Originally Posted by Badcat:
“BIB - Sorry...but that just isn't true. I've been bought up since I was a glint in my dad's eye in households with more than 2 cats and none of our cats ever suffered from stress. And yes, all were taken to the vets and not a single one ever were diagnosed with a stress related illness.
They had access to all areas of the house and gardens and were all very laid back. Something I practice even now.
A cat will get stressed if they feel trapped and unable to get out or away from a stressful situation so may be more how your cats are allowed to use your home and the access they have to quiet areas than living with another 2 cats.
As I type 3 of mine are lying in a pile on top of each other in a sunbeam on the table (and one is really snoring!)
Cats have lived in packs since the beginning of time (look at farmyard cat packs) and the thought that a cat is a solitary animal is slowly being unraveled (there was a BBC documentary recently where the "experts" were amazed that a house with 6 cats in it (none related) were like a happy little family, didn't fight and didn't stray far from their home and followed each other around in a group when they did go outside.”
Complete tosh. Firstly no cats live in packs. Ever. The only naturall social living cats are lions and they live in prides not packs. Feral cats are often found in colonies which are completely different, they don't build hierarchies or relationships in the way pack animals do, they aggregate together to share resources, be that shelter, food or safety in numbers, don't let that fool you into thinking they are happy like that, in fact a cat would rather keep the resource to themselves however the entry needed to defend said resource vs the benefit of the resource often means sharing. It is the same for feral dogs. They don't live in packs, the aggregate. It's like saying zebras and antelope live unpacks together in the wild so need the inter species contact. Rubbish they aggregate to share a resource, just as cats do.
Your cats may not of shown stress because they had areas to go to. I'm not against multi cat households, we have some very happy cats in the shelter in pairs, but we have many that have lived together all thier lives but when there's no freedom, they fight. Every cat is different.
The documentary was experts sarah Ellis and John Bradshaw (animal behaviour experts) and they were talking about how cats are evolving to tolerate each other, not to nessisarily like living in close quarters, be that in a house together of walking across each others patch, and take advantage of the benefits of living in close quarters (such as free food). I think you misunderstood her saying she was surprised at the harmony in the house, she was surprised because it was unusual to the extreme to have that many cats happy.
I have to agree with marellak maisy, I worry that you have taken too much on, and perhaps you should contact cpl, blue cross or RSPCA to discuss handing some cats over. Yes they are facilities that euthanise but if the cats are not rehomable (ie major behavioural issues, medical problems or still feral) then it maybe better for them, sorry but I do believe that.
The problem is that there is no legislation on animal sanctuaries and people like Maisey take on a few cats out of the goodness of their hearts and it grows and grow until the are out of their depth but can't say no because they don't want to stop helping. But maisy- I didn't relaid you had so many in your house, that's not good for you or any of the cats.
