Animal hoarding is a growing issue across the country, and it isn’t just about having too many pets.
“If you can get it, you can hoard it,” said Dr. Randall Lockwood, a retired Senior VP for the American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA).
He’s encountered cases involving everything from reptiles, to horses, pigeons, parrots, goats, tarantulas and even beavers. Still, 80-85% of cases involve dogs and cats, with cats being slightly more extreme.
Here’s what to know and how you can help.
What is animal hoarding?
Dr. Lockwood defines animal hoarding as a situation in which a person has more animals than they can properly care for.
“The thing that characterizes true animal hoarding,” he explained, “is that there is very little insight or awareness into the problems.”
The distinction between someone who is overwhelmed and a hoarder lies in awareness. A hoarder could be surrounded by several sick, dying, and sometimes dead animals, and still not be able to see a problem. It is a serious mental health issue that can be devastating for both themselves and the animals.
The four types of animal hoarders
Dr. Lockwood says there’s a spectrum of animal hoarding ranging in severity and they are broken down into four categories: the overwhelmed caregiver, the true hoarder, the rescue hoarder and the exploiter hoarder.
Overwhelmed caregiver: This first type of hoarder Dr. Lockwood describes doesn’t necessarily have a mental disorder rather just have more animals than they can take care of. In most situations involving someone in the overwhelmed caregiver category that ASPCA deals with, the person knows they’re not doing the right thing for their animal and are willing to get help. Dr. Lockwood says situations like this are usually resolved well.
True hoarder: These are individuals who have a large number of animals they can’t take care of, but lack insight and awareness of the problem. Typically, this impacts the condition of the environment they and the animals are living in.
Rescue hoarder: Dr. Lockwood says rescue hoarders can be the most extreme because they not only think that they are helping these animals, but that they are the only ones capable of helping these animals. “I’ve had rescue hoarders who told me ‘I wouldn’t let any of my animals leave if Jesus Christ himself wanted to adopt one,'” explains Dr. Lockwood. They characterize themselves as rescue groups and often have people who have donated money or brought more animals to them, but cannot see that they are not providing the proper level of care for the animals.
Exploiter hoarders: This type of hoarder, Dr. Lockwood says, is more of an exploiter and a criminal, and is one the rarer types they deal with. What this person does, is keep large number of animals and raise money to allegedly take care of them but don’t perform any type of care. This is criminal and best handled by law enforcement. Dr. Lockwood explained that people in this category are not necessarily psychologically hoarders but rather exploiters and criminals.
Hoarding as a mental illness
In just the last few years, hoarding has been recognized by both the American Psychiatric Association and the World Health Organization as a mental disorder. But research is still limited.
“No one’s actually specifically done brain scans of animal hoarders,” Dr. Lockwood said.
They have looked at other hoarders and there are differences in their brains, relating to sensory and emotional information, but the research is ongoing.
Addressing cases of animal hoarding
When addressing cases of hoarding, Dr. Lockwood says it’s complex because “our legal system and our particular criminal justice system is not very well equipped to deal with disorders or crimes that are the result of serious mental illness.”
Hoarding tends to run in families and is also seen as a type of attachment disorder, Dr. Lockwood said. It’s often people who have not had the ability to form strong bonds with other people.
The crazy cat lady stereotype isn’t far off, according to Dr. Lockwood. A majority of hoarders are unmarried women and it typically begins in their 30s and 40s. Hoarders are commonly children of alcoholics or other substance abusers, and that animals acts as substitute for any type of social life, but one pet, maybe even 20 pets is not enough to fill that need.
For many hoarders, there can be triggers stemming from trauma, loss, or separation.
Animal hoarding also almost always involves object hoarding, but animal hoarding becomes a public health and safety problem much quicker.
There’s a presence of a large amount of animals, that are potentially unhealthy, and in some cases these animals have never been outside.
“There is also the potential for zoonotic problems of animal-borne diseases,” Dr. Lockwood said. “We go in hazmat suits and respirators often, because the environment is, it’s toxic.”
Mental health professionals are always present when addressing cases of animal hoarding as are ambulances. Dr. Lockwood said the individual is battling a lot and often is threatening suicide. “They’ll say, ‘You take my animals away. You know, I can’t live without them.’ So it’s a very serious mental health issue,” Dr. Lockwood explained.
One of the greatest difficulties when addressing animal hoarding is that there is a near 100% recidivism rate. “I’ve been following one lady for 25 years across at least six states,” Dr. Lockwood said.
There’s no recognized treatment for animal hoarding, so a person may undergo psychological counseling but it only applies to object hoarding. “You certainly are more attached to your dogs or cats than you are to your pile of newspapers or your stack of toaster ovens. So that makes intervention much more difficult,” Dr. Lockwood explained.
There is also little legal action that can take place in these situations.
National animal cruelty codes under the Animal Welfare Act apply to things like puppy mills, but not to animal hoarding. Recently, the FBI through the the the NIBRS system, the National Incident Response System, has begun tracking animal cruelty cases including areas of extreme neglect.
But, Dr. Lockwood says it is difficult to tell how many of the extreme neglect cases are hoarding cases and there are no laws that apply to basic animal hoarding.
How to help
Local shelters that take in large amounts of animals, sometimes up to 200, in hoarding cases often have specific needs — and contrary to popular belief it’s usually not pet food.
They’re going to need money. They’re going to need towels. They don’t necessarily need food. “Everybody just wants to drop off dog food. And that’s often one of the last things they need because they’ve got a lot of good donors for that,” Dr. Lockwood said.
Rather these local shelters are typically looking for things like towels and more importantly, money and adopters.
If you are considering adopting a pet that is coming from a hoarding situation, it’s important to understand that their adjustment period may take longer than usual, and they are often more fearful than other animals.
“They’re not necessarily likely to be more aggressive,” Dr. Lockwood said, “the most common issue is they’re gonna be more fearful and maybe a little bit more food guarding.”
In many cases, dogs may have never been outside or experienced walking on otherwise common surfaces like carpet or grass, which can make them more anxious when experiencing it for the first time.
It is also common for animals coming from a hoarding situation to have only ever interacted with a single adult, if they’ve had meaningful interaction with a human at all. As a result, building trust and forming bonds may take more time.
If you suspect a case of animal hoarding or see evidence that an animal is at risk, Dr. Lockwood advises contacting animal control, human law enforcement or the police.