Cat Hoarding

18 comments

Happy Thursday everyone and thank you all again for liking us on Facebook and for reading this blog. Special shout out to Nerissa from Nerissa’s Life blog for spreading the word about our Facebook page.Today is behavior day and instead of writing about a cat behavior, I am going to write about a human behavior that can be deadly to cats-Hoarding.

Snowball came from a hoarding situation where half of the cats had to be put down which is awful. Sadly, this is fairly common as you probably know from TV shows like Hoarders and from watching the news. Many people judge my husband and I for having so many cats, but I can assure you I am not a hoarder. I always attempt to explain that all our cats are indoors only, spayed/neutered and up-to-date on rabies shots. The house doesn’t smell because we constantly scoop the litter boxes and clean them. Unfortunately, most people tune me out once I say how many cats I have, nothing else matters. I do love the blogging community because many of you have several cats that you are able to love and provide for and understand the point I am trying to make.

Cat Fancy magazine just had an article in the July 2014 issue and I am pleased to say  that I didn’t meet any of the 5 criteria 🙂  Some of thse include not getting vet care, dirty house, poor condition of the cats, etc. I do take this very seriously and started seeing a therapist about 4 years ago when the number hit 15. I know that we can financially handle all 15 and we are fortunate that most get along in the main part of the house with only a few needing special areas. The only thing I feel bad about is not being able to afford to get all the cats’ teeth cleaned yearly, we need to space that out.

If you suspect someone is a cat hoarder, are some helpful hints here:   http://www.animalplanet.com/tv-shows/confessions-animal-hoarding/lists/top-5-ways-help-hoarder.htm . Thanks for reading and I won’t even tell you to watch Marc Maron tonight. He rarely shows cats and the show is very crude.

 

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18 comments

  1. I agree,you are absolutely not a hoarder! You are a responsible pet owner that has an enormous amount of love to share with all your fur babies. I have been to your house many times 🙂 it is spotless and if you didn’t tell people you had cats ( or see them lounging as they love to do) you wouldn’t know you even had one cat. I feel bad for people that hoard pets, I am sure that they love their pets, and as there are soooo many pets that are in need of good homes it is hard not to open your home to them, but as you say, you need to have the means to provide for them. I love that you love all your fur babies and make each one feel special 🙂 as well as provide medical care and a safe home for them. It is wonderful that you work so hard to help all the cats that you can’t take in to your home, keep up the good work!!!!!!

    1. Thank you Sharon- I do need to tell people not to wear black though or they will be covered in fur 🙂

  2. Thank you for this excellent post and link. Mom checked it out. Some people are really surprised to find that their are eight of us. They think that is a lot, but have never questioned whether or not we are well cared for, and we are. We do keep Mom, Dad and the housekeeper very busy trying to keep everything nice and clean. It helps that we have our ratio so we are not in the house 24/7. As bloggers with lots of cats, we could open ourselves up to a lot of criticism if it was obvious that we were not excellent caregivers. Keep up the good work. Mom says it is important with so many homeless cats that those of us who can afford it and are willing take in a few more kitties than the average. XO, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

    1. Thanks for writing Lili, Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo- I am jealous that your Mom and Dad have a housekeeper.

  4. We couldn’t agree with you more. I think the hoarders start out meaning well, but it snowballs and gets out of control. They end up hurting more animals than they help.

    1. Very true that is why it is good to know the signs in case an intervention is needed.

  5. Awww.. Thanks for the shout-out. It was my pleasure to share your page.

    Yup, I come from a multi-cat household, too. But we’ve all been spayed/neutered and we all go to visit the doctor, regularly. Far too often, in my opinion, but I’m not in control of makin’ the appointments… unfortunately.

    Purrs,
    Nissy #Niss4Senate

    1. Oh Nissy, I am sure your mom only makes you go to the Dr. because she loves you.

  6. My human is a journalist and has done a lot of research on hoarding – and she and I know several cat bloggers with over a dozen cats and NONE of them are even close to what hoarders are! There is a huge difference between a large multi-cat family and a hoarding situation. Hoarding (whether it is animals or inanimate objects) is a mental illness. A happy multi-cat family is life-affirming.

    1. Thank you for visiting the blog Sparkle- you have made me very, very happy. I agree with you completely as we have a happy 15 living with us.

  7. We don’t know you or your home purrrsonnaly as we cannot swim overseas, but you look more like a responsible caring and loving pet owner than like a hoarder ! Great post, and very interesting link, thank you ! Purrs

    1. Thank you for visiting our blog- I love to read yours. And thank you for the compliment.

  8. Fanks fur followin’ and commentin’ on meez blog. Wees just followed yous as well. Took us a foo tu figgew out yous website cuz it wusn’t listed on yous gravatar page and wees didn’t pay tention tu da addwess on da foto. MOL Sumtimes meez mommys not da cwispest cwacker in da box.

    Luv ya’

    Dezi

  9. Hi and welcome to our Thankful Thursday Weekly Blog Hop.
    Great post to remind pals to be on the watch for Cat Hoarding. Such a sad and serious problem.
    Nice that Snowball was rescued for one of those hoarding situations.
    Hope to see you in our blog hop next week too.
    *waves paw* :=o)

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