Feline wisdom: lessons learned from sharing my home with 100 cats
Patrina Carter was hanging her laundry outside 11 years ago when she spotted a skinny white Persian cat looking soulfully at her from under a bush.
Clearly lost, homeless and malnourished, Carter took him to the vet who said he would be taken to the local animal shelter. She was unable to put him out of her mind, but unable to get him out of her mind, she decided she would start volunteering at the shelter so she could stay in touch with him.
By the time she arrived, he’d already been adopted by a lovely family, and by that point, she decided she wanted to train up in cat care so she could help to start a rescue.
That passion has led to her house becoming home to at least 100 cats.
She converted her two spare bedrooms into cat condos, and has cat netting at the entrance and exit to her house to keep her residents safe.
Cats can get out through the window to a covered patio where they enjoy the sun or pouring rain, and she continues to make improvements to her kitty hotel today.
Carter, 53, explains: “A couple of years later, I fostered my very first pet; a calico cat. The day she left me to find her forever home was a day that broke my heart and overjoyed me all at once.”
From then on, for the next six years, I steadily fostered cats, taking them in whenever I could.
“Most were successes and I nursed them back to health and found them homes, but there were a number of heartbreaking cases where they didn’t make it, no matter how hard I tried.“
The last one that devastated me was when a mum cat and her five kittens got very sick. I tried my best for them, but one kitten died in my hands, which broke my heart.
“I rushed the others to the vet and within hours they were all put to sleep. It was so distressing,” she remembers sadly.
Losing cats and kittens was so traumatic for Carter, from New South Wales, Australia, that she had to step back from the rescue and set up a cat sitting business instead.
Her home’s purpose means she can’t have guests to stay, but she can welcome up to eight moggies at a time.“
Transforming our home to be a cat house instead of a human house is an ongoing process, and I’m sure I drive my poor husband crazy with all the ideas I keep coming up with.”
People say cats stink, but my house never smells. My nose can pick up cat wee odour instantly. Which is kind of annoying at times. The minute I smell it, I’m like a dog sniffing every corner, basket or article of clothing until I find the source.“
If I detect it, I’m on a rampage. It’s a gruelling routine. I use a black light to detect the source of the odour and then I scrub it with bleach and disinfectant.
“If you run a cat business, the last thing your clients want to smell is cat. But I have to be ultra hygienic to keep the cats well.”
People think my job is all cuteness, kisses and cuddles - they have no idea how much cleaning is involved.
“The rooms get absolutely scrubbed and washed out between cats, including furniture and bedding goes in the washing machine and dries in the sun.”
Carter has since made a home to around 100 cats, and she has six of her own; four who couldn’t be rehomed and two disabled cats.
It means she can’t go away with her husband, as there is no-one to take on the responsibility, and that she is constantly caring for Bran, her cat who can’t walk.“
He drags himself, and gets around quite well. He will literally yell at me if he needs something urgent, like a litter tray. I’ve got that command pretty sorted. I’m his slave.”
The biggest thing I have learnt with all the cats in my life, not one single cat is the same. They are all unique. And cats have taught me emotionally, that to take each moment as it happens.
“They live in the now, they don’t know anything else. And I take inspiration from them,” she adds.
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