Have you ever come home after work to be greeted by your cat curling around your ankles? Or when you’re in bed and s/he nestles next to you purring? If you are a woman who reflects on these experiences and smiles, you can probably consider yourself a “cat lady.”

There are roughly 90 million cats owned in American according to American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. And yet, this term connotes a unique individual: a senile old woman who lives alone with countless uncared-for cats.

So how accurate is this representation?

According to Gina Browning, PR Director of the SPCA serving Erie County, it is skewed. Browning owns two cats and considers herself an “animal lady.”

She explained that the description of the “crazy cat lady” fit hoarding cases when she first started in 1990. But in the last 8 years, all types of people hoard animals. She said current research recognizes hoarders – once considered “collectors” whose good intentions went amiss – as individuals with a mental illness or compulsion.

“We went into a home 3 years ago, and the man had 70 living cats and some rabbits in his house. Two of us went into the garage and found grey garbage bags – filled with animal carcasses – stacked on every wall,” Browning explained. “Here’s a man with an illness who needed to be in full control of the animals in life and in death.”

Dr. Marcia Levine, founder of Summerset Cat Clinics in Buffalo and Getzville, agrees that hoarding may be a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. She also owns two cats and has been a “cat lady” from a young age.

“There are many well-intentioned cat lovers,” Levine said. “But it can get out of hand quickly… especially if the cats are not spayed and neutered. The caretakers do not see that they are in over their heads and continue to accumulate animals.”

Browning said that another problem is the “higher status” given to dogs over cats. City ordinances mandate that dogs be licensed.

“The government recognizes that accumulating too many dogs can be unsafe for the animal(s). There’s no legislation protecting cats,” she said. “Because of this, it is more difficult to gauge exactly what ‘cat hoarding’ means and when it’s animal cruelty.”

She suggested a hypothetical situation: one house with five cats and another with 40. She said that people might assume that the latter is a hoarder. But let’s say the 40 cats are well cared for – have at least 60 large litter boxes, been vaccinated, spayed/neutered, and are properly fed – and the five cats have one litter box, not been to a veterinarian and are malnourished? Browning would call the person with five cats a “hoarder.”

“‘Hoarding is not so much a quantity issue, as it is the level of care for the number of animals in a person’s home,” she said.

Because of the “great strides” in research at Tufts University (http://www.tufts.edu/vet/cfa/hoarding), the Erie County SPCA is working on better ways to help animals in abusive situations, and hoarders.

Wheatfield native Linda Graovac owns five cats – four birmans and one maine coon. She agrees that a person is not necessarily a hoarder because s/he owns numerous cats.

“People think that your house must smell. But it doesn’t have to. We have three very large litter boxes in the basemen, and we bathe them when necessary,” she explained while cradling her kitten First Knight. She laughed while the 8-month-old birman pawed playfully at her cat-decorated turtleneck.

Some studies argue that there are medical advantages to owning cats. Researchers at the University of Minnesota, for example, found that feline-less people were 30 to 40 percent more likely to die of cardiovascular disease than those with cats.

The study was presented in March 2008 at the International Stroke Conference in New Orleans, and claimed, “No protective effect of dogs as domestic pets was observed.”

Graovac is not familiar with statistics, but she thinks cats are more intuitive.

“I had a cat that past away two years ago. Whenever I was sick, he would sit on the bed looking at me. When I woke up, he’d still be there. He knew something was wrong,” she smiled.

When her cats are sick, Graovac goes to Summer Street Animal Hospital in Getzville because of the caring staff and the lack of dogs barking.

According to the clinic’s Web site http://www.summerstreetcatclinic.com, Levine established the original facility in Buffalo in 1981 – it was the first WNY veterinary practice devoted exclusively to cats. The suburban office was opened in 1987.

“Cats deserve a hospital of their own where special attention can be paid to their unique needs,” Levine described. “Since good medicine is as much art as science, being able to ‘read’ a cat presents a special advantage…it has made me a better veterinarian.”

She said both cat(s) and owner(s) benefit from a quiet, dog-free environment.

Graovac concurs, adding, “people need to realize that owning animals is a responsibility. It’s something you should do if you can.”

Nutrition Sidebar
Levine explained that each cat should have a health plan tailored to its individual needs, taking into consideration: age, indoor-outdoor status and health issues.
She suggested the following tips:

• Cats should be examined once per year if they are in good health and under 10 years of age, and twice per year if s/he has medical problems or is older than 10.
• Over-vaccination is the biggest mistake cat owners commit. There are core (essential) and non-core (specific situation) vaccines. Ask your vet which are best for your cat.
• Monitor and report changes in appetite, water consumption or behavior. Cats tend to hide symptoms until disease is well advanced – even a small change could indicate a problem.
• Canned diets are generally better for cats because it resembles their natural diet. It is recommended that at least a portion of their food is moist.
• Recently, there has been a movement towards “holistic” cat food. Many of these new diets have not been carefully designed or tested. The AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) label should be on any product. This means it meets the stated claims on the label.
• Always look for balanced nutrition. Follow the feeding directions on the back of packages.

Will be published in the May 2009 Buffalo publication, Forever Young magazine