I just had to move out of my apartment where I was allowed to have cats but only 2 and had to pay $40 for each. Now I know I’m bad I didn’t tell them I had 4. But I guess I didn’t think this all the way through when I kept getting cats and now I’m up to 4. How am I going to find a place that’s going to let me bring 4 cats without being deceitful and lying about how many I have. Now I can say all day long I have the best cats, they don’t fuck shit up, ruin furniture or walls or ever go to the bathroom outside their box and never fight and are loud. Now saying all this who wouldn’t tell a potential landlord all this right? I’m just kinda stuck right now. I’m living with my sister in law who owns her condo so staying here is always an option but if I wanted my own apartment does anyone have an suggestions or gone through this with more than 2 cats. And getting rid of them is NOT an option no never ever not at all won’t even entertain the thought, don’t even type it! Thanks 😻
My mother in law tried this on my father in law when she bought my husband and his siblings a few cats instead of one. They thought all the cats would never be in the same place at the same time, and all the cats immediately sat down in front of him in the living room, and the jig was up.
I second this notion, and add a little mind ya business. Even if it’s to the landlord…who puts a cap on kitty collecting anyway??? 😜🤭they’re beautiful!
My husband. He flat out said he'd leave me if I brought home another.
We currently have 5 1/2
The half cat is a stray that visits often but won't let me catch him to get to get him neutered.
I am in the same situation. Hubby tolerates the stray but said we are capped at 5. Since I work out of town he has been taking care of the stray and I think the stray is winning him over.
Hell, even strata where you own your apartment try to limit the number of cats you have. As long as you're not in contravention of city bylaws, I don't understand why they think they can limit it.
I know, I also have four cats and five litter boxes, some of my cats will even pee in one and go to poop in another during the same bathroom session. Especially funny when they do it directly after they've been cleaned.
But 5 boxes for one cat would be comically excessive under the guise of "I have only have 1 cat!"
I mean my fiance has two cats that look similar. His roommate didn’t realize there were two for 3 months. One got outside when the door was left open and the roommate was like “nah I saw him chilling downstairs” - it was the other cat.
Precisely. Just make sure theres never more than two cats to a room at any given time when mr.landlord comes around. "What other cats? No, that's just kitty that you saw in the other room earlier."
This may be unpopular with some people but when I rented I had 4 cats: 3 voids and a tuxie. Told mgmt co I only had - 1 void and 1 tuxie, so if they were lounging on the window sill and visible to the outside world - nobody would know who’s who. Getting rid of mine wasn’t an option either and they rarely sat more than 2 at a time in a single window anyway. Had 5 no problem years there before I bought my townhouse. Luckily yours are almost a carbon copy of each other. ❤️🐈⬛❤️🐈⬛❤️
That’s what I did as well. Now I have 2 tuxies, 2 voids, and tabby who will probably be a foster fail. If that happens I may have to say I have 3 cats and then get another tabby out of spite
Yeah, on paper we have two cats but that’s…. very not true. A few of them look similar enough (and all but one run from strangers) that we haven’t yet had an issue. Just hide the extra litter boxes if they need to come over for anything!
I may or may not have only claimed 1 cat when I lived in an apartment complex because I knew an outsider wouldn't be able to tell the difference between my 2 torties.
I heard Shirley Jackson would get another gray cat every time her husband went out of town and he never knew how many there were. I live alone now, and I have a tuxedo, but I aspire to this energy!!
Omg I’m so happy you totally understand. It’s really hard to get all 4 cats to look at the same time. I totally forgot I was in the backround hahahahha that’s too funny. Glad you got enjoyment out of it.
My landlord thinks I have two cats. I do. I can’t help that he thinks he sees my one Tuxy three times over and my one tabby twice over. I’ll never know why he thinks I have five…..
YOU GUYS ARE ALL AWESOME!! I didn’t want to come right out and say I would let them know I only have 1 or 2 bc most people can’t tell them apart if you don’t personally know them. Glad to know I’m not the only shady cat parent out there. I would sell my soul for my cats so lying about how many I have to get an apartment is chump change. Thanks everyone!!
The only reason my cats are documented is because my husband is a rule follower. I never bother to say a thing and I'm not sure they know about the third one...
One apartment complex I lived in sent me a letter saying I couldn't have a cat (someone snitched because she was sitting in the window). I told them that the neighbor was a liar and filed a noise complaint against them. Two can play that game.
