Please consider determining the real need. Cats are her way of meeting the need.

What do cats do for her? Why four? A hazarded guess—companionship and a purpose. With age may come the inability to care, but the need remains.

A solution may require substitution. What can replace the cats? Daily visits by friends? Taking her to the local no- kill animal shelter to volunteer? Plugging her in to a ministry of service?

Tasks and responsibilities that she cannot handle must be removed. In this cat situation her health can be at risk. But she will benefit most from being somebody for someone.

quote:

Originally posted by 4MUL8R:
...she will benefit most from being somebody for someone.

I think you're mighty right. It scratches an itch. She may never articulate it, but she knows it makes her feel better.

Collecting cats seems to be a fetish and/or destructive behavior for older women. Lonely women.
I think you seldom hear about it with men.

I have a sister several years older than me.
Her cat population total number varies as they age out and die off.
There are always several old cats knocking on death's door, diabetes, kidney disease, bladder control issues, medicine, injections, special food.
Some even reach 15 to 18 years old.
I don't ever recall the cat population total ever being larger than 14, and never under 7 or 8.

She's real good at taking care of them, proper food, vet care, the whole bit. She has a fleet of litter boxes and changes out the cat litter daily.
I know she spends a small fortune on cat food, cat litter, cat toys, cat treats, and vet care & medications.
I do know she will net minnows in her ponds and put the minnows in an old black rubber farm bucket filled with water and let the posse of cats have some fun, and yes, they make a gigantic pig mess.
Too busy taking care of cats instead of riding her motorcycle, kayaking, or taking a vacation.

Her husband died several years ago, and recently out in her horse barn in the upper hay storage area, she found three tiny kittens that were feral.
Yes, you guessed correctly! She trapped them in a Hav-a-heart trap one at a time over a few weeks and took them to the vet and integrated the kittens with her already existing cat population.
The kittens being feral, full of worms, shitting their brains out from worming them, bacterial & digestive issues, and medications.
She complained about cleaning up their messes, but continues with her self destructive behaviors.

It's a mental defect, and I have talked with my sister about it until I am blue in the face.
You just have to accept that the condition is what it is, and nothing you say or do will ever change that behavior.
It's a shame she worked her entire adult life, saved a ton of money, and she is stuck at home and can't go anywhere or do anything except take care of the cats.
I no longer waste my breath talking to her about it, it is what it is. I can't change the behavior.

When I visit her, I seldom go inside as her house smells. I believe since she lives there, she no longer notices the cat piss odor.

On a side note, my sister also has a horse. It isn't ridden. But that horse has vet bills, new horse shoe bills, grain bills, hay bills and the list is endless.
That also isn't the dollar total for horse expenses, as she maintains tractors, hay mowing and bailing equipment, wagons, hay elevators, trucks and horse trailers.

Same behaviors, different animal.

The condition/behavior cannot be "fixed" or altered.
When she calls and complains about caring for the animals or the tab at the vet office, I simply smile and nod.