The Truth About the "Crazy Cat Lady"

When you love animals and know how many are out there that need homes, you might be able to understand how someone could end up with fifty dogs or two hundred cats. In theory. But in reality, when you read about the conditions that hoarders live in and the state of their animals, none of it makes sense anymore.

The stereotype of a lonely old lady living with a few too many cats doesn’t fit the dozens of news stories published about hoarders every year. And those are only the cases you hear about. The Tufts University Hoarding Animals Research Consortium (HARC) estimates there may be as many as 2,000 cases per year in the U.S., and they reach across gender, age, and socioeconomic background. There have been cases of hoarders with children, or who lead double lives as veterinary or health care professionals.

Keep in mind that hoarding is not about the number of animals. While that is part of the criteria that separates hoarding from other types of animal abuse, there are cases of hoarders with as few as five or six animals, and there are people who are doing just fine with over a dozen pets. The key factors that separate hoarders from multiple-pet homes are the inability to provide the minimum standards of care, commonly resulting in illness and starvation, and the denial of what’s going on. Hoarders are typically unable to care for themselves, too; their homes are often unfit for any living creature.

When you see photos of a hoarder’s home or read about the neglect, and often death, suffered by their animals, it’s hard to feel anything but horror and anger. But it’s important to understand that most hoarding cases are linked to mental illness, not malice. Although it’s generally classified as a type of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the cause and psychology of hoarding isn’t well understood, and it's usually just one ingredient in a mix of psychological issues present.

The fact that many hoarders mean well doesn’t change the outcome for the animals. But simply removing animals and prosecuting hoarders is rarely effective; it's only a matter of time before they go back to their old ways. The only hope of stopping a recurrence is to bring together animal welfare professionals, social workers, public health officials and others who can reach out in a coordinated effort to address the complex issues of each case. The ASPCA says the animals shouldn’t always be removed from the home. They’re often unadoptable, and allowing them to live out their lives with their caregiver, if basic health and sanitation requirements can be met, might be the animals' only chance at life.

Right now, it's also the only method that has any hope of breaking the cycle. If mental health professionals are used to reach out to hoarders without alienating them, then they're less likely to simply drop off the radar like so many of the cases where the hoarder moves out of town after their animals have been taken away. If they have a positive relationship with the authorities, they're more likely to do their part by checking in and trying to overcome their illness. On the other side, they need to realize that hoarders who agree to work with authorities need to be as closely monitored as those who are more resistant. The "compulsive" part of the disorder will drive hoarders to continue bringing in animals, even if they know they "shouldn't," and to lie about it. A court order won't stop them either.

You can't assume that cooperative hoarders are "cured," and take them at their word that everything is okay. But with open lines of communication that try to help the human as well as the animals, and by keeping tabs on the hoarder, you might have a shot at stopping a recurrence before it gets out of control again. If a community turns its back instead of trying to help, then it's turning its back on the animals destined to be taken in by the hoarder.

Photo credit: Fred Benenson