Reptile & Amphibian Forums

how do you do it? How is it that you afford 18 cats, 1 dog and a hamster? You must have a great job that pays well. Some of them must be out door cats. Do you use liter boxes? Do you only feed them dry food? I just wanna know How you do it?
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Lynn
Emily
Lucky
Spaz
Jem
Animals are the best compainions, they never talk back

Wow! Lots of questions. First of all, I am an RN (Registered Nurse). Don't make that much money but enough. My children (step) are all grown up and gone. My spouse is deceased so most of my money after bills goes to my pets. I rescue ferals and some of them are tame only to me. None of my 18 cats lives or even goes outside, although a couple would like too. All but one are spayed or neutered and she isn't cause she is the most recent addition. Her day will come. Yes, I have about 10 litter boxes that I scoop daily and clean out totally every weekend. The cats eat a variety of foods from 8 bowls. They free feed dry food, Friskies, Iams Hairball, Science Senior, and Purina Kitten Chow. All also get 1/3 of a can of Friskies every morning. We have 5 water bowls kept fresh daily. 2 cats are confined to their own room, also known as the guest room as they don't get along with other cats, in fact they hate them. So they are isolated from the clan. Monthly we go through approximately 60lbs of Friskies, 10 lbs of Iams, 8 lbs of Science and Kitten Chow and about 8 cases of canned. My dog is also a rescue and she is an alpo dog, she eats a mixture of canned and dry, warmed in the micro for 40 seconds once a day in the morning and gets a pigs ear and treats every evening. All share in whatever I eat if it is something they like. Most of them get along fairly well with each other, many are related although from different years and many have the same Mother and/or Father. I have several family groups (kits from the same litter). And although there are occasional hissing, growling or chasing there are never any all out fights between anyone here. My oldest is Onyx and she is 17 years old. My youngest are 6 one year old cats from 2 different litters. Hope this answers all your questions and then some. If you want to see pictures of all of them and some others from the past and the colony, just go to the picture gallery and find search and type in PHWildCat and it will show them all.
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PHWildCat/Tessa and 18 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

wow that is a lot of cats and food, but you are only buying for yourself and them so thats better than buying for a baby, yourself, hubby, and cats. I go through an 18 lb bag of cat chow a month and have 4 litter boxes and 3-4 water bowls. Like if we go some where for a couple days i fill 3 of those 2 sided dishes with food and 4 bowls with water. I clean the boxes daily and dump them every friday!Yheah i put down some kitten chow now too where we still have 3 of them, one leaves the 20th, one goes next week, and we still need to find one a home because the person who took her is allergic to long haired cats and i told them to bring her back to me and i'd find a home for her, i placed an add in the uncle henrys for her, it should be in the next issue which comes out the 16th, and where people are looking for them as xmas gifts i bet she'll go that day.......Maybe some day i'll rescue cats too but it'll have to be when we have more money and room!
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Lynn
Emily
Lucky
Spaz
Jem
Animals are the best compainions, they never talk back

Wow, that is alot of time and work. Well, I thought you might like to hear about this: my husband and I went to visit a cat shelter that a woman runs from her home near the coast in VA. She has 150 cats there!! It is run by her and her husband and whatever volunteers they can recruit. There are cats of every age from bottle-fed newborns to seniors. Every weekend they get tons of people coming over to find a cat to take home, but of course there are always new strays that need to be taken in. They have a small two bedroom house and also have constructed an "escape-proof" outdoor area for the kitties. My husband and I came into contact with her while we were looking for a home for our kitties while we were here, and even though we have found another place for them we have decided to help her out by helping with some construction projects. (my hubby used to do that stuff)
Anyway, just thought I'd share about that. Somehow they keep their house from smelling lke 150 cats, which they are very proud of. I read the description of all the work you do Wildcat, and can't imagine what it would be like with nearly 10 times that many kitties.

Wow...150....wow!!! That is a lot of kitties, for sure. I can't imagine trying to do that. 18 is difficult enough some days. Thanks for sharing that
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PHWildCat/Tessa and 18 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers

Man....4 is totally enough kitties for me! The main thing I have a problem dealing with having lots of kitties is disperssing enough love to all! Bubba needs his scratches, but you have to be careful where you do it because he likes to release his anal glands when he's happy (eeewww!), so the bed is deffinately out. Kuma needs lots of time to squeak at you and give lots of headbumps and kisses while you give him a few good strokes. Macaroni just wants to be on you cuddling and being loved, but she loves to kneed which tends to be painful and she drools! Kola is a spazzy kitten, but when I get home from work I have to take time out to cuddle her for about 20 min. If I try to put her down before 20 min. is up (or how ever long she wants to be cuddled) she'll give you the sad eyes and stand on her back legs until you scoop her up and let her snuggle into your shoulder (actually, my shoulder, she only likes this from me not mike). It's so sweet to have a kitten snuggled up under your chin purring louder than any kitten should be able to purr, but when I look up I see everyone else sitting around looking jealous of the kitten snuggle. Especially Mac, she narrows her eyes at me to show how much she disapproves!

How do you give out the love? I know you're supposed to only give even amounts of attention to all when everyone's in the room, but I have to get everyone one on one so they all get their attention and don't fight over me!

By the way, I have so much respect for you that you're able to keep all those kitties happy and healthy...your vet bills must be unbelievable!
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-Martha
Kuma
Bubba, formerly known as "Ducky"
and
Macaroni
And Now
Kola, the new fizzy kitten that has a tendency to go flat!

I make sure that everyone who likes to be held, gets held once a day at the least. All get petted if they like that. I have a couple who would prefer that I leave them alone, I still nab them and give them a little love. Some have special time with Mommy. They make sure of it. 2 sit on my lap in the morning when I read the paper before work. 1 is in love with the dryer and likes to stay there and protect her favorite food dish and she gets time alone with me in there. 2 keep me company when I take a bath, 1 lies on my feet while I host on the puter. And of course several join me in bed and get some special time. The 2 convicts that have their own room get time with me every evening, we watch the news on their TV together. All come to me when they want some special attention and I give it to them on demand. Can't resist a furry face
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PHWildCat/Tessa and 18 cats, 1 dog and even a hamster
Cat Board Monitor and Chat Host
Pet Hobbyist
A house without cats is like a garden without flowers