How do you care for many indoor cats?

cookiedough03

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I have three resident cats and three fosters. It gets hectic but because the fosters are young (<3 months) I keep them in a room (plenty of space and toys). Part of me is considering keeping them after talking to potential adopters. But I think it may be insane and tiring down the road. They are very active and just play and sleep. when I give them access to the rest of the house, there is still some accidents, mainly urinating on the couch and curtains, other than that they are litter trained. They're all black so conversation with people who want to adopt a cat is mostly like, "I'm looking to adopt a kitten but I'm scared of black cats...I need to think about it."

Anyone with more than 3 cats and a FT job, can you share your experience? What's your routine like to keep the house neat? Thanks!
 

Maria Bayote

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I have 4 indoor cats, and the busiest time for me caring for them is during feeding. It is also the time I scoop up the litter boxes. Once in a while one of them vomits, topples down decors, gets trapped somewhere, accidentally poops outside the box, or anything out of routine. So I also have to clean up after them. Mostly they just sleep and play, or in the case of Graham, "talks" almost the whole time I am with her. (Seriously I have never met a cat before who incessantly talks all the time. LOL).

My schedule is feed them at 5am, scoop the litter boxes, get ready for work. When I come back home I'd feed them again, scoop the litter boxes, vacuum/mop - then the rest of the evening is for me with an hour at least to play with them and feed them again before bedtime. It sounds easy, but it is also a lot of work especially when one is tired from the office.
 

di and bob

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I would definitely NOT adopt to people who would say something like that, I thought that notion was long gone.....I finally have an outside all-black cat (After orange and white for years) and he is absolutely beautiful! He looks like a panther! There are surely people out there that would love a black cat, so put it out on Facebook and see what you get. Several pictures would be nice.
I have 6 outside and 3 inside cats. And though it can be hectic around here at feeding time, somehow we all muddle through it. I scoop 5 litterboxes every day, two are in the garage for the 'teenies', the two babies I have, and they are going mostly outside now. as your little ones get older they will be easier to take care of, the teenage times are hectic!
 

Babypaws

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Lol. Gotta all beat…I’ve got 12 indoor cats. Lol. The oldest is 16 years and is a pretty fawn color with white markings on her face, then I have one black cat who I think is called a tuxedo cat (white chest and paws) then there are 4 all gray cats and 6 all black cats. I’m retired so at least I don’t have to deal with a job. To be honest I don’t know if I could deal with it all if I was working. But then again we can usually adjust to things that have to be done.
my day starts at 6:30….clean all the litter boxes, give fresh water (I also have one fountain) and then feed them. What a sight to see when I ask them if anyone is hungry. Some mornings I have to clean up some pee from one cat who is anxious about one bully cat I have but I don’t want to put her on any meds ( I know that would also be stressful for me trying to give it) ive tried the calming plug in and it doesn’t work. So it takes at least an hour til I can have my morning coffee.
I feed them again around 5 pm. In between there’s another round of litter cleaning. i try to vacuum at least every other day. I’ve had to “cat” proof my house…removed a lot of breakable items off tables, mantle etc….I use to have a lot of house plants which have dwindled down. But so far I’m able to have a couple of places where I’m able to keep a group of plants together. After awhile they sorta got use to seeing the plants and don’t bother them as much.
it is a lot of work but I love them all and could never give them up.
Having cats is like having little toddlers around, you get tired but when they cuddle up or rub against your leg of jump on your lap the tiredness melts away..
at least that’s how I feel.
im wondering since they are litter trained but makes an occasional mistake when they pee where they shouldn’t it might be because of the excitement of getting out of the room??
As far as people saying they are afraid of black cats that’s so ridiculous. Don’t know when or how black cats got to be known as bad luck etc by superstitious people. They need love and care as much as any other cat. 😻
I know I didn’t give you much advice but wanted you to know you’re not alone, hang in there…
 
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cookiedough03

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Lol. Gotta all beat…I’ve got 12 indoor cats. Lol. The oldest is 16 years and is a pretty fawn color with white markings on her face, then I have one black cat who I think is called a tuxedo cat (white chest and paws) then there are 4 all gray cats and 6 all black cats. I’m retired so at least I don’t have to deal with a job. To be honest I don’t know if I could deal with it all if I was working. But then again we can usually adjust to things that have to be done.
my day starts at 6:30….clean all the litter boxes, give fresh water (I also have one fountain) and then feed them. What a sight to see when I ask them if anyone is hungry. Some mornings I have to clean up some pee from one cat who is anxious about one bully cat I have but I don’t want to put her on any meds ( I know that would also be stressful for me trying to give it) ive tried the calming plug in and it doesn’t work. So it takes at least an hour til I can have my morning coffee.
I feed them again around 5 pm. In between there’s another round of litter cleaning. i try to vacuum at least every other day. I’ve had to “cat” proof my house…removed a lot of breakable items off tables, mantle etc….I use to have a lot of house plants which have dwindled down. But so far I’m able to have a couple of places where I’m able to keep a group of plants together. After awhile they sorta got use to seeing the plants and don’t bother them as much.
it is a lot of work but I love them all and could never give them up.
Having cats is like having little toddlers around, you get tired but when they cuddle up or rub against your leg of jump on your lap the tiredness melts away..
at least that’s how I feel.
im wondering since they are litter trained but makes an occasional mistake when they pee where they shouldn’t it might be because of the excitement of getting out of the room??
As far as people saying they are afraid of black cats that’s so ridiculous. Don’t know when or how black cats got to be known as bad luck etc by superstitious people. They need love and care as much as any other cat. 😻
I know I didn’t give you much advice but wanted you to know you’re not alone, hang in there…
That's a huge number ! so nice you can take care of them!! :lovecat2:
 

missymotus

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We have a number of cats plus litters of (registered) kittens, it’s just a matter of having a cat friendly home setup and routine.

do you have litter trays in each room? Little ones can’t always run back to home base so need trays quickly available, if they’re still having accidents with trays near by then they’re not reliably trained enough to be loose in the house yet.

also consider what will happen if once they mature the 6 don’t all get along. Have you the space to keep cats apart and rotate spaces.

Is the rescue not assisting with screening applicants?
 
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