When we moved into our apartment, we had two cats (a void and a cap & saddle). So we were open about it and we pay the extra pet fees for them. But at one point a tuxedo boy showed up at the place and we did the landlord a service of getting him off the streets. He's a menace to society, so the landlord owes us really 😹
When I moved in I didn’t have any…then my mom died and I got 1 to help
Me grieve and then a year later I rescued another one and then last July I rescued 2 more. LoL
I had a place where I had to describe what they looked like on the pet form. Maybe even provide a picture, I can’t remember. Both of mine were black and white (one tux, one cow). I fibbed and said I had 1 cause that was the limit and then she was always put in my bedroom when maintenance came because “she doesn’t handle strangers,” so they never knew I had two. Yours look so similar, they’d all have to be in the window together for anyone to know.
**edit to add: your crew is so adorable and I can’t believe how well they all match lol
Where I live (Australia) we have some of the strictest rental laws in the world. Something like 95% of rentals in my city don’t allow pets. My house doesn’t allow pets. I have two cats and they can take my babies away from my cold dead hands. I’ve lied about cats my adult life, and since I’ll probably never afford my own home, I’m going to continue to do so til the day I die. I keep my apartment clean, my babies are very well behaved, and my landlord has no right to dictate how I choose to live. Lie through your teeth, girlfriend. And enjoy your adorable little crew.
Here are my “nonexistent” babies, for solidarity 💪🏻
I am very happy you will not abandon your most beautiful cats. Keep them happy n give the cats the best treatment n give them all your love. They will love back always ever n treat them well please
I don't consider myself to be shady, but if I have to move, I'm not copping to the truth! I have 4, but maybe I'll only say 1.. maybe 2.
I have been employed by landlords and for the most part, they really don't enforce all the rules. Not to say they won't.. saying if the kitties are good and you behave yourself, you're not going to catch it over a couple extra cats
If they never go outside, I might not claim to have any 😉
Good for you refusing to break up the family 🫶 they're all beautiful 😍
The whole point of the pet policy at an apartment is to cover potential damages. As long as you’re a responsible person and are willing to cover potential damages, it shouldn’t matter how many pets you have 🤷
Literally just lie. Landlords are not about morality. Their rules will complicate your life and if you know your cats won’t destroy anything then be at peace.
You have four cats that could reasonably be identical if seen from a window. Just shut them in a bedroom or bathroom if maintenance comes by. Otherwise, no one will know that a cat they’re seeing in the window isn’t the same cat they saw earlier.
I would lie as well and say 2. If you're a good renter and they do no harm then will it really matter? I hate that people will 4 horrible children can rent and trash an appointment but 4 extremely well behaved cats can't. Good luck.
The genuine question is this: who would be harmed in your saying you have two cats when you actually have four? I’d say get really good renters insurance and then try to tell the truth to see what happens, maybe at a place you wouldn’t necessarily be interested in renting so there’s no real loss if they say no? If you get rejected then back to my original question 🤓
Oh you are not alone. We already pay an extra $50 per month for our dog & we’ve been here 8+ years now while also having 2 cats (that I “forgot” to mention). I’m not paying an extra $150 each month to rent on top of $1k a month.
If it was me I’d say 2 cats 😉
get your current landlord to be a reference for the two not screwing up the house, tell next landlords you’re moving because you’re inheriting two more from a family member or something
It's not that I'm necessarily condoning lying... But they honestly look similar enough to pass as 2 cats...as long as all 4 are not in the exact same place at the same time 😂
I have littermate tuxedo cats that are nearly identical. One is terrified of new people and hides. Therefore, I have one tuxedo cat on my leasing paperwork.
Just say you have two. Heck, you can even get away with saying you have one during application/move-in phase and then that you got a second one after moving in. Or say you’re fostering so it’s temporary. Or say you’re cat sitting ¯_(ツ)_/¯ how will they know lol
if you have any mental health diagnosis including depression or anxiety go to your primary care dr and ask for 2 esa letters for your youngest two cats. each letter has to include a cats name and the type of support he/she provides. can be as simple as “emotional support for depression .” once you have the letter no housing can not allow you to bring them. could play it safe and get one for all 4 but i’ve had a few landlords be assholes about the number of esa’s one person can have to themselves. Best of luck!
i love how you said you won’t entertain the idea of ever giving any of them up. as a cat parent, i wouldn’t either and can’t begin to fathom how some people in this world do. to answer your question, if there’s a “pet limit” in a household, i’d 1000000000% lie about how many i have because CATS RULE
I just rented a house with 3 cats-it all depends on the landlord I guess. I had to pay a very large non refundable deposit but they’re my babies and I won’t get rid of them. If you bought a place-you could have all of them!
