Flying Omelette wrote:
Due to behavior problems with Hermes and Trinket, I feel a little bit taxed as it is with having 6 cats. 7 would have been pushing us beyond our bounds. I used to do housekeeping and housesitting for a person who owned a 3 story mansion in NJ. If we had a house like that, then a 7th cat probably would be no big deal since there'd be enough room that territorial disputes would be less of an issue. But we don't have a house like that, and I don't want to become a hoarder. Then everyone loses.

Situations like this make it easier for me to understand how people can become hoarders, though. That cat acted so happy to be taken in. She rolled, purred, stood up on her hind legs to be pet, and slept quietly and peacefully on the blanketed totes in the small bedroom. I feel like I gave her the gift of happiness, only to take it away so quickly, and that was the reason I couldn't give up Trinket. At least the shelter didn't seem quite as overcrowded this time (it's not kitten season yet) and they have a brand new "house" for some of the cats that would be otherwise "cagebound". I'm not sure how to explain that "house" without being able to actually show pictures of it, but it's basically a miniature house inside the building with windows, shelves, cat beds, scratching posts, litter boxes, and hiding places.