Are people who have a household with at least several cats stigmatised? I can’t be sure but I have a strong felling that a lot of people, perhaps the majority of people regard someone who keeps at least several cats as a bit odd.
The interesting fact is that provided they are not cat hoarders, people who keep at least several cats are probably the most normal people in the world. They are not odd but they are individuals, who have their own thoughts and ideas and tend not to follow the crowd.
Perhaps people who keep several or more cats are “outsiders” meaning they don’t fit in nicely with mainstream society, which is the exact reason why mainstream society probably considers them to be “odd”. Anyone who does not fit in is automatically a danger to people in the mainstream. If you are a free thinker you are dangerous to mainstream society because you can upset the status quo (the way things are).
So, my conclusion is that a person who keeps several cats can be quietly stigmatised (behind his back) not because he keeps several cats but because he is seen as a free thinker and an outsider who can upset the status quo. In stigmatising him or her mainstream society forces him out of the way. He is kicked into the long grass where (s)he is less of a danger.
Also a person who lives alone and who keeps several or more cats might be seen as a person who has difficulty accepting the norms of society or difficulty in accepting the behavior of people. This is another reason why they are considered a danger and stigmatised.
In society you are either in or you are out. The “establishment” shuns anyone who breaks ranks. The establishment are those people who are desperate to maintain the status quo because they are very comfortable with it, thank you very much. They are the politicians and the business people – bankers, the powerful “elite”, who want to keep the “masses” down to use them to their advantage.
If you keep a lot of cats and are not a cat hoarder you are automatically not a part of the establishment.
Photo by Bosc d’Anjou
People will be jealous of anything they can find if they are that way inclined.