To worry about animal hoarding

[NeedACleverNN]

Watching animal hoarders and one woman has 300 cats!

I know it's an American program but I know it's a problem over here too.

How on earth to people get into these situations. Surely the animals can not get the care they require

[madasa]

We acquired our fourth furry kid 6 weeks ago, I am now banned from all pet adverts/sites etc. 300 cats, the smell must be horrendous!

[Birdsgottafly]

The two people that I have known to acquire lots of pets, have emotional issues and are using the animals to overcome them.

Both of them take in stray cats, so, as for the care, they're doing better than if they hadn't have been taken in.

[70isaLimitNotaTarget]

I could easily be a GuineaPig hoarder if it wasn't for DH

Every time I look at Gumtree (note to self, stay off Gumtree) I see piggies who are kept in unsuitable cages/owners want rid of them/moving/kids lost interest/allergic or , my personal " Kids have outgrown them "

They are not a pair of Converse plimsols, you don't outgrow a guineapig.
I'm nearly 50 and haven't.
You just Cannot Be arsed and as the parent, you need to make your child ManUp or Take Over.
After years of piggie keeping, my DD discovered she's allergic to a couple of ours (rash)
They stay No-one else will have our piggies.

I could easily hoard. I'm (hopefully) educated and AFAIK, nothing 'missing' in my life,

[suzannecaravaggio]

dont know about cats but it seems to be the thing these days to have a small pack of dogs rather than just one, perhaps that raises the bar and tips some people into hoarding?

[Jonathonseagull]

It's not just individuals in this country who hoard animals. I can think of quite a few horse sanctuaries that have so many horses and ponies they are hoarders themselves and the animals in their 'care' need rescuing.

[musicposy]

We have four dogs and a cat and I have to be very careful not to even look at rescue websites because I can see how people get tipped into it by rescuing "just one more".

I'm educated and I don't think I'm lacking anything emotionally. We never meant to have four dogs - though I know that sounds bizarre! We had two dogs, an old dog and a younger dog. Old dog was on his last legs and I thought younger dog would not cope well alone so I made the mistake of looking at rescue websites. We took one dog of a kind of pair - and the one we took didn't settle and was still utterly bereft without her companion a month on - so we gave in and took the second. Two years on and our old dog is (happily) still going strong at 14. So we've had four dogs for over two years now.

It's too many, I think. We feed them good quality food, they've all had dog training classes, they all see the vet if need be, are all flea treated and vaccinated, but the insurance went out of the window at the point we were looking at insuring 5 animals. And that's the problem, I think. If you have a lot of animals the quality of attention and care has to go down by definition unless you are millionaires and even then you can only split the attention so many ways. At worst, you risk poor care and an unsanitary environment - I have to hoover twice a day just to keep on top of the fluff and it still feels like a losing battle. Is it better for our dogs than the alternative (they were ex puppy farm breeding dogs who had only ever lived in a cage)? Absolutely. Do they have a loving, happy home where they are cared for? Yes. Would I have four dogs again? No, never. It feels too close to an animal hoarder even for my own comfort. But I can see how people without the ability to rein in that part of them which wants to rescue just one more end up with too many.

[Cattyface]

They are expensive to keep, but as long as they are warm, safe and healthy (all of them) then that is fine by me.

[RattieOfCatan]

I could hoard rats if it weren't for DH. I've managed to get two more in the past 3 weeks but I'm banned until we're down to one cage now (we have three currently) I only have 8 rats, the big cage would easily hold ten...

300 cats though, that place must really smell surely?!

[IHaveBrilloHair]

I have four cats, I'd love another but I am realistic in that it would be madness.
I probably shouldn't have four anyway, but I love the wee cretins and they are well looked after.

Having more than you can comfortably care for is really worrying.

[IHaveBrilloHair]

Mine are all neutered now, but one did have two litters first, entirely my fault.
I did keep two, and rehomed the others to people I know and see about so I know they are well cared for.

[BubsAndMoo]

I have been professionally involved in a case of animal hoarding in the UK (cats/dogs in significant double figures).

There is no doubt the animals were in appalling condition- part of my role was collecting/recording evidence of this for potential prosecution. But even though suffering had taken place, I found it hard to be angry at the people involved. They were vulnerable adults and were not able to care for themselves either- it was through the involvement of adult social services that the case came to light. There was no malicious intent or premeditated torture. It was just really, really sad all round.

All the animals recovered and were rehomed, and I believe the people now have a lot more support in place.

[MidniteScribbler]

I've got a lot of animals, because it's what I love. The animal care is the first job we do when we get home, and we keep them well and keep the house clean. I'm also a registered dog breeder and we spend our weekends at dog shows and trials, so it's also our hobby. Dogs that are ungroomed, unhealthy and untrained aren't going to do well, so their care is not just because morally and legally we are required to do so, but to get the best out of them.

For some people, one animal may be too many if they are unwilling or unable to provide for them financially as well as physically. For others, a house full of animals can be well cared for.

[CerseiHeartsJaime4ever]

70isalimit They are lovely animals but our guinea pigs don't stop eating. The noise when I open the fridge is outrageous. Anyone would think they were starved, but they are just spoiled! I couldn't get any more, I am done with pets. I cannot relate to pet hoarders at all!

