Animal Hoarders, The Dirty Truth

Daniels little paws are dipped in white, his face, ears and tail in black. Siamese cats, often extroverted, intelligent, vocal and lively, do not usually possess the demeanor of little Daniel. Born in a house with over 100 cats, Daniel is very shy and sometimes, even scared of people. Now living in foster care with The Cat Network, a Florida-based not-for-profit corporation dedicated to humanely reducing cat overpopulation, Daniel is slowly progressing, along with many of the other felines rescued from the same hoarding situation. Its a patient and loving home that Daniel and his counterparts need though. Being socialized and getting much overdue attention is often all these animals require.

A Widespread Problem
On Feb. 6, a mother and daughter turned themselves in and confessed to keeping 62 dogs in their home in South Florida. When they surrendered, they brought with them 16 of the 62 dogs and one bird. The duo had previously been evicted from their Oakland Park, Fla., home a year earlier, leaving behind a house filled with dog feces covering the walls and even found in the washing machine.

Two older women, one 78 and the other 50, were faced with 225 counts related to the neglect and suffering of animals found in their home in 2006. At their Columbia, Md., home 75 cats were found in squalid conditions. Of the 78 cats, 17 were found dead while the others suffered from disease and malnutrition.

In Montgomery County, Texas, in the Houston area, authorities seized 116 dogs from the home of a 75-year-old woman. Having hoarded the animals for several years, some were chained to trees and fence posts. Neither fresh food nor water was made available.

The list goes on: 81 cats taken from the house of an ex-nun in California, more than 100 dogs and several birds rescued from a 77-year-old womans home in North Carolina and more than 300 cats, including 70 found dead, at a home nestled in the woods of Maryland.

According to an article in the Psychiatric Times about animal hoarders, these situations already exist in nearly every community, large or small. They are often shocking: decomposing animals, fecal matter, parasites, disease, malnutrition, and an ammonia smell so overwhelming neighbors begin to complain.

Criminals or Victims?
It is often easy to become outraged by animal hoarding situations, very much like you would if you found out a dog was beat with a bat or a cat was tossed from a car. But according to many animal care and psychiatric specialists, these individuals are less like criminals and more like victims in need of intense psychiatric help.

William J. Shryer, DCSW, LCSW, has been in private practice since 1981, specializing in mood disorders, autistic spectrum disorders and the anxiety spectrum in children. "We tend to criminalize things," said Shryer. "They (hoarders) lack the most basic ability to figure out signs of reality. They are more victims of a neurological brain disease."

The Cat Network adds, "The most important aspect of hoarding is understanding that the person(s) involved are usually suffering from some sort of emotional or mental health problem that goes unnoticed or untreated."

Although a variety of models have been set forth to explain these hoarding urges (delusion, addiction, attachment), most experts vacillate between dementia and an obsessive compulsive disorder.

"In terms of being a bona fide OCD disorder, I dont think it is," said Shryer. "There are people out there who are treating these folks and using the wrong approach, the wrong medications and making the problem worse."

Shryer contends dementia. "Most of the patients that wind up being in the papers tend to be more elderly. Its probably something to do in a subtle change in the way the brain is evolving," Shryer said.

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium at Tufts University stresses that although the elderly cat woman is the stereotype, these cases know no age, gender, of socioeconomic class. Hoarding cases have been observed in men and women, young and old, married or widowed and everything in between.

Nonetheless, the numbers and the demographics are difficult to estimate, with official numbers being few and far between. One study, using self-reported data from animal shelters, estimated roughly between 700 and 2000 cases per year.

Another study estimated about 5.3 cases per 100,000 people every year. That would amount to just over 5000 cases per year. According to the Tufts University Research Consortium, using this data and a median of either 39 or 47 animals per case, it would not be unreasonable to suggest that up to a quarter million animals are affected by hoarding each year.

Whatever the real number, most experts agree that it is very high. Experts also agree that these individuals are extremly ill, psychologically.

Disastrous Results
Unsanitary living conditions are the main threat to both owner and animals. Cat Network recalls one particular case in which a home was occupied by over 100 animals, more than 60 of which were deceased inside the home.

"Six inches of feces and debris covered the floor of the house from years of neglect," said Cat Network. "The ammonia level was so high that the house became uninhabitable for the hoarder."

According to the Humane Society of the United States, the air is sometimes so polluted with ammonia that one cannot enter without protective breathing apparatus. Some situations are so bad that the homes become unfit for human dwelling, according to the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium.

Besides living in these filthy conditions, hoarders generally fail to provide their animals with even the most basic care. According to Shryer, memory problems, a trait commonly seen in hoarders, results in forgetting to feed the animals, provide them with clean water, walk them or bathe them.

The repercussions for the animals are numerous. "With a large number of animals living in a confined area, upper respiratory infections and skin conditions are common," said Cat Network. "The animals are usually found living in unsanitary conditions due to the hoarder not cleaning up the urine and feces left behind by the animals."

