80 Cats Siezed

[Andara Bledin]

Article at LaTimes.com

I'm not sure if I'm more upset at the woman with the cats, or at society for how many of our elderly are allowed to fall through the cracks and do this sort of thing.

^-.-^

[Gravekeeper]

Article at LaTimes.com

I'm not sure if I'm more upset at the woman with the cats, or at society for how many of our elderly are allowed to fall through the cracks and do this sort of thing.

57 is not elderly. She's also not falling through the cracks seeing as it says they have visited her a couple of times before for the same problem. A better question is why no one went: "Hey, maybe we shouldn't let the crazy lady hoard unneutered cats".

At least I'm assuming they were unneutered. If not, the better question would be "Hey, where is this crazy lady getting all these cats?" -.-

[Andara Bledin]

Strays, usually. It's not hard to pick up a lot of cats in a very short time.

I could probably procure about 50 in the span of a few weeks just by watching Craigslist.

Speaking of neither elderly nor falling through the cracks:

37 cats seized from a mobile home - 3 were pregnant - fewer than 1/4 left alive (current)

67 cats seized from a rescue center - 2 more found dead (September)

Over 100 cats seized from an unlicensed rescue charity - also 2 pre-teen children - 20 euthanized, kids in protective services (March)

153 cats seized from the home of a hoarder - many so unsocialized as to be feral (current - adoption event to be held on Sunday)

I can't even fathom how you can fit 153 cats into a home. The most my family ever had was 13, and that was two households that got merged unexpectedly and a littler of kittens being fostered until they were weaned, then given back to the rescue so they could be adopted out.

I can understand, in an abstract sort of way, how a hoarder can cross over from clutter to filth, as they get overwhelmed by it all. But I really don't understand how a person can go from caring for animals and get to the point where there are so many that they're being harmed just by being there and the person involved being too entrenched to get some kind of help.

And in three of those cases, there were multiple (theoretically) responsible adults involved in each one. I can see one lonely person going off the deep end of caring too much, but for someone to do that and other people to sit idly by and watch or help it happen... I think I'm glad that I just don't get it.

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[Gravekeeper]

Strays tend to be unneutered to compound the problem. But yes, I don't understand how you can amass a horde like that, you'd have to have some kind of mental issue.

The most cats we ever had in the house at once was 18. As we had two litters hit at the same time. They were all weaned and adopted out. Then the hussies in question were fixed.

[Kheldarson]

Saw a case like this on an episode of Hoarders recently. The guy had a good 50 some cats in the house, about a dozen dead kittens--that he didn't even know about--but could still name all of the adult cats in the house. Problem was that he barely took care of himself, let alone the cats. He'd essentially suffered a breakdown after his mom died and just spiraled from there.

But he still cared about his cats...he just couldn't take care of them because it didn't register what he was doing.

[bara]

put out cat food.. and cats will mass

[protege]

Strays tend to be unneutered to compound the problem. But yes, I don't understand how you can amass a horde like that, you'd have to have some kind of mental issue.

There was a guy like that on my paper route. His wife was killed in a car accident some years prior, and he and his daughter had some sort of mental breakdowns. Oddly enough, the son was fine. Anyway, their house was nasty. We're talking that you didn't really *see* it from the street...but you could smell it from several blocks away. It really was that overgrown, and stunk like mad from all the cat shit It was estimated that there were cockroaches bigger than cars in that place, and it was responsible for about 99% of the mosquitoes and flea population in Allegheny County.

As if the 40 cats in and around that dump weren't bad enough, they also had a few mangy dogs, and a horse...which lived in an old school bus "barn" in the back yard. Most of the yard was dirt--there was no grass to speak of. So much cat urine over the years...had killed it off. Except for the horse, all of the animals were allowed to roam freely, to the annoyance of neighbors.

That house had been visited by the county several times. Officials would visit, neighbors would complain about the mess, and the animals would get seized. Within a month, the circle would begin anew.

What didn't get as much attention, was all the junk that was around the property. We're talking broken appliances, the horse 'barn,' the dead Peugeot sedan rotting away in their side yard, a burnt-out 1970s Chrysler in the driveway, old furniture, etc.

Then the father died, and the daughter finally snapped. After she attacked another neighbor...she got locked up at the local psych ward. About that time, borough pressure finally got the junk and the cars out of there. The house was an eyesore, and surrounding residents were tired of it devaluing the entire neighborhood. The son still lives in that house, and it looks somewhat decent now. I don't even want to think about all the money he had to dump into that place to get it livable again.

[anakhouri]

I don't know if charging her with animal cruelty is the right thing to do. As I understand it, usually animal hoarders think they are taking care of their animals, and think no one else will take care of them.

I only have one cat, I can't imagine having two, I'd go nuts...but 80??

[Andara Bledin]

I suspect that by the time a person is hoarding animals, there's really no point in charging them with animal cruelty. They usually don't understand that they've done anything wrong by that point. As illustration, one of the articles I linked (or one I read, not sure at this point) noted that the woman involved had had cats seized several times prior to the current event. As soon a the old lot was gone, she'd just start over.

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[Panacea]

We're talking that you didn't really *see* it from the street...but you could smell it from several blocks away. It really was that overgrown, and stunk like mad from all the cat shit It was estimated that there were cockroaches bigger than cars in that place, and it was responsible for about 99% of the mosquitoes and flea population in Allegheny County.

Pretty typical for a hoarder, especially an animal hoarder. The stories on Animal Cops are really heartbreaking, and the insides of those home are disgusting. The feces and urine builds up and creates a layer that covers everything. Cat urine in particular is notorious for causing respiratory illnesses.

I'm surprised the son was able to salvage the house. He probably would have been better off razing it and rebuilding. And I'm surprised no one got the Health Department involved. Probably no one thought of it. If the odor was that bad though, there were probably sanitation issues that could have led to the problem being fixed years earlier.

I suspect that by the time a person is hoarding animals, there's really no point in charging them with animal cruelty. They usually don't understand that they've done anything wrong by that point. As illustration, one of the articles I linked (or one I read, not sure at this point) noted that the woman involved had had cats seized several times prior to the current event. As soon a the old lot was gone, she'd just start over.

My county is considering an ordinance making animal hoarding a criminal offense after yet another hoarder got her animals seized.

Hoarding is a mental illness. No amount of criminal penalties can force these people to stop. Better legislation would be, that if a person is labeled a hoarder by the courts, then they can be put on a lengthy form of probation that allows and requires animal control to regularly inspect the property and seize any animals found there. I say this because the reason it usually gets as bad as it does is because law enforcement can't usually get involved until the evidence is so overwhelming you can smell it by walking by.

[tropicsgoddess]

I'm no psychologist but that lady sounds like she has some issues with animal hoarding. She could definitely use some professional help.