Animal Hoarding
Animal Hoarding involves keeping higher than usual numbers of animals as pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Compulsive hoarding can be characterized as a symptom of mental disorder. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets and find it extremely difficult to let the pets go. They typically cannot comprehend that they are harming their pets by failing to provide them with proper care. Hoarders tend to believe that they provide the right amount of care for their pets.
Due to the harmful effects on the health of the animals involved, animal hoarding is considered a form of animal cruelty. Hoarders often fail to provide even basic care for their animals, and this results in disease and often death. The primary animal health issues involved are malnourishment, overcrowding, and problems related to neglect. Consequences of hoarding are long-lasting and continue to affect the animals even after they have been rescued and provided with better care.
Lack of sufficient food and water is a common feature of hoarding situations. The immediate consequence of this is starvation and death. Malnourishment also leads to increased susceptibility to diseases, and the hoarded animals are often in advanced stages of sickness. Further, when there is a limited food supply, animals may resort to aggressive behavior in competing for the food, killing and sometimes even eating other animals. The hoarder’s failure to provide sufficient food and water constitutes one of the principal health risks to hoarded animals.
Overcrowding is also an acute animal health problem in hoarding situations. The number of animals found in hoarding cases range from dozens to several hundreds, with extreme cases reaching over a thousand. These animals are confined to houses, apartments, or even trailer-homes. In addition to lack of living space, the extreme overcrowding facilitates the spread of diseases among animals. Furthermore, in cases where more than one species are confined to the same living spaces, the animals can pose a danger to each other due to inter-species aggression. Due to insufficient living space, the spread of disease, and close proximity to other animals, overcrowding is a major animal health concern of hoarding.
Various other health problems arise from hoarders’ neglect of and inability to provide basic care for the animals. Lack of veterinary attention is notable among these. Hoarders, refusing to acknowledge the deteriorating health conditions of their animals and scared they will be forced to give up custody, often refuse to bring their animals in for veterinary treatment. As a result, diseases are left untreated and allowed to become more severe. Another problem tied to neglect is poor sanitary conditions for the animals. Basic animal waste management is absent in virtually all animal-hoarding situations, and animals are found filthy and often infected with parasites as a result. Further, animals suffer behaviorally from a lack of socialization caused by an absence of normal interaction with humans and other animals. Hoarders’ neglect to provide even minimal standards of care, in addition to the problems of insufficient food and severe crowding, contribute much to the health problems of animal hoarding.
Many of these health problems continue to cause suffering even after the animals are rescued. Strained animal shelters or humane societies, forced to prioritize when dealing with a large number of rescued animals, may be unable to provide immediate treatment to many animals. Further, many of the rescued animals, due to health or behavioral problems, may be un-adoptable. Euthanasia even in cases where the animals are not beyond rehabilitation, is often the only option for rescued animals. The effects of hoarding on the health of the animals involved are severe and lasting, taking heavy tolls on both their physical and psychological well-being.
Animal hoarding also causes many health problems for the individuals involved. Hoarders, by definition, fail to correct deteriorating sanitary conditions of their living spaces, and this gives rise to several health risks for those living in and around hoarding residences.
Poor sanitation practices, a general characteristic of hoarding households, poses numerous health risks to inhabitants, both animal and human. In typical hoarding residences, animal waste is found coating interior surfaces, including beds, countertops, and cupboards. In one case, floors and other surfaces were found to be covered in a six-inch layer of feces and garbage.
In addition to severe odors which may pose a nuisance to neighbors, animal waste poses serious health risks in both the spread of parasites and the presence of noxious ammonia levels. In an extreme case, the ammonia level in the hoarder’s house was 152 parts per million, even after ventilation.
The presence of animal waste also prevents sanitary means of food storage and preparation, which puts residents at particular risk of contracting food-related illnesses and parasites. Insect and rodent infestation can both follow and worsen hoarding conditions, and it can potentially spread to the surrounding environment including nearby buildings. In one case, an elementary school had to be shut down due to a flea infestation that had spread from a nearby dog hoarder residence.
This information was taken from many souces.
