Am I Breaking The Law By Owning This Many Cats In Iowa?

My current fiance owns 5 cats. I know I'm supposed to have some claim to them because we live together, but I tell everyone that they're hers. When we first moved to Iowa, everyone (including me) thought it was crazy to learn we have 5 fur babies.

Well, I'm glad we've kept it at only 5 when we moved because Iowans are only allowed to own 6 pets in their homes. Whether that's 6 cats, 6 dogs, or a combination of both, 6 is your magic number, according to Iowa Agriculture Gov.

Honestly, 6 is plenty of pets. They aren't toys or things you just play with and throw away. Each of your pets deserves a good life and if you have too many to provide that for each of them, it's pretty unfair to the pet.

These 5 furballs drive me nuts.

I started to name them goofy names to try and get my fiance to stop bringing them home. It didn't work out. This is Josie B. She's named after a friend of mine named Josh.

I told her she could only get another cat if we could name it after my buddy. Since Josh is more of a boy name, we tried to find a girl name that was close. Josie B is actually getting fixed as this article is being written.

This is Scott. Which has more turned into Scotty Boy. I'm not exactly sure why. A lot of my friends would give Kori and me a lot of grief for how many cats we have but Scotty Boy was normally the friend's favorite.

He's the only boy in the family and really just kind of slinks around. He doesn't make much noise and rarely purs. If you find yourself on the couch for too long, he'll be finding a nice spot with you and your blanket.

This is Pam. I'll never forget the day Pam was brought home. My fiance's friend was going to look for a cat to bring home and of course, my fiance had to go with her. I remember saying "if you show up with a cat in this house, I'll leave you." Of course, she called my bluff and we've had Pam for the past 4 years.

She's our only cat with long-ish hair and she used to nibble at our ears or noses when you were sleeping. She just was telling us we were laying wrong according to her. She's outgrown that, thankfully.

Salem was the one cat we didn't choose her name. Scotty Boy is actually her twin brother! When we first went to look at Scott, Kori really wanted a boy cat, and I kind of fell in love with Salem. We ended up not bringing her home that day.

About 1 month later she was the only kitten left in the litter that was being given up for adoption. Not wanting her to be by herself, my fiance' knew my kind heart wouldn't allow her to remain homeless. Salem and I get along the best. She sleeps next to my face every, single, night. Whether I want her to or not. She even follows me around the house.

Finally, we have Trixie. She's our oldest cat and is around 14 years old. My fiance's family found her on the side of the road a long time ago and she's been with them ever since.

She's the grouchy one of the bunch. She's fairly skittish around strangers and a lot of the time if someone she doesn't know comes to visit the house, they'll never see her. She just likes her alone time. When she isn't hiding, she likes to sit on the couch in our living room, pretty much all day. I don't think she's ever been into our basement. I can't blame her, I like that couch too.

Thankfully the law isn't being broken in our house. Also, I've finally convinced my fiance that we have enough cats. Even if she won't take it from me, Iowa law says so.