Hoarding

Animal Hoarding: Recognizing the Signs of Kindness Gone Awry

What causes this compulsion to collect and then neglect living creatures?

In neighborhoods across the U.S. there is a disturbing trend that appears to be on the rise. From New York, to Idaho, to Florida and in between, cases of animal hoarding are being reported to the media as rescue groups struggle to get them veterinary care and permanent homes.

Long recognized by animal shelters and veterinarians — and more recently acknowledged as a public health problem — the phenomenon is called animal hoarding.

Characteristics of animal hoarders

Animal hoarding or “collecting” is a psychological condition loosely related to obsessive-compulsive disorder according to the International OCD Foundation. It occurs when people take into their home more animals than they can responsibly take care of or manage.

Typically hoarders believe themselves to be rescuers when in reality they unintentionally become passive abusers. And in some cases, not so passive.

It’s estimated by the Humane Society of the United States that there are roughly 250,000 new cases of animal hoarding yearly in the US. The organization describes the typical hoarder as a white, middle-aged or older female, but can be either sex.

Almost half live alone and are single, divorced or widowed. More often than not cats are the animal of choice simply because they’re easier to keep inside.

Ironically, a disproportionate amount of animal hoarders have been associated with a caring profession such as nursing or teaching.

Conditions of the hoarders’ interior homes tend to be consistent in most cases. Upon discovery, they’re often described as “deplorable,” “unlivable,” and “horrific.”

Dead or sick animals were discovered in 80% of reported cases stated one study, and in another 60% of the cases the hoarder refused to acknowledge there was any sort of problem at all.

But why do people become animal hoarders?

Gary Patronek, a veterinarian and director of the Center for Animals and Public Policy at Tufts University, was the first to coin the phrase “animal hoarding” in 1997.

More than just an eccentricity, Patronek argues that animal hoarding represents the “end state of several pathways” which sometimes can be an associated with age and dementia.

He also speculates that some animal hoarders begin “collecting” after a traumatic event in their life or some sort of loss. This could be the death of a spouse or child. It could be the loss of a job or a divorce.

Animal hoarders may also see themselves as rescuers who are saving the animals from the streets. Their strong belief that they’re helping often makes them blind to the fact that the animals are suffering under their care.

Says Patronek; “Sometimes it’s just good intentions colliding with bad coping.”

Horrific cases

Spectacular cases of animal hoarding have been reported over the past years, including one where 180 dogs were taken from a woman and her mentally disabled son’s squalid home in Salley, Georgia.

Over a hundred cats and kittens living in “deplorable conditions” were removed from the home of a 75-year-old woman in Liberty, Missouri who was described as “overwhelmed by caring” for all the animals.

In another case 71 cats were found in a Tennessee hoarder’s home, most sickly, starving, with contagious mouth blisters and infected with the FIV virus.

In this instance, officials reported that 60 cats had already been taken from the 69-year-old woman just four years earlier.

In still another case, animal control workers removed almost five hundred animals from a large, rambling two-story house in what appeared to be a neat, tree-lined avenue.

Many cases defy belief. One can only wonder how people could possibly fail to notice that their fellow neighbors have two hundred or more animals in their homes.

Good intentions gone bad

In most cases the hoarding of animals begins with good intentions. And certainly not everyone who has “too many” animals is a hoarder.

Michael and I have have taken care of up to ten cats at one time.

But we had the physical space for our cats, and they had consistent veterinary care, ample food and lots of attention. Michael has always been the king of litter box care.

So, large numbers of pets is not always an indictment of animal hoarding.

When the collection of animals become pathological it’s usually a case of someone who has slipped into mentally illness. Taking in more and more animals helps feed their compulsion.

Eventually they become so focused upon acquiring animals they can’t see they’re not providing a quality life for them. Instead, it’s a miserable existence.

After a while the animals begin to lose their identifies as they become more like objects to be added to a collection.

Sadly, hoarders fail to provide even minimal standards of nutrition and sanitation, let alone veterinary care.

And often, as conditions deteriorate, they fail to recognize the negative effect this obsession has on their own health or that of other household members.

Hoarder rehabilitation

The problem doesn’t go away when someone gets busted. Experts in this area say hoarders are rarely “rehabilitated” without intense psychotherapy.

Even with mental health counseling recidivism in animal hoarding approaches 100% says Dr. Elizabeth Berliner, the Director of Shelter Medicine at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine.

Often, after the animals are removed from a home — even if the hoarder has been charged with animal cruelty — the cycle repeats itself. The hoarder may move to another street or city so that she can get a fresh start.

The psychology of the animal hoarder is complex

While many hoarders tend to be secretive and isolated, others are friendly and outgoing. In fact, hoarders are often found to be well educated with excellent communication skills.

A majority compulsively collect other objects. Even if they didn’t hoard animals, one would notice their homes are cluttered and disorganized in a state that social services providers sometimes refer to as “garbage houses.”

And denial that a problem even exists is another persistent theme with hoarders.

“Perhaps the most prominent psychological feature of these individuals,” says Patronek in Municipal Lawyer Magazine, “is that pets become central to the hoarder’s core identity. The hoarder develops a strong need for control and denies there is a problem.”

Irene Holmes, a district attorney who has worked with the prosecution in many collector cases says that hoarders “have a death grip on denial.”

In one of her cases a female hoarder couldn’t grasp the impact of her own neglect, even when shown photos of her Weimaraner who was so starved his rectum and intestines were literally falling out.

How to recognize an animal hoarder

There are signs that might identify someone as a potential animal hoarder.

If someone is living in a deteriorating house where numbers of animals can be seen in the yard or through windows, that may be a red flag.

If the animals seem lethargic and undernourished, and there is a smell coming from the property, that may be another sign.

If the homeowner exhibits signs of delusional behavior like claiming her pets are well-cared even though that doesn’t seem to be the case, that individual may be a hoarder.

Other indicators may include:

• The pet owner has a neglected visual appearance.
• The person is isolated from other neighbors and doesn’t engage in a neighborly fashion.
• The owner is unwilling to allow visitors inside her house or onto her property.

Animal hoarding is a community issue

Whether it occurs in rural or urban environments, there are cases that go unreported even when neighbors notice. Why? Because sometimes the hoarder appears sympathetic.

After all, she rescues pets that wouldn’t have survived without her help, right?

Wrong!

Why? Because the amount of suffering in a hoarding case is usually of much greater magnitude.

While cases of animal abuse shock and anger us, there’s no comparison to the endless suffering brought about by unsanitary conditions, parasitic infestation, malnutrition, and disease endured for months or even years.

What to do if you have an animal hoarder in your neighborhood

If you suspect someone is hoarding animals, you should call your local animal shelter or welfare organization and report it. There is also the chance (or likelihood) that they may call in the police as well.

While this may seem cruel — especially if the person is someone you know — it’s much worse to allow the situation to persist.

The individual needs professional help and the sooner they get it the better. What’s at stake is the physical and mental health of the animal hoarder, and the animals themselves.

As the motto goes: If you see something, say something.

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