There is a huge difference between cats and dogs. You can build fences to keep the dogs in but if the owner lets their cats out, there is no barrier that will keep them in the yard. Cats do not want to litter up their own yards so they go next door and dig up the neighbors flower gardens to do their business. If the cats are inside cats I could care less how many the neighbor has, until the house starts stinking up the neighborhood. The lady that told her sad story at the council meeting obviously does not have inside cats or her neighbors would not have complained to Animal Control. Ignoring the law on pet limits until you get caught does not negate the fact that you have been breaking the law all those years and now you need the law changed because the cats are too old. Let her keep the 3 cats but she has to keep them in her house 24 hours a day and cannot replace any that pass away.
Now I know there are bad dog owners too. I have one that lives behind me. She had 4 dogs. She works nights and would leave the window open when she was gone so they could come and go. They barked all the time. Two of them were diggers and would dig under our common fence and then chew the fence pickets until they got in my yard and then chew their way out the front of my fence. She had pilled rocks and other trash up against the front of her fence where they had chewed thru it to keep them in. So they used my yard to escape. I called Animal Control on a weekly basis for a year and a half and the city just got rich on all the fines and never made her get rid of any dogs or made her pay to repair my fence. She would just go to the city office and pay the fines and never had to go before the judge. I finally had to take off work and show up in court to keep her from bypassing the courts and continue to violate the law. After that she is down to 2 dogs, that I know of, and other than some barking no more problems.
I can only hope that the fact that this lady is worried about losing one of her cats that the Animal Control dept has started enforcing the laws on the books. I also agree that allowing 2 cats and 2 dogs is silly. There is no reason that anyone living in a city needs more than 2 pets of any variety. I do not consider fish, turtles or snakes in the count. If you need more dogs or cats you need to live in the country.
I do feel sorry for the pet owners that have gotten THEMSELVES in this position of breaking the laws. I have one dog and know how attached to them you get. But they cannot expect the laws to be changed to fit their ideas at the expense of the rest of the cities population.
Sorry Minnoe, cannot back you on this one. It is a city problem and the council needs to discuss it. Just like the citizens need to make their feeling known to their council person so they can make an educated judgment on the outcome.

My feeling is 2 pets total. 1 cat and 1 dog or 2 cats or 2 dogs. And keep them in your yard and do not allow them to bark all day and night. You need to have an IQ higher than the animal to be a pet owner and we have lots of them in our city where that is not the case. Maybe that is the answer. IQ testing! :)