Living with Seven Cats

 
Living with Seven Cats  - it doesn't seem like many at all.

 Biggs

I moved over to the UK from Ireland with my seven Cats and two Chickens last year (2012).  I had never intended to have so many Cats, but in Ireland Stray Cats are common and those that either strayed into my garden or I found abandoned at the side of the road, ended up living with me.

One of the worst Cat related incidents (and there were many) that ever happened to me in Ireland, was when a friend found a bag of dead and dying kittens in a river. Only one survived.  This barbaric and heartless way of disposing of unwanted kittens is still common practice in Rural Ireland, even in the 21st Century.

The Seven Cats now living in England live the life of Riley......they have the choice of two homes, a lovely warm stove in the winter, a walled and sheltered garden in the summer and three people who spoil them. I feed them mostly raw food plus cooked fish heads which they adore. I no longer feed any dried food.

The oldest Cat called Biggs, pictured above, who is about 11 or 12, became very thirsty a few months back, rushing to the Dirt Tray often too. Eventually, after visiting the local Veterinarian, I took him to a Homoeopathic Vet about two hours drive away. After about a month of giving him the Homoeopathic Medicine, the problem completely cleared up, which was impressive.

As I became Vegan since moving to the UK, feeding meat to the Cats, is proving difficult from an ethical standpoint. So I am introducing a measure of Vegan Cat Food into their diet - rice and vegetables mixed with VegeCat - a Cat Food Supplement. However, some of them don't like the food at all, so at present I can only take this so far, especially with my delicate older Cat Biggs.  Here is an article about feeding Cats Vegetarian Diets: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=veggie-cat-food

Seven Cats seems like a lot, but on a day to day basis, they are not much trouble at all. You would hardly know there were many Cats here, except around meal times when they climb all over me, or when the weather is inclement and they all come indoors, seeking warmth and shelter.