1. I just wanted to post because I noticed that this article states that I was one of the people to give Sandy one of my cats. That is incorrect information, if you follow the videos from NBC-2 you will see it was in fact Betty who gave Sandy one of her cats. I have four and I wouldnt dream of giving them away, let alone to a home that I couldnt check out first. Also, I feel that I should mention that had I known about this situation before the authorities got involved I would have done everything in my power to find these cats good homes instead of having them live the way that they were. The issue now is getting the smell and the mess taken care of with little to no resources since nobody has come forward to offer help or donations despite speaking up in the beginning.

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   • Danielle, thank you very much for taking the time to comment and rectify the error. It is much appreciated. I presume that you are one of the ladies who is involved in cleaning the home. If I’m correct then I would like to say well done. I think the general opinion of people who have read the story is that the neighbours have responded in a very nice, positive way which is different to what is commonly encountered under these circumstances.

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     • One has to help their neighbors and watch out for them. You never know when you are going to be in the position to ask for help, or needing help but being too embarrassed to ask. My main goal in life is to be a good person and set a good example for not only my children, but those who see me as a peer in society. I hope that this will enfluence more people to see the good in the world and do more to help where it is needed instead of walking by and ignoring, or even judging the person in need. Thank you for correcting the error in the article.

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       • Totally agree with your attitude. Excellent attitude. It makes life better for oneself and society generally.

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2. oops that should be animals AREN’T “things”

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3. Speaking as someone who has gotten in over their head previously in rescue, as well as over committed, I can honestly say that you have to b extremely careful. Cat hoarders don’t necessarily say “if i don’t help them who will?” that’s more an animal rescuer’s behavior who goes beyond their limit. For hoarders, it’s more about themselves and i think somehow the animal represents unconditional love for them.

   Hoarding is also a form of OCD and they don’t just necessarily hoard animals but things too. There are many people in the world that could be described as having OCD or being hoarders, they just display their collections nicer of whatever it is they are passionate about. The test for me, is how well overall, any person with pets is able to care for themselves and the pets.

   I have just recently been made aware of a young couple who have at least 14 or more cats in their home that are not vaccinated, spayed, and are breeding and inbreeding as well. The wife of the young couple, claims that her mother “left the place to them with all these cats”, and yet the couple has done nothing about the cats, the breeding, are actually neglecting them because they are obviously unhealthy, and just randomly posts kittens for free on various online listing sources. They are letting the problem continue!! To me these people are a serious case of hoarders out of simply not caring!!

   There are so many ways that one can fall into the hoarding category, and don’t get me wrong, 67 cats is unreal!!-but i must say that i tend to agree with the person who commented that it was a reflection of our society in general. oh and another thing, when there are that many animals in a house, regardless whether it’s all cats, a mix of dogs and cats, etc, and the house is unclean the ammonia levels usually reach such high numbers that with long term exposure, it can cause the occupants brain damage.

   Whether or not the ammonia levels cause the animals brain damage is not certain, but it can’t, overall, be good for them if we know how it can impact us since we and our companion animals really aren’t all that different. Whether it is one cat, one dog, 14 cats, 25 dogs, or 67 animals in total, we have a serious national epidemic, one that is impacting us all, and that’s the sad state of affairs we have as a nation in whole, to properly, compassionately, responsibly and respectful combat the homeless pet population-it could easily be stated that it is truly a world wide epidemic really.

   If it’s not hoarding, it’s torture, if it’s not torture, then it’s neglect. if it’s not canned hunting, then it’s animal testing. As a whole, we need to not only demand, but take action to make it stop. Say NO to people who aren’t educated and prepared for the responsibility of a pet. Say NO to people who have a record of animal abuse, dog fighting, etc. Say NO to the backyard breeders and puppy mill owners that they can no longer have pets, and literally get in peoples faces to educate educate educate. This is the only way we are truly going to bring about massive change within our societies as to how animals are viewed: that pet ownership isn’t a right but a priviledge, and that animals are “things” but species who are tremendously intelligent and deserve our love and respect at the very least.

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   • Lu Anne, Thank you for taking the time to write your excellent comment which adds to the page and I always like comments that actually add to the continent of the original article. Stick around and makes a more comments if you can 🙂

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4. Bless those neighbors.

   I have some understanding as to how that situation happened and feel so sorry for her.

   As Elisa said, people will dump cats/kittens on you or come with their sob stories if they know what a cat lover you are and know you would have a hard time refusing.

   It’s all about staying in reality and knowing your limitations. It breaks my heart every time to tell someone that I can’t take their cat or the litter of kittens that they found. But, I have to. There have been times when I even had to ask them not to show me the cat or litter, because that is a double heartbreak. On rare occasions, I’ve even had to get mean about it.

   No one person can adequately care for 72 cats inside a home. Unless, they are rich or have a staff, it’s impossible to manage physically and financially.
   It seems that, when a cat lover steps over that edge just a little, they stop seeing that cats in cages, flea infestation, and unsanitary conditions are hurtful to the lives they want to save.

   I agree with Marc too. The way our society is regarding animal welfare encourages these sort of situations.

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   • I think that this cat hoarding story differs from the average in that rather than the cat hoarder being vilified, she is being helped. This seems to be the right reaction because cat hoarding is not a criminal matter and most often it is not the result of bad behaviour it is just that something has gone wrong and often people who hoard cats need help as does society in general!

