Celia Hammond (Mad Cats and English women)

[vannin]

I watched this documentary just now, about these two 'cat ladies'. They are more than inundated with multitudes of cats and it is their life's work. Celia, who has a team of very hardworking staff, has turned 70 and been doing this for more than 40 years - the other lady similar, though it is her home.

I am a cat lover, but would never have the dedication to do what can be such heartbreaking work.

Viv

[Dragon Lady]

Nor me, Vannin. Unless people are running sanctuaries, they could end up over-run with cats. I believe we should only home maybe two or three at the most. Some folk have too many cats and dogs.

I have a book by Celia Hammond, "The Joy of Cats". She gives some useful advice in there and there are cat poems and sayings at the rear of the book.

[mazzy]

I think Celia Hammond is wonderful, and I admire what she does, as she does it properly!!!

We have 3 cats, but at one time we had 5...at least 2 too many!

I knew a woman - self confessed 'mad cat woman' - who kept at least 35 cats in a modest 3 bedroom house with a very small garden.
She had cats confined to one room, as they had feline leukaemia, others roamed the streets, and she could never pay her vet bills.
To me she wasn't helping the cats, she was being self indulgent.
Anyone who knows me knows that cats are very important to me, but I don't think you are helping them when you keep so many together under these conditions..........oh my, I could ramble on for hours, and I'm sure there are scrabble games awaiting....

[vannin]

The other woman profiled in the programme, Pat in Dagenham, kept that number, or more, in an ordinary 3-bedroom house like that. She never actually gave a number because I think she had completely lost count. The conditions for a human to co-habitate in, were appalling....just imagne the smell. Yet only one or two of the cats were looking obviously ill.

Viv

[mazzy]

The cats may not have been physically ill, but I would think they had some anxiety problems.....I don't think cats are pack animals, and these conditions are stressful.