As we caught each cat, we checked to see if any were nursing so we could try to match the kittens with their respective mothers later on. By the time we finished the job, we had removed 56 cats and kittens from the house. Fortunately most of them went on to find new homes. The feral ones continue to live at Best Friends. Experts tell us that animal hoarding is a mental health disorder related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Most hoarders are middle-aged or older women living alone.
Often the animal of choice is the cat it s easier to keep cats indoors, out of the prying eyes of neighbors. Usually by the time others are alerted to a bad situation, there can be hundreds of cats crammed into a house or trailer. Gradually the animals lose their identities, becoming objects to be collected like old magazines, tin foil, or balls of string. Some animal hoarders start with the best of intentions. But gradually the animals lose their identities, becoming objects to be collected just as some eccentric people collect old magazines or tin foil or balls of string.