most are ferals that i feed and sterilize, but we have 2 indoor/outdoor, 1 old male who is staying in most of the time and eating baby food, and 1 housecat who lives in the kitchen. total about 14.

My calico is sleeping on the desk, next to me as I type.

I love cats, but I do know my limits.

Now, because I am so old, I will not get any more. I have a young dog and an old cat, and when they go, no more pets.

I understand the urge to care for pets and to have good companions, but it doesn't work if you have too many.

I think our friend Siwsan has the right approach in bringing in ferals, socializing and neutering them, and then placing them in loving homes.

to sterilize, do shots, deflea, deworm, arrange socialization. I did it all. FeLV, FIV testing. Photo history and write-up to help future adopters. And I paid a surrender fee on them every time! Every adoption was pure profit for them, plus their adoption files made the Humane Society look like they deeply cared about their animals. The Humane Society would even phone me if they unexpectedly ran low! Years earlier, when I lived in Austin and volunteered at the HS, I'd been the catalyst for establishing their official foster program. I conducted the orientations, took in fosters, assigned them. So I had years of history with the HS and we had a fabulous relationship for at least 10 years after we moved a 2-hour drive away. The Austin HS allowed me to rescue over 500 cats and dogs from this tiny village whose strays or unwanted animals were doomed. I suppose, since I moved outside Austin, they were under no obligation to help my rescues, but my rescues were adopted super swiftly and never cost an Austin animal its opportunity to be adopted. Also, twice after we moved, I fostered cats who were in AHS custody due to abuse seizures.

I had no reason to think it would ever end, but it did. They reduced everyone's numbers. Then they started postponing my scheduled appointments over and over. A 9-wk. old litter would be 3 or 4 months before they could come in and then they were unwanted because they couldn't compete with the teeny tinies.

This happened to several litters totaling about 12 kitties when I threw in the towel. Plus, I already had a horde of adult former fosters who weren't adoptable, usually for health reasons. For example, my Leah developed seizures. Our beloved Carny was born with malfunctioning kidneys... he's now 10, the vet and our pride and joy!!!

So....now I have too many cats!!!!!