Interesting Article about Animal Hoarding

[Nina]

http://blog.sfgate.com/jscarlett/2012/01/25/shedding-light-on-anima...

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I watch a show that is about animal hoarding - it is so sad and I feel so sorry for the animals because in all cases they are not properly cared for and very sick.  The hoarding is a mental problem, it is bad enough when people hoard "stuff" but when it comes to a living animal that needs care it becomes a very sad situation.

[Nina, Phil, Harlow & Lacey]

A sad situation for all parties. I had a cousin who was a hoarder. Thank heavens, not animals but almost everything else. We never realized it until he passed unexpectedly. It took his sister and I almost 2 years to clear his small house of all the 'stuff' he had. When she and I began the task of going through everything there was literally only a path from the front door to the kitchen to his bedroom. Every other inch of space from floor to ceiling was taken up by stuff.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Definitely a sad situation - for both the animals and people involved.

I grew up beside a couple who were likely cat hoarders.  They always had their blinds drawn and we would see 2-3 cats at the windows, so we just assumed they had a few cats.  We thought it was odd that they had so many tins of cat food on garbage day sometimes...but not having ever been cat owners, we didn't think much of it.

They delcared bankruptcy and lost their house - and the humane society rescued about 30-40 cats from inside.  Apparently several of them had to be put down.  The house itself had to be completely gutted to be livable since it was such a mess from the cats and their smoking (They were both chain smokers - not good for the kitties either!)

We had no idea what was going on - If a hoarder is reclusive like my neighbors were then it's that much harder to figure out.  I think feeding and caring for so many cats likely contributed to their bankruptcy - they both had minimum wage jobs and I'm not even sure they worked full time.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This is very sad for the animals and the humans.  I recently became aware of a local hoarding situation that resulted in many cats and dogs who required homes after their owner (the hoarder) passed away suddenly.  Apparently nobody was aware of just how many animals she had.  The good news is that homes were found for all of them.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

Thanks for sharing. This is so sad that people can do this both for them and the animals.

[Deanna & Desi & Cori]

Two of my best friends are hoarders - one of things and one of things AND animals.  My animal hoarder isn't extreme (as in crazy cat lady) however she does have eight dogs and numerous cats.  Although I have no doubt that she loves her dogs, they aren't trained or as well-cared-for as I think they should be.  :(

[F, Calla & Luca]

This is such a sad phenomenon. The part about shelters/sanctuaries was interesting.