How many cats are too many?

I am a cat person. I love dogs too but if given a choice, I would pick cats over dogs any day! My friend Mallika says she cannot choose between cats and dogs. Well, I connect with cats better. Dogs are nice… as long as they are on the other side of the wall. 😛

Of late, I have been thinking How many cats are too many? We have 4 cats at home now. (Yes, there’s a story attached to each kitty and that will come later in the post.) So, having 4 cats got me thinking – is there something like too many cats? I already feel 24hours is not enough time to spend with the cats.

The cats don’t get along with each other. We have two ginger cats – Caramel and Toffee – they are sisters. Then there is a tabby named Peppy (she’s a ‘grown up’ kitten) and a black and white cat named Peter. They have their ‘portion of the house.’ Caramel and Toffee are always on the first floor while Peter and Peppy have come to an understanding about sharing the ground floor. We have a small house built for Peter in our garden while Peppy sleeps inside.

The weirdest part about these cats is their arrival. These are grown up cats and I have heard people say grown cats don’t make human friends quickly. Caramel came home 6 months after Miss Puddykins passed away – she came over in May. Toffee took her time to follow her kitty-sis, arriving somewhere in October. Both the kitty-siblings are our neighbour’s cats. They have now made our home their new home – the cats I mean, not neighbours.

Peppy came home in December with a white kitten. We thought they were a mumma-baby pair. But we were wrong; they just tagged along; no relation whatsoever. We had to give away the white kitten (I named it Casper) as it started going out of the gate. We have a lot of stray dogs around (we feed some) so it wasn’t safe for Casper to stay.

In January this year, another cat came over. Looking at its size, we thought it was a tom cat. Badly injured, with one ear torn and a deep gash on its tummy (looked like the tummy was ripped open), we didn’t have the heart to shoo it away. My mum named the cat Peter. Turns out, Peter is a Petrina. We still call her Peter though…

So, that’s the story behind our four cats. Peppy was a housecat before she came to our place. And so was Peter. Do cats really leave their owner’s house and find another home? I always thought cats are loyal to the house they live in. Nobody has come looking for Peppy or Peter. Caramel and Toffee’s previous owners know their cats prefer our house to theirs and they are okay with it.

According to experts, it is not recommended to have more than 5 cats at home. Well, only one cat stays in while the others spend most of their time outside… So, this means there is room for 4 more cats in the house, right? 😉

Okay, I have no intentions to end up being the crazy cat lady. Crazy, yes. Crazy cat lady? Nah! Pass!

Don’t get me started on all the fuss that happens everyday. Each of the cats have their moods and food preferences. There is also a bit of overfeeding going on- the 4 of them were thin when they first came home; now, they look like piglets. (I don’t overfeed the kitties, my parents do.) Our living room is stacked with dog and cat food. Too many flavors and varieties (wet, dry, treats, younameit!) of cat food and the 4 cats are spoilt for choice!

But of late (I blame Omicron related brain fog for this) I have this weird feeling that I am turning into a cat. No, don’t worry, I haven’t started climbing trees or scratching anything I find interesting. Or even catch squirrels and rats for that matter…

Jokes apart, Cats their own personality. Stubborn, bossy, high maintenance but full of unconditional love. I really cannot imagine my life without a cat around. If they want something, they want it yesterday. You cannot say NO to a cat, Nope. Try saying NO to a cat and you will face the consequences.

I was not a cat lover until eight years ago; i.e; before my paralysis. Although, when I was in college, there was this cat which left a dead rat on the doorstep every year on my birthday. Looks like the cat-higher-power was preparing me to be a cat butler… (Cat owners don’t call themselves ‘owners’; we know we are more of a butler to the felines.)

Now, I cannot get enough of cats. All the four kitties do not eat in the morning until I pet them. Yes, the first thing people do when they wake up is check their phone. The first thing I do as soon as I wake up is pet the cats and make sure they eat. Their day ends with a goodnight kiss from me… Maybe I am turning into a crazy cat lady!

So, I finally come to the very question that made me write this post. How many cats are too many? Or, is there a thing such as too many cats? Of course, experts (whom we have never seen) suggest having more than 5 cats might cause health issues to the owners. Maybe… But, the 4 cats that I have at home are not really at home, are they? So, this doesn’t apply to me, does it?

Are you a cat lover? What are your opinions about having more than one cat at home?

The post is incomplete without photos of my masters.