Hoarding is defined as the compulsion to obtain, collect, and hoard objects no matter how valuable or invaluable they might be. It’s further described as the inability to let go of objects no matter how worthless, invaluable, or unsanitary they are. No one has yet made it clear if this disorder is a condition itself or possibly just a symptom of the more commonly known condition, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Hoarders often exhibit symptoms of delusional disorder as well, where as they have no concept of the reality of the debilitation of their surroundings and in some cases their health.
Whatever it is, hoarding is nothing new. Over the years we’ve all heard of people referred to as “pack rats” in reference to their similarities to the rodent, pack rat, who hoards any item they can find, and refuses to let go of their treasure trove of items no matter what the situation.
What is new about the condition is the growing awareness of this sad disorder. Now even television stations devote a good bit of air time it. There’s A&E’s popular show “Hoarders”, and the Animal Planet’s “Confessions: Animal Hoarding”.
According to statistics there are over an estimated 3 million Americans who suffer from this disorder that dictates the very lives they lead. Where they go, what they can and cannot do in their homes, and even who they can allow in their homes, if anyone.
A great number of people within those reported 3 million hoarders are a hoarding subgroup who acquire and keep animals; animal hoarders.
An animal hoarder can be defined as someone who keeps more animals than they can reasonably house or care for. Like any hoarder, they are normally oblivious to the fact that they have a problem with the compulsion and are not apt to seek help on their own.
Animal hoarding often begins with good intentions. It may start with a person taking in animals with the intentions of rescuing them and eventually finding them new homes. But hoarders rarely have a limit on numbers and will continue to take in pets long after their homes have reached capacity and their bank accounts of empty. They also have the inability to part with these animals once they have taken them in.
Other animal hoarders have reportedly started their “collection” seeking companionship from pets whose love is constant and unconditional. With big hearts and seemingly endless will to rescue and protect, some people just cannot find a way to draw that line in the sand.
In most animal hoarding cases the homes of the hoarders become a literal zoo. The numbers can eventually become so great that the hoarder finds it impossible to keep up with the constant care required for such a large number of pets.
Most homes of animal hoarders have been found in such a condition that is no longer livable for man or beast. The home can be filled with objects, debris, garbage, animal feces, rodent and insect infestations, and even dead pets. In some cases the homes are in such poor condition they are condemned due to sanitation or structural issue and must be demolished.
Pets in the “care” of a hoarder are often found in as poor of a condition as the homes. Malnourishment, dehydration, parasite and insect infestation of the animals is often the case. The majority of animals found with hoarders have had little or no vet care due to the high cost of treating so many pets.
Pets will also lack having been spayed or neutered which causes a whole other issue in hoarding cases, reproduction. Unspayed and unneutered pets will continue to breed over and over again only adding even more animals to the mix and creating more and more of a problem. Hoarders are often found with several generations of animals from a single pair. It’s a downhill spiral.
Most animal hoarding cases will end with intervention by law enforcement.
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