‘I honestly prefer cats over humans’: How one man adopted 26 cats

With 26 cats in one house, the odds are not in one’s favor when it comes to said house’s cleanliness or endurance. But upon entering Peter Cohen’s beautiful Santa Barbara home, one isn’t immediately struck by the 26 cats roaming, lounging, playing, fighting, and sleeping but instead the home’s spaciousness and serenity. Best of all, my allergies did not rear up in the least. “When people hear that I have this many cats, they literally think I’m crazy,” Cohen tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “And I believe they imagine a very dirty, crowded, smelly house and when they come to visit, they’re always surprised that’s not what they see.” Cohen bought the house in 1988 with his brother with the intent on remodeling it and then flipping it. It also came with two stray cats and when the housing crisis hit - not unlike the plot of a zany 90s movie - he decided to keep the house, and the cats, for himself. From there, Cohen, who grew up with dogs, became “addicted” to adopting cats. Thanks to his background in construction, Cohen also transformed, or “catified,” the home for his growing feline family. He built nearly 300 linear feet of catwalks, which lets his cats tread precariously around walls on the second floor. Add in 15 tunnels and 8-9 bridges and a hugely-entertaining cat wheel and what you get is a kind of amusement park for cats. “I liken it to living in an aquarium of cats,” says Cohen. “Because they’re above you, they’re at your eye level and they’re below you.”