Cat Hoarding, How Many Cats is Too Many?

For some people even one cat is too many, while other people can have several cats, all well looked after and cared for.  So let us look at how to determine if a person has too many cats, and is a hoarder, or sometime called, a "crazy cat lady".

The Law

Many areas have laws stating how many cats are allowed, if a person has more cats, then they clearly have “too many” in the eyes of the law. This also applies to people who have a landlord with a pet restriction in place. By keeping more cats than they are allowed these people actually put their cats in danger. In some cases cats can be removed without notice and their owner is helpless to do anything about it.

Illegally Getting the Cats

Pet hoarders some times get their pets by illegal means, they take in other peoples cats, and justify it by calling them strays.  Of note, they keep the cats and do not correctly report finding these "stray cats" thus the cats actual owner cannot recover their pet.  In short these hoarders have stolen somebodies pet.

Financial Concerns

When somebody cannot financially care for the number of cats they have, then they have gone too far. Such expenses include providing the basics, food, litter, as well as being able to pay for regular veterinary expenses, vaccinations, worming, and one-time expenses such as spaying or neutering, as well as having enough money for emergency care. Signs of this are pretty easy to spot when a person says they cannot afford to have a cat vaccinated, or spayed/neutered, as this is basic care. While it is understandable that they may not be able to afford a $1600 surgery, they should at least be able to afford to euthanize a suffering pet.

Time Constraints

If a person does not have time to spend on giving attention to each cat this can be a problem. Often cats raised without a fair amount of human attention, and surrounded by other cats, start becoming somewhat elusive in nature, bonding to the other cats, and not humans. Signs of this are easy to spot, cats often become cowardly, hiding under beds and in closets, rather than rubbing on people's legs or jumping on their laps.

Filthy Environment

Things really get bad, and become a health concern for both human, and cat, when there are so many animals that the home becomes filthy particularly with cat feces and urine. This often becomes a problem when the owner cannot keep the cats litter boxes clean, and/or fails to have enough litter boxes (as a rule of thumb there should be one litter box per cat). This is different than when a cat fails to use their litter box for medical reasons.

When the Owner is Unaware of How Many Cats they Have

If the cats have not been spayed or neutered, chances are they are breeding and producing kittens at an alarming rate. In some hoarding situations people just keep bringing home more and more cats and soon they are totally unaware of just how many cats they own. This is sometimes also a concern when cats are dying and the owner is not even aware. Many hoarders have been found with the bodies of dead cats in, and around, their home.

Other Factors

If the person, or their family, are suffering as the result of the individual's commitment to their cats, they probably have too many cats.

Sometimes even one cat can be too many, if the person is being abusive to it in anyway.

If somebody is not interested in caring for their pets, then they have too many.

Summary

If you know somebody who is a cat hoarder, or is at risk for becoming one, be sure to step in and get involved because typically these problems only get worse. Encourage the person to surrender some, or all, of their cats. If that does nor work, call your local by-law office, or animal shelter.  They should look into getting all female cats spayed and in the mean time have females and males separated.