mileswade wrote:D - All of the above.

I hold the line at one cat. My wife surprised me with it AFTER I had signed the lease stating we only had one dog. Yes! Cats and dogs living together! His name is Tarzan since he likes to swing on the drapes, a piece of rope, whatever is hanging down. Also likes to get on top of the doors and look down like a vulture. Freaking weird cat.

' whatever is hanging down.'

Keep your pants pulled up!

Two cats is just right.

I went to adopt one cat 14 years ago and ended up with two brothers -- a perpetual kitten and a dignified alpha -- which turned out to be the perfect number. I always knew who was boss, but they got along well and could usually be found curled up together. About a year ago, I lost the subordinate cat; he died in his sleep. I'm not the only one who still misses our kittenish cat. My alpha cat hasn't been the same since, and I haven't been able to fill the void that his brother left. One of my son's first words was "diddy" (kitty), because of the cat that we lost; he was a great companion when my son was really little. Alpha cat isn't quite so impressed with my now 2yo; even though I taught my son to be gentle, the cat tends to escape to his "room" (a bed hidden behind the folding table in my laundry room) after a few minutes of attention.

When the time comes, I'll adopt another pair, but my remaining cat deserves to have his old age without a young cat pestering him.

Growing up we had anywhere from 5 to 20 cats. Most of them lived completely outside and were "tame". That is as a child if I managed to corner one it was more likely to scratch than bite me. The only real "safe" time to pet most of them was when you fed them. We lived on a farm so there were a ton of mice around and the cats took care of that problem.

I know live in a house next to a field and am glad I have 2 cats to help keep the mice down.

I don't think I would ever have a cat that lived only inside. I think they should live for the most part outside and visit the inside.

That being said, all you folks who hate cats should be pretty thankful for them. Cats, owls, foxes, and coyotes help keep the varmit population in control. When it gets out of control you can get outbreaks of all sorts of different diseases, none of which I would guess, would be not worth putting up with your neighbors having cats.

We used to have 8 cats when I was a kid. We had 4, and then we adopted a litter of 4 kittens from someone.

I have 3 and a dog now. And 2 kids.

34% of you are kitty haters

biggoron wrote:We used to have 8 cats when I was a kid. We had 4, and then we adopted a litter of 4 kittens from someone.

I have 3 and a dog now. And 2 kids.

34% of you are kitty haters

No - just hate smelly people with stinky houses.

enos233 wrote:No - just hate smelly people with stinky houses.

And that's a legitimate problem. Too many people want animals but don't properly care for them. Their dog smells, their catbox isn't changed enough, their rodent cage isn't refreshed regularly, etc.

We have one cat with two litter boxes. Changed daily. And the litterboxes are in the back of a stone floor room. You wouldn't know we had cats, and our clothes and furniture certainly don't smell like it.

But before we moved, we hada neighbor, and she was a cat lady. Oh boy, that was something else.

I think 2 cats is plenty for me. I have 1 one cat now but she doesn't get along with other cats. She is indoors only.
I had 3 one time. I took on the third cat only because my boss kept begging me to take him.
There is a rule of thumb: have only 1 cat per bedroom. Any more than that is too many. I knew a woman who had 27 cats in a 2 bedroom trailer. Yuk. It was supposed to be a 'rescue', but the poor things were so stressed out and sick all the time. People think they are helping cats by taking so many in but it is a much worse life for them, really.

I have eight cats. Unapologetically. All rescues, all indoor cats, with clean litter boxes, excellent vet care and diet, and fulfilling lives. "Too many" isn't a number, it's the level of care you can or cannot provide.

rehta wrote:Anybody in the DFW area of Texas want a huge 12 year old diabetic cat that keeps peeing everywhere that it shouldn't? We can only take it so much longer before we will have to put him down. With a 2 year old and another baby on the way, we cannot have a cat peeing on everything in the house. He has already ruined the flooring in several rooms. He might do better in another environment. He likes to be king of the castle. And he has a 10 year old buddy that is scared of everything and everyone, has a slight skin condition and a sensitive stomach, so he pukes constantly. I think they both need to get away from the 4 year old cat that took over the house and annoys the crap out of them. Anyone? Anyone? PLEASE? I don't want to have to put the cats down!

Cats pee outside the box because something's wrong. Stress from your 4 year old cat can be dealt with, but it could be illness. (Vomiting frequently is also a sign of illness.) I would go back to the vet and have some testing done, especially urine, to make sure nothing's out of whack. Being "diabetic" alone isn't enough to make a cat go outside the box; this is an indication that he's not feeling well so perhaps his management protocol needs adjusted. Rehoming your cat will be very difficult and even then, it's super hard to find a home that will give your senior, special needs cat (or cats) the proper care he deserves if you aren't willing to do it yourself. If nothing else works, could you rehome the four-year old- who will be much easier to find a home for as he doesn't require special care- and allow your two senior cats to live out their lives in peace, rather than risk giving them to someone who won't have their best interests at heart since they have fear and medical issues?

-Animal rescuer and training/behavior consultant, slinking back into the shadows now.

people that claim they hate cats are like this:
I hate smelly people
I hate people that drive too slow
I hate people that laugh too much
I hate people that talk too much
I hate people that don't like sports
I hate people who whistle
I hate people who kiss in public
I want to kill all of them & mutilate their bodies

Lighten up! Stop trying to control the frikkin' world!!!

PS Thank God for all of you cat rescuers!!!

djkittn wrote:Cats pee outside the box because something's wrong. Stress from your 4 year old cat can be dealt with, but it could be illness. (Vomiting frequently is also a sign of illness.) I would go back to the vet and have some testing done, especially urine, to make sure nothing's out of whack. Being "diabetic" alone isn't enough to make a cat go outside the box; this is an indication that he's not feeling well so perhaps his management protocol needs adjusted. Rehoming your cat will be very difficult and even then, it's super hard to find a home that will give your senior, special needs cat (or cats) the proper care he deserves if you aren't willing to do it yourself. If nothing else works, could you rehome the four-year old- who will be much easier to find a home for as he doesn't require special care- and allow your two senior cats to live out their lives in peace, rather than risk giving them to someone who won't have their best interests at heart since they have fear and medical issues?

-Animal rescuer and training/behavior consultant, slinking back into the shadows now.

The peeing all over the floor and other objects started a couple of months before we took him to the vet and he was diagnosed with diabetes. Nothing else changed in the environment and the 4 year old cat's behavior hasn't changed either. He did have kidney problems in the past, but the vet checked on that when he was in recently and that seems to have sorted itself out and everything seemed fine except for the diabetes. We have modified his diet slightly (not as much as we are supposed to though, as it pissed the cat off when we did) and give him his insulin twice a day. His blood glucose is now fine, and the peeing seemed to have stopped for awhile, but then we discovered he has just started peeing elsewhere instead.
As for the puking cat, I would take him to the vet if I didn't honestly think it would give him a heart attack to do so, he is that skittish and utterly frightened of everything. He was a rescue from the streets as a very young kitten. We don't know what traumatized him, but something obviously did and he has never gotten over it, despite all of the love he gets.
I suppose it does make more sense to try to find a new home for Taz (the youngest) and see if that clears up the problems with Weasel. If it doesn't we'll be right back where we are right now though, only without Taz (although admittedly, he is getting on our nerves more in the past month as he has decided to start meowing outside our door in the middle of the night to be let in and to demand treats because he thinks he should get treats 24/7).
Ugh. I love our cats, but they can all be such a pain!