My name is Zachariah Atteberry and I have over six years of animal care experience along with being an author of several animal care books. I am also a member of the Cat Writer’s Association and write about 5,000 words a day on animal care topics. I am starting this petition to change the cat limit restrictions in Hannibal, Missouri. The ordinance for Hannibal states that the limit on dogs is 5 while the limit for cats is set at only 3. I cannot see the reason for limiting cats unless there is bias for dogs. I have come up with a counter argument that blows the theory that a cat limit of 3 solves any problem at all to begin with. In fact, the cat limit does the complete opposite. The cat limit unfortunately penalizes responsible pet owners, puts well cared for animals at risk, and the welfare of the community in jeopardy. Historically and scientifically speaking, imposing limits is an enormous waste of time.

The thought that a cat limit prevents hoarding is actually completely invalid and is not based on any real evidence other than assumption. It is unfortunate that there is some extreme examples of cat hoarding blown up by hyperactive reality television shows, which makes it seem like that owning more than three cats is a health risk... an extreme view point to say the least. Let's get real about animal limits to begin with. I believe that limiting cats to only three is based more on fear than any known fact. In many situations, the number of cats that is allowed is arbitrarily chosen. Some cities allow three, four, five, or even six. For instance, traffic laws are based on data that has been researched. There is no current data that says having a certain amount of pets is dangerous or harmful to the people or the cats.

First of all, the stray and feral cat population is already a big problem. Realistically, it would make sense to place those cats into homes than to allow them to run free. This way you can guarantee less birds and other wildlife would be killed. Allowing people to have more than three cats also seems like a logical way to reduce the amount of cats that shelters receive that are not claimed. Some people who illegally have four or five cats refuse to reclaim a cat due to the fear of getting caught even though they may take excellent care of their cats. Each cat not reclaimed adds to the shelter population and unnecessarily increases costs. Alternatively some people may decide to throw their excess cats outside and claim no ownership of them which of course, increases the feral cat population.

Back on the hoarding situation… I do not see this as a problem that will be exacerbated by raising the cat limit. Having worked with many cat care owners, I know that the more conscientious citizens will add to their feline population knowing they are not breaking any laws. The people that actually hoard cats usually don't even read the laws or care much about them. Even with a limit, hoarders will continue to fuel their impulses and break any imposed limit there may be. This being the case, it is unclear what the three cat limit hopes to achieve in the first place. I highly doubt raising the cat limit to 5 will truly make a large difference with the hoarders. Raising the cat limit to 5 will help the people who actually care about cats, shelters that are continually full, and the cats. Instead, the 3 cat limit in effect currently punishes caring cat lovers for an extreme behavior that they are not even engaging in.

The last issue that people often bring up about cats is that stray cats will urinate on other people’s porches and yards. To be honest, I don’t think this argument carries any weight at all and is a way to make it so people cannot own five cats. And I doubt people owning 2 more cats each is going to make it much worse. And let’s be real… there are more animals urinating outside like squirrels, raccoons, and the like than just cats. That being said, if someone does not want cats urinating on their property there is plenty of methods out there to prevent that. Motion activated sprinklers work since cats don’t like water, ultrasonic devices that emit a high sonic sound when cats approach the yard, and chicken wire with holes in them so plants can still grow has been proven to be effective by the ASPCA.

All in all, the cat limit only encourages owners to hide their additional cats even though they take excellent care of them. The reality is that the average owner takes good care of their cats. Furthermore, raising the cat limit will save more shelter cat's lives and reduce the amount of feral cats that live outside and have to fend for themselves.

If there is any doubt if a five cat household can be clean, it is important to remember that there are clean and successful facilities with large numbers of cats. National Geographic ran a story of one woman with 700 cats creating the largest rescue in the United States but there are many smaller but equally dedicated individuals. The shelter had 10 adult cats in one room that were just fine without any smell or odor, with no signs of disease or stress.

I remember the first time I found out about the cat limits. A guy had five cats in his nice two story house and worked as a mechanic for a living. You could not even tell the guy had cats because the house smelled nice even though he got dirty at work. He knew after work he would ease his stress by socializing his cats. The cats were groomed, bathed, and vetted routinely. The cats were like his children. One day he was told to surrender two of them or he would be fined $200 for having too many cats. Through the barrage of tears he handed the cats to the officer. If the cats were dogs, that would not have happened.

The second incident was when my close friend who was a nurse wanted to adopt a fourth cat and was told he could not adopt. My friend already had three cats. He was willing to adopt the cat and pay for the medical treatments since the cat had a broken back leg. It was fortunate that he donated the funding for the operation, but that is beside the point. There were many more times that cats were confiscated due to going over the three cat limit with taxpayers having to foot the bill.

Ever since learning that cat limits are ineffective and actually hurt more than they help I have been on a mission to get them changed. I mean, we don’t go around telling people they can only have so many children, so why cats? I hope by this point that realize that a 3 cat limit is unnecessary to protect the wellbeing of people or animals. Will you help by signing this petition? Thank you very much for your time.