Reproduction is another chief concern and, according to Shryer, one of the preliminary causes of the problem. "Hoarders by definition cant give up what they have hoarded," Shryer said. "The animals will breed and the owner will lose the capacity to use their insight or judgment. Its almost as if they cant figure out how it got to be that many."

According to the Cat Network, uncontrolled reproduction also serves as the number one health risk because these animals are breeding continuously in unsanitary conditions. Another common health risk is parasites due to the lack of de-worming and flea control.

Prevention
It may be difficult to imagine that there are potentially scores of people and thousands of animals living in these putrid conditions "It does make you wonder where are the families of these people," said Shryer. "Where are social services? Why is no one checking in on these people?"

Often it is the uncertainty of what to do with these people and what is actually wrong with them that cause these cases to die into the background. Dying into the background is exactly what experts hope to avoid. Most who become involved in these cases stress dealing with the situation as soon as possible.

"Early intervention is critical because if people realize that the hoarder is in need of mental health treatment, there is a greater potential that both the person and animals can be helped," said Cat Network.

Many of these individuals are even repeat offenders. According to The Psychiatric Times article titled "People who Hoard Animals" 60 percent of hoarders studied were repeat offenders.

Furthermore, many of the caseworkers whom took part in the study expressed frustration with the perceived lack of cooperation from public and mental health professionals.

One anonymous individual in Miami-Dade County expressed similar frustrations when attempting to delve deeper into a suspicious animal situation in a local neighborhood. After calling Animal Services, the individual was told that this was a case for health services. After calling health services, the same individual was told that it was a matter of Code Enforcement. After calling Code Enforcement, the individual was directed back to Animal Services.

For Shryer, this is one of the prevailing problems with these cases and its this fledgling system that needs to pick up the pace. "Its the fault of the system," Shryer said. "Every one of these hoarders has fallen under the healthcare radar, the social services radar."

Even when light is shed on these situations, greater challenges often arise. "Because the hoarder accumulates so many animals, finding a larger number of temporary foster homes and then forever homes at once is very challenging," Cat Network said.

Money is often an even greater issue. "There are financial constraints on the rescue effort," said Cat Network. "Everything from sterilization, to providing food for the duration of the time that the animal is in foster care, to ensure that the cat is healthy and adoptable."

Its these constraints that often hinder organizations that wish to help from getting involved. "As a matter of practice, Cat Network does not get involved in hoarder cases because the severity of the situations puts an enormous strain on our already limited resources."

Cat Network continued, "Sadly, there just arent enough resources to find homes for all the animals found in hoarder situations." Cat Network suggests the most basic procedure to help prevent situations like this. Bob Barker had it right: "Have your pets spayed or neutered."

"These situations can be prevented by sterilizing your pet or the outside animal that you are feeding," said Cat Network. "In one of these hoarder cases, the owner had begun with just two unsterilized cats that were inside house cats. The population burgeoned to over one hundred cats in less than two years."

Its also situations like this that contribute to South Floridas already out-of-control pet population. South Florida leads the nation in the number of animals that are killed every year in shelters simply because there are not enough homes.

Treatment
Psychologists agree: there is currently little understanding of this problem. And with little understanding comes an uncertainty of both proper treatment and punishment. The article from The Psychiatric Times even admits that to date, no research has addressed strategies for resolving animal hoarding cases.

According to the article, "Until models for this behavior are established and tested, our understanding of this problem will be limited. Like many psychological conditions, causes of animal hoarding are probably multiple and, therefore, assessments of emotions, behavior and thoughts must be multifaceted to point the way toward successful treatment."

Uncertainty about the subject also brings improper treatment. Currently, according to Shryer, behavior therapy is the most common form of treatment for hoarding, treatment through the reinforcement of the acceptable behavior and suppression of the undesirable behavior.

Shryer warns though that the misdiagnosis of the problem could prove disastrous for the hoarder. For example, administering obsessive compulsive medications can actually cause increased anxiety in hoarders.

Action
According to the Humane Society of the United States, the proper criminal charge for hoarders is still being debated because it is linked to mental illness. According to them, a combination of therapy and long-term monitoring is still the best bet for hoarders, in part because of the high recidivism rate (hoarders reverting to old behaviors).

According to Ann Chynoweth, counsel to Investigative Services for the HSUS, in an HSUS article, criminal charges brought against hoarders is uncommon. But while jail time may be served, little attention is paid to the psychological help that these individuals command.

According to both Shryer and Cat Network, mental health treatment should be at the forefront of the growing problem. Even The Psychiatric Times admits that "research on animal hoarding is in its infancy, despite its seriousness and the frequency with which it is described in the news media."

Most experts can agree though that community involvement is key in preventing and dealing with these cases. Despite the run-around that many encounter when trying to report these cases, it is important that individuals make the attempt to contact officials if they suspect someone is hoarding animals. The HSUS also suggests that before anyone considers relinquishing an animal to a private rescue group they should first visit the location and ask to see where the animals are kept.

"Those in the animal rescue business would love to be out of business," said Cat Network. "Because that means that every companion animal would have a good and loving home."