pet rent is an eaay way to fuck over tenants, and these cocksuckers know it. There are no laws that pertain to this fucking extortion. The only applicable laws are for registered service animals. Registered. Never mind tenants that have 12 people living in a 2 bedroom apartment who then tear the shit out of the unit. Nah, that's just fine. As an animal owner of 55 years, no matter HOW well-behaved your babies are, they can still destroy a property. Cats and dogs vomit, accidents happen. One cat we have destroyed the wood framing around the bathroom door. We have clawed and DE-clawed cats. Guess which ones do the most damage? They ate the ends of our
damn wood blinds, the drapes are covered in hair and I just found out that there are snags all over them. RIP curtains.
As a landlord with four cats, I'd encourage you not to lie on applications. But do go in with a plan of how you take care of your four cats, how you keep them from scratching and destroying things. How you keep their litterboxes and how many. I'd go as far as to give them your vet's name. As a long-time cat owner and old house lover, I know just how much damage cats can do, but there are a LOT of steps you can take to keep a rental in good shape. Most landlords have pet horror stories, and I do too, which is why I don't like renting to people with dogs. Cats, I know what works for me, I ask my tenants to follow those steps, and check up on them. Never had a problem. You sound like a great pet parent, if you were in Iowa I'd probably happily rent to you.
Which country do you live in ? In France, if a landlord writes in the lease agreement that animals are not allowed, you can ignore it because a landlord can't have a say in that matter. They just can't enforce it or ekect you for this
You don’t have 4 cats. You have 1 or 2 cats. If they’re coming to inspect your place, well then what a great opportunity for 2-3 cats to go visit a friend for a few hours.
Twice I've lied about the amount of cats I've had to get an apartment. First time I admitted I had 3 and one was dying. One did 4 months after I moved in. But not the one I expected. I didn't even tell my Landlady when one of my fur babies died. Within 2 months I found a kitten that is now 7 yrs old. Bringing my total back to 3.
At my current apartment I only said I had 2. After the 1 yr lease I upped it to 3 to be honest and not hide anymore. The Super was coming by with any repairs I had requested to be fixed and I didn't want to always hide the closest cat when my door was knocked on.
I have two cats, but the property management company thinks I have one. They are corporate entities and you shouldn't feel bad about not telling them the truth.
Tbh they just charge bc they love money. Dont feel guilty for lying. I'd only ever claim 1. As long as they don't cause issues it won't be an issue typically.
Lying is always an option. And if your SIL is cool, maybe she could take care of two for a week or so while you're moving in, so it really sells the "I only have two cats" narrative. It really helps that they all look so much alike.
I have 4 cats, we only put one of em on the lease so that we dont have to hide the litter and toys every time they do maintenance but others just scatter and hide🤣
Proud momma of 3 tuxedos here and the amount of love, joy and happiness I feel just by having them in the same room as me is my favorite feeling the whole planet.
Where I live, you cannot be denied a rental due to owning pets. Landlords try, though, and it’s hard to prove, so sometimes people just lie and say they don’t have pets. I’ve never felt the need to lie about it but I can’t blame someone for lying, especially because we’re in a housing crisis and like I said, landlords denying tenants because of their pets is illegal so they really shouldn’t be asking. Once the papers are signed, then seeing a pet isn’t gonna do shit. (That said, check the bylaws in your area because sometimes there’s a limit to how many pets you can have per size of your home/unit)
Multifamily housing landlord here. You go to the doctor and get a letter saying each cat is an emotional support animal. Present to the landlord with application and they cannot charge you a pet deposit or pet rent for any of them. This also helps you bypass their limit of pets in the household and breed restrictions. With that, do not fall for all of the certificates you can pay for online. They will not accept them and you will be out money. It’s a scam. Make sure it’s a letter from an established doctor.
Hope that helps! You have lovely tux kitties. Glad to see they have a great home. 😃
Really handy your cats look alike — my former neighbors (I live in a townhome) had what I thought were two gorgeous cats (a black cat and a piebald cat) who lounged in the windows… imagine my shock (like Meredith in The Parent Trap remake when she meets both twins) and delight when I realized one day that the “single” piebald cat was two (both cats were sitting in different windows, and I had never seen them out at the same time).
