How many cats are to many

by Right

How many times have you heard the question "How many cats are too many"! I hear this all the time and believe it or not, it really is a good question, so I will try to answer this for you with a little help from the Purina Cat Chow web site.

The chances for developing behavior problems multiply with each additional cat your human takes into your home. Because we felines are such territorial creatures, we need ownership of a specific area within the home to feel comfortable, this is very important for your human to understand. There must be enough space to go around, or squabbles are inevitable.

A good rule of thumb is to have no more cats than there are bedrooms in the home. This gives each of us a room to claim as our own territory. Some cats adjust to each other by using a “time-share” mentality and rule the same space but at different times, perhaps one during the morning, and the other in the evening. Others use the "bunk bed" method, like Jessie and I used to do. She slept on the top of the bed, I slept directly under her under the bed. But you really can’t count on that to work all of the time. At our house, we each have a specific place to sleep. Left sleeps with his Daddy, Jessie sleeps next to Meowmie, SassyJazmine sleeps on the other side of Meowmie. When I first got here, I got into the habit of sleeping under the bed because Jessie wouldn't let me into Meowmie's bedroom. I had to sneak in and hide under the bed so she wouldn't see me, now everything has changed, a new cat has moved in.

Dusty, a flame tipped Himalayan has come to live here and NONE of us are happy about that because she chose Meowmie’s bedroom to hide in. Dusty has always been an only cat, for 15 years she ruled her own house, but tragidy struck, and her daddy went to the rainbow bridge. Mom brought her here to live, and everything, even meals are melodramatic now.

We only have 2 bedrooms, so the rule of thumb for a room for each cat wouldn’t work. I would say get rid of the girls and then it would be just right with Left and I. But Mom says “not a good idea, just deal with it”.

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