[Yambabe]

It's hard if you love animals and just want them to be safe and happy.

We currently have 4 cats and a dog. Well we did. For about a week now we have been visited by a small white female cat, mostly in the garden. Have asked all the neighbours, had her checked for a chip (no joy) and mentioned her at our vet, the local Cats Protection League and a couple of local "lost and found pets" fb pages. Nobody has claimed her. For the last 3 days she has been living on the bottom shelf of my shoe rack, venturing out for food, litter tray and cuddles occasionally. Door has been open, she's been out and come back in again several times. 3 boy cats aren't bothered, resident girl cat is a bit miffed, Ddog is bewildered (he's a staffie cross, loves his own cats, thinks all alien cats need chasing off the premises)

Looks like we may now have 5 cats and a dog ffs.

[Mouseinahole]

The most we ever had was 3 dogs (one inherited from my mum), 5 cats and two ponies! This was lovely though it was a relief when we got down to a more manageable 2dogs, 2 cats and the ponies . Fortunately we lived in the country and are a family of animal lovers.
At the moment we only have a kitten though we are hoping to see another next week.

[kelda]

I have a friend with more then 20 guinea pis, several fishes and a dog. Oh and children too. Her house stinks and she can't cope with all of them. If you love animals that much, you would stay within your capabilities.

[Stanky]

I used to rescue guinea pigs, and I got up to about 20. That was my absolute max. I am now down to 2, a pair of boys somebody didn't want any more.

I knew people in the guinea pig community with around 60 guinea pigs. I went to 1 breeders house, and she had about 100. They were kept clean and fed, but it wasn't really good to keep breeding them.

I found a very heart breaking situation a couple of years ago. A young girl in our road (Well, she was about 20, but damaged and immature), took in over 100 animals to her dad's garden. There were about 80 guinea pigs, dozens of rabbits and a ferret. She seemed very happy, and the rabbits were breeding like well rabbits. She was breeding the guinea pigs too, but claimed that was unintentional.

After some weeks passed, I popped round with some veggies for the animals. She wasn't home, but her dad said I could go into the garden. The sight that met me will haunt me forever. Things had gone badly wrong and had completely got out of control. The water bottles were all dry, the food bowls were empty. The guinea pigs were inches deep in their own filth. The cages were over crowded, and the dead bodies had been trampled down. There was no food or hay in the shed. There were bin bags with more dead bodies inside.

Over the next few days, we brought food and water to the 100 or so surviving animals, and cleaned out the cages.

The RSPCA never did come out, but they wouldn't have prosecuted any way due to mental health. I was worried that they'd just remove the animals and put them all down.

Luckily, we managed to find help from some local small animal rescues, and they had a whole other network of more rescues to help. They removed the animals, and got them to safety.

Sadly, I had to take a pair of mother and baby rabbits to the vets, as they had contracted myxi. We were very fortunate that it didn't spread to the others.

I will be forever grateful to the rescuers, and the RWAF (rabbit welfare charity), who funded for all of the rabbits to be neutered and vaccinated, which would have cost over £700.

I will never forget my shock, and seeing all those desperate little faces at the cage doors. Thank goodness help came. But it is shocking how fast things can spiral out of control.

[suzannecaravaggio]

I can see how animal hoarding can happen, but I wonder why it has become more prevalent in recent years?

[Roseberrry]

I could easily if I didn't have dh and children. We have one puppy and 2 cats and I'm hankering after a kitten again! My brain is saying no, let the puppy get older before you take on the next baby, but my heart is telling me how fluffy and cute they are

[kelda]

That's so sad Stanky. I thinking hoarding has always been around but the concept of keeping pets is relatively modern and a luxury.

[suzannecaravaggio]

Perhaps because its an easy way to indulge yourself or make your self feel better?
Feeling down go buy a cute fluffy animal, or rescue one so you can do something charitable

[SaggingTits]

My cousin has 25 pets. All are well looked after. The worst 'Animal Hoarders' I've seen was a man that had 3 pet rats escape and breed. He ended up with over 2,000 rats running freely around his house

[JoffreyBaratheon]

My ex neighbour had one cat. She had one cat for years. The cat was maybe 15 when she adopted a stray. (We live in the countryside where there are a few colonies of feral cats round here). Stray looked very cute and young but was pregnant. Neighbour kept the 6 kittens. Neighbour couldn't afford to get any of the neutered... Fast forward about years and... we couldn't count them but reckoned she had over 30 cats.

In this period of time her life hit a rough patch - she lost her work (self employed), ended up on benefits. Then bedroom tax happened. She lost her home.

I took in one cat - another neighbour fed three in her garden. We heard afterwards the day she moved, she took her 6 favourite cats. One of those left behind was the original, now 18 year old cat (which neighbour looked after).

It escalated from one cat to over 30 in just around 3 years.

She started to see herself as an 'unofficial rescue' which I think is a delusion many of these people have.

The cat I took in, from her, was one she found wandering in another village and decided was a stray and 'rescued'. She died last year. She was also very old - no-one knew how old. The ancient cat my neighbour took in now lives very happily with my neighbour's son.

That's how it happens.

When she moved out, her son told us to take what we wanted from the stuff left behind outside, before the council got there to clear it. We found countless big feed sacks in her outhouse (empty). Each one costs over £50.