Talkie Zoo: CONFESSIONS: ANIMAL HOARDING

The past few days I've been watching Animal Planet on Netflix. The show is called Confessions: Animal Hoarding. It's pretty sad to watch people take in more animals than they can possibly support, yet the dearly love the animals and truly believe they are the only ones who can properly care for them. The people who do this have often had tragedies in their early years, or they came from families who had one parent or both who were distant and unloving. Sometimes, they had suffered so many losses in their lives they felt that if they could just hang onto the animals, everything would be ok.

Their families recognize the seriousness of this dysfunction and seek to help their loved ones find a way out that's both good for the person and good for the animals. Many of these people are also object hoarders, which means their homes are filled wall to wall and floor to ceiling with items they can't let go of because they "might need it later". Some of them buy labels and try to organize the mountains of stuff they have, but between that and taking care of the animals, it's just too overwhelming and they soon give up.

Also, many of these people suffer health issues themselves, directly attributable to the unsanitary conditions of having so many animals around them, in their homes, and in their yards.

Having pets isn't a bad thing. In fact, owning and caring for a pet is good therapy for many people who are depressed. But having 187 cats, mostly in the house, is just over the top.