I don’t know about cats but some jurisdictions consider five dogs under one roof to be a kennel.
ARRRRGH. Anybody have any ideas for finding a feral cat that is almost certainly somewhere in your house? He is not very food motivated, there are two other cats, and while he has a bell on his collar either he isn’t moving, he got out of the collar, or he died sometime in the last three goddamned hours.
ETA - the other cats have decided now is a good time not to care about the third’s existence, although there was much hissing and posturing EARLIER.
Never mind. I’ve been looking for him for hours, high and low, and he’s in exactly the same corner he was when I last saw him… only, he’s in the recliner. I’ll need Himself to help me lift it to get him out unharmed. After which he will surely scamper back in.
I have dumb cats. They had no idea where he was until I found him.
Under the mattress (up in the lining of the boxspring), under a couch cushion, in the back corner of the cupboard behind the tomato sauce, burrowed into the laundry hamper, temporarily in an alternate universe, plain sight but temprarily invisible, or the aliens will beam him back down in time for him to hork on the carpet. He’s not moving because he someplace dark, close, quiet and safe. He’ll tinkle eventually.
He will eventually sneak out to drink. If the other cats are calm about it, he’s okay. Cats are tattletales, if he died in the last 3 hours, the other two will be all “Mom!! Mom! We told you we hated him, and look now – he died!! Look! Tol’ you! Yay!”
Look in all the places you think there is no way in hell he’d fit. And under everything else. 
My rule is that the number of cats you’re allowed to have before you turn into a “crazy cat person” is N+1, where N is equal to the number of humans living in the house. My brother thinks I made up this rule because I live alone and have two cats. He’s probably right.
My rule is no more English-speaking critters than English-speaking humans. So our 4 parrots are okay, because only 2 of them can talk. Mikado can only say things with 3 syllables, and he can’t really add much to a conversation, so he doesn’t count. The 2 cats don’t count because they just make cat noises. Yep, no crazy bird people here.
( I think Zahzoo is trying to learn Romanian.)
Cool! 
Well, rational thought prevailed. When Mr. K’s sister (the queen of the crazy cat ladies) died, leaving six cats behind, we didn’t break. Two were adopted by the neice’s boyfriend and the others (half of which were completely undesirable) went to a shelter. You CAN say no…you just have to find your true limit. 
It’s just when they show up at the door all cold and thin and starving that I can’t turn them away. But next time, we’ll take the poor thing to a shelter. Unless it’s really cute, in which case we’ll move the line to “six.” 
Well, it looks like Stokie is such a damned stealth cat that it’s just like having two cats, plus occasional random gifts of diarrhea. And a sign on one recliner that says “DON’T SIT”.
Nope. Considering the circumstances, you’re right at the border. Keeping the third cat will put you in “crazy cat lady” territory.
Get rid of it pronto.
Are we twins, Zsofia? My original rule was “just the cat”. Then the dog came along. Then the buff tabby came along. My house is definitely messier with the dog around, but the cats have less of an effect. Hell, I’m such a slob that I’m afraid to go into any SDMB slob-reform threads. I come from a family of hoarders that manifest that particular weakness to varying degrees, and I’m doing the best that I can. Sir Lovepants spends a great deal of time here without actually living (or even sleeping, usually) here, but does little to no cleaning. Every once in awhile we have these little talks about how I’ve got to get my act together cleaning-wise, and I assure him sunny days of cleanliness are just around the corner. I even halfway believe it sometimes.
Anyhoo, having the second kitty (third animal) has worked out fairly well. There have been a lot more vet bills, especially at the beginning when he had coccidia (we bonded after he accidentally pooped on me–get that diarrhea checked out if it doesn’t clear up soon), and of course I have to buy more food, but he’s been a valuable addition to my home. He spends most of the time outside entertaining the dog while I’m at work, and running around with the neighborhood feline pack.
I like comparing aspects of each animal’s personality; it makes it easier to relate to them when there’s other animals around to contrast personalities. Yeah, I’m such a crazy cat lady, you can call me Eleanor Abernathy. Cats in everyone’s pants!
Yes n+1. If you can somehow keep all of the mammals tanked, at least one should remain sober to record the ensuing hilarity and clean up the inevitable messes.
In reality, crazy cat persondom is all about attitude. If you start to question your cat sanity, then you can’t possibly be cat crazy. It is always the ones that think they are perfectly right to have 33 cats running amok that I see on the news. They just never see it coming. They are the crazy cat people.
Which reminds me… another possible measure: If you fell down, maybe with cat nip laced clothing, and were cat swarmed, what is the number of cats piled on that would prevent you from standing up again. I’m getting something like 20 cats (8 lbs * 20 cats = 160 lbs o’ cat). This is more of a safety issue though, not a sanity one. Just don’t get more cats than you can clean and jerk and you should be safe.
Last measurement I can think of, container space. Assuming the cats will use a litter box rather than your cereal bowl or the toilet, and only so many cats will share the same box, and that the boxes take up some floor or shelving area, there comes a point when every square foot of living space becomes litter box. I believe your sanity will be tested before you reach this point. Most likely you’ll be very stressed if even 25% of your living space is cat box. I don’t hve enough data to solve for the number of cats in your case, but assume 2 cats to a box, 25% of a 1200 sqft home, and boxes that are 2 sqft. You could fill 300 sqft (really just the biggest bedroom, or the livingroom) with 150 litter boxes (I’d actually just line the floor with plastic drop cloths and use a dump truck to fill it with sand) , and you could support 300 kitties. Be sure you save enough room for food and water dishes, and space for staffing your new crazy cat person castle. So, double digits really is a low estimate, I’d have to say 300 is really pushing it.
I have four cats. There’s nothing wrong with being a cat lady. IMO, at least I’m not the neighborhood slut, or the town alkie, or the area gossip hound.
(I’m allergic so I’m not a cat person… but I’ll include my opinion anyway.)
As long as your house is clean, doesn’t smell like cats, doesn’t have more cat-furniture than people-furniture and doesn’t have fur all over the place, I think it’s okay. 3 cats is pushing it… but not quite “Cat Lady” status.
For me, the CCL limit is defined as 3.5 cats. At 3, you’re really threatening, but not there. At 4, you’re just barely in that territory. At 3.5, the limit approaches infinity.