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5. It sounds like this woman just got completely overwhelmed, she couldn’t bring herself to say no to any cat in need.
   Cat hoarders can’t see that it’s unfair on the cats to have so many that they can’t care for them properly, they think what will happen to the cat if I don’t take him in?
   This can happen in Rescue Shelters too.
   It’s good her neighbours understand and are helping her clean the house up.
   Babz and I as CP volunteers once looked after someone’s four cats when she was rushed into hospital, Marion warned us the place was filthy, she wasn’t kidding!
   The cats were well but the litter trays overflowing, the floor throughout the entire house was covered in squares of kitchen roll and under each one was cat poo, no wonder the smell as we walked in was dreadful! Two canaries were in a cage hanging from the ceiling, fed and watered but ankle deep in bird droppings.
   We couldn’t leave the house like that, but what a job we had, it took all day.
   When she came home we continued to help her for a while but like many people do, she started taking advantage. Thankfully eventually she moved away, we just had to hope she kept her new home in a better state.

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6. Well, I feel for this catlover. what the hell is she doing with that many cats? Fleas? Dead give away to a person who needs meds, and should not be rescuing. This, hopefully, will be her wake up call. She deserves the best help that the city has to offer. This should be a lesson to all.

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   • When we did our first rescue in 2010 there was a lady in the shelter lobby who said she had 67 cats and was at the shelter for more. A few weeks later we heard about a lady with 67 getting busted and I’ve always wondered whether it was her.

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     • Wow. Elisa, I don’t know what to say. I really don’t.

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       • I adopted a cat in the 90s who came from a hoarding situation where 125 were in one house. Lee County will stay on my daily checklist since 100 cases may be out there.

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         • What is your take on this, Elisa. Why so many potential cases in one county? My roots are in Arkansas, but my relations only have cats to deal with rodent control. In the country. (And I don’t even like to think about that!) But this is obviously a real problem here. Is it something that is more prevalent in the South, do you think? (I have no clue.)

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           • I wouldn’t doubt if this woman had people tell her to either take in their cat or they were taking the cat to a shelter. I had a neighbor pull that one on me last week. You just have to say no. I read the case from a few weeks back and that person wouldn’t turn on lights in her home. I don’t see how someone can have a house full of caged cats and not see something is very wrong.

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             • I think that part of the problem for a cat hoarder is that the may have difficulty in managing their own lives. There are a number of factors and forces at work in respect of cat hoarding. It isn’t just about a mentally ill person. They can simply be a person who has difficulty coping and who is tender towards vulnerable cats.

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     • This lady sounds as if she is a cat hoarder because there is no need to go to a shelter and look for more cats when she had 67 already. Alternatively, when people dump cat on a person’s doorstep and that lady cannot turn the cats away, cat hoarding is forced upon a person.

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7. And I still can’t imagine how a person could even walk in their home with that many cats. Where would the person sleep or sit or be able to eat?

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8. I know of several rescues in upstate SC and across in NC who will not give out their home address because people dump animals on their property. I have a friend, Claudia Perez of LA@Cloud9 who has no less than 6 dogs a week tied to her deck when she comes home. The lady may have a mental problem but she may also be the one people dumped pets on.

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   • This is the point that Marc refers to namely that cat hoarding is really part of a problem with society and the cat hoarder should not be vilified. I feel fairly confident that you could say that a person who hoards cats is not a bad person. They are not criminal people. You could argue that they are victims of society. This is the point I think that Mark refers to.

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9. This is the way it should be – neighbors pulling together. I hope too that the lady is helped (if she needs it) psychologically as cat hoarding is generally considered to be a form of mental illness – if she is a genuine cat hoarder. She might just be someone trying to help and mismanaged it.

   I suspect that not all people with lots of cats living in a mess can be classified as classic cat hoarders.

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   • Michael I think it’s too fine a line. I think that collecting cats makes you mentally change. Hoarding is just the continuance of trying to help.
     I find it hard to hate hoarders. If you see a cat who will die – how can you leave it to die? Even if your place is bad you might try to give the cat at least a small chance by taking it in.

     The mental problem is not with the hoarders.

     The mental problem is with society.

     Hoarders are a negative symptom of societies mental health situation regarding animal welfare.

     Therefore I do not hate hoarders. Some are terrible but I have a feeling it can happen to the best of us.

     I don’t wish to judge what I don’t know.

     If I lived in the US I could end up in a tricky situation. Since one really has to take in cats to ones limit.

     The hard part is judging the exact limit point and I don’t expect your average person to be able to care and act, yet avoid trouble.

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     • I agree. A lot of good people who love cats want to help because a lot of other people abandon cats and create a problem and the good people can’t say no to an abandoned cat and they want to help. So good people are mopping up the mess made by the bad people and that as you say is a society problem.

       In addition there are people who are genuinely, I think, slightly mentally ill who are natural hoarders and that desire coupled with a liking of cats ends up as cat hoarding.

       At the end of the day, if there were no unwanted cats and if there was not an excess of domestic and stray cats then there would be no cat hoarders I feel. In that sense cat hoarding is a symptom of something that is wrong with society.

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