Yeah they look so similar lie. I lied about having mine declawed. They didn’t care about my rabbit who did rip the carpet up. I was young, that was on me, and I paid for it.
Just lend two to someone else temporarily while moving. And pick them up later when you get your last stuff. They look so much alike just say you have mirrors haha
in my experience most places don’t care how many you have they’ll just charge you a fee for each of them (and better to pay the fee upfront than get charged a bigger fee when maintenance snitches or the landlord sees them in your windows later)
Your photos are hilarious. I seriously can't tell a couple of them apart.
Whatever you do, please please be impeccable with the cat smells and such.
Suspicious landlords may have been burned by a tenant whose cat sprayed and/or pooped outside the box. That's what happened to us: our nice cottage was ruined, we had to replace the floor to get rid of the smell. Cost us $2200.
We hadn't charged much for a deposit because the lady had a low-paying job. We even put in a cat door for her.
She told us she had one cat, but when she moved out we found out she had 3.
I forgot to mention: people can be allergic to places where cats have lived and the landlord is liable for the conditions of the place. So there's that.
This happened to us and we struck gold with our landlord. They were perfectly fine with us having all 4 of our pets. Now.. if all of mine were tuxes and you couldn’t tell them a part… you couldn’t waterboard the truth out of me
My LL knows I have one cat, but, in reality I could have 2,3 and he’d never know the difference, just find a place that doesn’t forbid pets, unless your LL lives on the same property of course
So. Many. Tuxies. WUV! I ran into the same problem when I had my 3 fluffies (heartbreakingly, I now have none). I did have to resort to fibbing several times to live in places with 2-pet limits. You have a further defense since all four of yours are tuxies, so unless all four are in the same window on a regular basis, it's unlikely anybody will realize they are seeing four instead of just one or two.
Do a LOT of research into apartment complexes/rentals (I rented half of a duplex from a private landlord once and he happily wrote my trio into the lease - and fell in love with my Bastis, although I know it's risky dealing with private landlords). If you end up having to fib, be sure to keep a well-padded savings account so that if the worst happens, you have funds to relocate. Sounds like time is on your side since you're living in a condo with the owner's permission at the moment, so take that time to save money and do a lot of investigating into potential rentals. You may not get an ideal location/situation in exchange for being able to have your kits legal on your lease, but it would be worth the peace of mind.
I just lied until I got my therapist to “prescribe” them to me as esa’s, in my state they aren’t allowed to make you pay pet rent or pet deposit or have limits on esa OR service animals. I’ve gotten more cats without telling landlords so many times lol
U only have 2 cats...totally get away with having 4 with how similar they look
I rent too....it sucks....I would rather live in a van with my cats than give 'em up
Be a good tenant...pay on time... don't bother landlord unless really required...some good landlords out there
You have only two! (They’ll never be able to tell them apart….). You’ll just need a friend to take in two if landlords/maintenance ever needs to come in.
I guess it depends on what rights renters have where you are, and what you can get away with. It is likely to be easier to convince a landlord when they face securing a new tenant if they try to do anything about it, than before you have moved in.
If it were me, and it was in the UK, where I am right now, I would probably tell them I had two, after I had moved in, and perhaps that they were my assistance cats, to detect low blood sugar while I am asleep, or something (since cats have been known to do this, and can probably be trained to, and might well just anyway). Anyone testing it would probably find if you did have low blood sugar, your cat would probably be waking you up, just that they'd also be waking you up the rest of the time too, and they aren't very forthcoming when asked to explain their motivation.
Also, please tell them I love them. They look so sweet looking out the door.
I have one legal resident cat, and one streetboy who moved in over a year ago now. (and a dog) On my lease... I only have 1cat 1dog.
Lucky for me, my legal cat is a scaredypants and hides if anyone even knocks on the door, the streetboy is all chill and says hi to anyone after a minute or two of surveying them lol.
So semi-recently my complex got a new system and they wanted pictures... so my little permanent visitor is borrowing his new brothers credentials with a fake ID lol. (submitted pics of one, under the name of the other)
Outside of a private landlord, you're going to have a very difficult time finding an apartment that allows more than 2 pets.
Find out what the tenant laws are, and know your rights. Even when a LL conducts annual property inspections, they cannot dig through your belongings or get into closets and cabinets. They must provide a 24 hour notice before entry (except in an emergency situation like a burst pipe or leak). You also need to know the risks and consequences of housing more cats than is specified in your lease. That includes being required to remove your cats in 24 hours from the infraction and up to eviction. Eviction is a death sentence for being able to rent again. So know what you're singing up for and have a plan if you were to be found out.
