Animal Hoarding: Abuse or illness? (MIGHT BE GRAPHIC!!!)

WARNING: This might get a bit graphic, just to warn people.

I have been watching Animal Cops when I can, and a lot of the cases they take on are animal hoarding cases. They call it an illness that is hard to cure, but I've heard other people say it's animal abuse. So I'm curious what people think it is: Abuse or illness?

For people who don't know, animal hoarding is where a person or people take in more animals than they can take care of and don't find them homes when they're overwhelmed. Most animals aren't fixed and breed which causes more problems. This leads to a lot of diseases and very unsanitary conditions for both the animals and the owners. This also leads to starvation for a lot of animals.

I have seen a lot of this happening on the show, and I'm torn between the two. I know a lot of people get attached to pets. Having a cat of my own, it'd kill me to ever get rid of him. If I had to get rid of him would I? Yes, I would. I already have plans set for in case this happens. I also know that my limit is my cat right now and I can't get another pet no matter how cute I see other animals.

I have seen these people claim on loving the animal and that they take care of them. They hold them and carry them and cry when they get rid of them. I know they think they love the animal, but at the same time, I can't ever imagine not realizing you can't feed an animal and still keeping it. I've heard of cases where hoarders have bags of food for their animals out of reach though I've never seen one case myself like that. So I don't fully know.

 

I'm going to say both. Some, not all, might love the animals too much to get rid of them. There's something wrong if you can't distinguish between love and cruelty. If you can't take care of an animal, and you truly loved it, you'd give it away. I'm not going to blame someone for loving an animal though. The last time in ten years that I cried, from something real and not a TV show or anything, was when I had to give up my dog Shredder. Ironically, he grew into his name. He tore everything up. He finally chewed through the phone-line, he was tearing up the yard and the landlord didn't care for it too much. At that point I had to give him up. It hurt, but I did what I had to. It was either that or shorten his leash. I gave him up to a family that owned farmland, so he could run free.

That was a little bit different of a situation. He was well fed and groomed. Same reason though, if you love your pet don't let it suffer.

This is a case, some exemptions may apply to just being abusive, of both abusiveness and illness, in my personal opinion.

 

It's kinda of a hit-or-miss situation. It's nice to know that you're a person who's willing to take in animals and shelter them until you can find an owner, but on the other hand, not knowing your limits and hurting yourself and the animals themselves. Clearly this is NOT abuse. If that person is extremely selfless, then I can understand. Abandoned pets are heartbreaking. I seriously want to take one home every time I see one, but because of allergy issues, I cannot. I've seen a lot of homeless animals wander around my neighborhood, fighting other animals in the night.

In the end, the real point is t know your limits. Know how much you can carry and what your handling limit is before you start to hurt those you actually started to try to heal.

 

So wait, you don't think this is abuse? Even though it might not be intentional, it's still animal abuse. If you have eighteen dogs running around your home, nothing but bone, that is abusive. It doesn't matter what the original intent was, only the outcome. In this case I suppose it would be, "The means does not justify the ends." You might have meant to take in a bunch of homeless animals who were all alone, in the end you're hurting them and yourself.

You're right though, you should know your own limits. If you're going to take in animals, don't get attached after two or three. After that you should simply be finding them new homes. Unless you have a very large income, and you're willing to spend everything on your pets, don't take in (permanently) more than a few. I'm happy there are nice people out there like that who would take in abandoned or stray animals, though I'm not happy about the living conditions in a lot of these cases.

 

I've seen cases where people own big screen tv's, brand new cars, cell phones, video game systems, etc...

While hoarding several dozens of animals while claiming they're fine with them being skin and bones. I do think in some situations it is abuse because they can afford it, but they don't want to pay for the treatment of animals. I do agree with Nights, you have to know your limits and know when to say no. A lot of these people are elderly and believe they're taking in the animals as their children, but if there was a family with 10 kids and they were starving, it'd be considered abuse.

 

It's not abuse. If you look up abuse, it mistreatment for YOUR own benefit. I'm not saying what he's doing is right either. In this case, I think it's unfair to call this abuse since it has an intention to help the animals. He's not trying to abuse them on purpose. If you honestly have thoughts of seriously wanting to helping them out, then I don't see why not, but again, know your limits before you start to hurt them.

 

abuse
1. to use wrongly or improperly; misuse: to abuse one's authority.
2. to treat in a harmful, injurious, or offensive way: to abuse a horse; to abuse one's eyesight.

According to that, this would be abuse. I agree with knowing your limits before taking in the animal, but it doesn't matter if it was intentional or not, if the animals are starving or sick, the owner is abusing them.

 

It is hard to say, on the definition that Zelda put up then yes this is abuse. Of course the intent is one of love but it may also be people attempting to cure their own loneliness by hoarding animals and receiving their affection. It could have many causes but my guess is they don't realise they are abusing these animals even when they are rich and not spending it on the pets. I think they should be helped psychologically as there is probably something not right but the animals do deserve a loving home where they are taken care of but I think the person should also not be condemned for intentional abuse but instead helped.

 

I've actually watched a show called "Animal Hoarders" on Netflix before. Pretty much all the episodes that I watched pointed out that most of the people that are hoarding have no idea what they're doing what's so ever. It's hard to believe, but they have a mindset that they're helping the animals, giving them a home, place to rest and eat. Most of them are not even aware of the condition they live in.

Everyone is going to hate me a bit, but not only does it affect the animals, but it affects the humans too. I mean, think about it. They're breathing in all those urine and poop fumes all the time. They even sleep on it sometimes if not. Dishes get contaminated, places they shower get nasty, you name it. Animal senses are more sensitive than humans, sure. But over time, animal hoarding will give humans diseases and sicknesses, (if not make them close to death) as well as the animals.

Mostly everyone on the show that they presented had some kind of abusive life, or they were neglected in some way or another. Or perhaps something traumatic happened to them like death of a friend or family member, something of that nature. And they need to fill that void, that emptiness, that want, that love somehow and someway. Animals don't talk back, they love unconditionally, and sometimes it becomes an obsession to rescue and collect unwanted or previously abused or neglected animals. And they don't realize it. Some of them won't realize it until a vet, Animal Control, or a counselor comes over and tells them exactly what's going on and try to make the owners look at the animals through their eyes and make them see what kind of condition they're living in.

Everyone on the show was recommended to some kind of therapy later on to help them with their illness. I say it's an illness, since they recommend counseling and therapy, and even sometimes medication to the owners to help them out. Eventually, and hopefully, the owners see what they've done and will be remorseful if the therapy and counseling is successful, and they will call a humane society or rescue agency to come collect their animals, bring them back to health, and give them good homes.

It's an illness to me, because if you think about it, the humans are not only abusing the animal, but they're abusing themselves as well by living with their animals in unsanitary, harmful conditions.