we do want a big fish tank. And someday when we have kids who are old enough to handle the responsibility, we''ll likely get a dog. But that''s our absolute limit - 2 cats, 1 dog, fish.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Date: 2/8/2008 8:28:51 PM
Author: Haven
I agree that you have too many pets when you can''t adequately take care of them.

We have an enormous problem, at least in the US--there are far too many homeless cats and dogs, and there are also far too many irresponsible people who adopt pets and then realize they can''t adequately take care of them. I''m not saying this is you, MC, I don''t know the circumstances surrounding your situation. But I do have to say that I think this thinking should be the way it works: ''I always thought pets were like kids, once you have them, you are their parents for life.''

The reason I''ve never given a cat up before is because I''ve always been very careful about not adopting more animals than I can handle. The deal is I have a 14 year old cat I adopted in my early 20s. My husband surpised me with 2 kittens about a year and a half ago. Those three cats were the perfect number for our family and the animals have enough room to run around on our 1.23 acre lot. Then, what happened was the renter of our rental adopted the brother of the two kittens my husband brought home, but he abused the cat by locking him in the garage for all hours of day and night, so my husband took the cat and brought him to our house. That was the only option we saw fit at the time. Later the renter admited that he threw the cat against a wall!

We didn''t intend to keep that fourth cat/the brother, but he soon acclimated and life moved on with him in it.

The fifth cat was one who SHOWED UP at our door last summer. He was so desperate for love that he purred whenever we saw him and so we feed him and got him fixed. It took us many months before putting him up for adoption, but when DH decided to, he added one of the other cats to the newspaper ad. I knew the fifth would be put up, but didn''t want the fourth, so I''ve been upset.

Up until this whole situation, I''ve only ever had two cats at one time. Four is a lot, but we do have a large yard, not a tiny apt.

Anyway, we decided to keep the cat DH had placed in the paper. We know her personality well and I do not think a person adopting her would be pleased since she''s not much of a people cat.

 

[Lynn B]

Michelle,

It sounds like it''s working out for you, and I''m happy about that. xoxo!

I agree with you -- we, too, have always strongly felt like "once you adopt a pet, you are its parents forever." But we have also never found ourselves in the situation of feeling like we have too many pets. That would be a VERY difficult position to be in. That situation needs to be looked at in perspective, then, I think... and realizing that the *people* do have to come before the *animals*, and if an animal needs rehomed, and every care and precaution is taken to be sure it gets a good home, then I think the people need to not beat themselves up about it.

And there are so many variables... a managerie

may be quite comfortable and manageable for one family and totally overwhelming to another. And each should be respected.