I put each of my cats in a carrier when maintenance or the property manager is on the way over. It's just considerate to begin with anyway to keep your pets contained when maintenance is in your unit. Their carriers are in my bedroom where it's not necessary for anyone to look at.
What you got going for you is that your cats look alike. If you add 2 cats to your lease, who's to say which 2 of the 4 tuxedos are they looking at? Then your work is reduced to making sure all 4 cats aren't sitting in the same window at the same time.
And before I get raked against the coals for having more cats than what I added to my lease...I take extreme care to ensure everyone is happy and healthy. No one is peeing outside the box because they receive routine vet care and see the vet immediately for any health concerns. I have a cleaning routine that I follow consistently. Boxes get scooped daily. Poops are disposed of in the dumpster daily. Small, consistent cleaning efforts make all the difference in the world.
With that being said, don't be that person that everyone in your building can smell cats. No one should be able to tell that you have multiple cats unless they are all standing together in the same room at the same time.
I have 5 cats and lived in 2 pets only apartments for 3 years. They don't look alike either. I just kept them out of windows where others could see and hid them in the kitchen cabinets when maintenance or inspection would come. It's not really hard to do. Mine never destroyed anything either, so I never lost my deposit.
Tell them there's only 2 cats in quantum entanglement. While it looks like 4, it's just because by the time they've counted the 2 cats, the cats have changed positions, so they are mistakenly observing 4 - 2 in the original positions and 2 in their new positions. Never tried this, but as long as you say it with a straight face, who could argue (other than a quantum physicist of course)?
We had three cats in a 1 cat apartment for a longest time. We had told the landlord mine (2nd) was only temporary until i could find my own place (moved in with my sister and her cat).
Then the street cat showed up.
There was one day when I pulled up and all three cats were in various windows, staring into the parking lot. I know that had happened more than once and our cover was blown.
When my sister was the one who moved out and I resigned the lease, it was changed to 2 cats allowed! Wooo. and the street cat won the landlord over when he'd do maintenance lol.
Now IDK if he knows about the 3 guinea pigs upstairs.......
If they didn't all sit at the window at once , you could get away with saying 2 cause they all look the same... However if the off chance your landlord is doing maintenance around, and happens to see all 4 sitting at the window like the one pic, you might get in trouble. But like.... 🤷🏽♀️ Lol.
Tbh I've loved multiple places where I didn't tell them I had any pets. Never got busted for it. But I didn't know there is a limit for cats? What's wrong with four? I'm thinking a landlord would allow four. They aren't as destructive as dogs. I'd rent to you. 🤷♀️
I had to go into the rental office and sign paperwork. I did not remember telling them if we had cats or not. So when we renewed our rental lease, the guy asked if we had a dog...I promptly said NO sir we do not. And I was 100% honest with my answer:) We did at the time have 2 cats. The maintenance guy never seemed to care as he was pet lover himself. It worked out and our cats were really good, they passed on due to old age and I took in a stray. He stayed and brought a friend that had a litter-she passed and we kept the 4 kittens...at the end of our rental lease(5 cats later)-we bought a home moved out and even collected our deposit back. As long as the cats are not damaging anything and you clean up well, most of the time the landlord does not care.
I lived in a place that allowed 1 cat but I had 2. They were both white & I went with how often are people really paying attention to the cats to see how many there are. I got away with it for a year before I moved to a place that allowed no cats…. 😉
If only they could sit still long enough ..tell them it’s taxidermy … say you’re working on your engineering ..and made a mechanical look alike ..that walks and meows … … dress them up as a lamp … if all else fails …feign ignorance …. If you’re Australian and can find a small boat outfit for a cat ..you can say “charter boat …what charter boat?”
Lying to your landlord about the number of cats is the way. If you live in a complex, most likely, it will just be maintenance staff who enter your apartment and most likely they don't know what number of animals that are listed on your lease and they most likely don't give a shit even if they did. On the off chance you get found out, the "extra" cats have only just been adopted, and you were just about to call and add them to the lease. Opps. Ask for forgiveness, not permission. It's more expensive for them to look for another tenant than it is for them to just add more pet fees to your rent. If you rent privately and not through a leasing company, this way might not work so well depending on how strongly the landlord feels about the extras.
1.4k
u/VirgoTex 1d ago
I say, if anyone complains just politely tell them they’re seeing double and should get their eyes checked 😂