[Ellie May]

I did want to clarify that those kinds of comments aren't acceptable and it's absolutely fine to have 6 animals as long as they are all well cared for.

But yes, vets and physicians do care how many you have. First, physicians care because they want to know about psychological issues like hoarding and they want to know how likely it is for you to be exposed to zoonotic diseases. It also gives a picture of what your environment is like.

A very common question in vet med is "does this pet have any friends at home". No other animals in the house, much less chance of certain things (esp. in teh case of indoor cats that never go outside). If they understand the exposure level that the animal has on a daily basis, it can help with a diagnosis. Also, if an owner comes in saying that cat x has loose stool, but yet they also get out of the owner that 20 other cats are present, then vet knows that is probably just a guess, etc. Not all owners are good ones. Some are really terrible, actually. They don't know what they're doing and do not give each animal the attention that it needs. So even though you wouldn't fall into this category, a lot of owners do and it's hard to vet staff to tell at times.