The Crazy Cat Lady Disease....

[blithe spirit]

A few years ago my cousin came to the realization that her Mom, my Mom's younger sister, had, over time, developed some issues surounding her cats...she had too many to take care of and they were't being cared for properly. For her, it was a big wakeup call that she wasn't able to stay in her home. Subsequently, she was diagnosed with dimentia and moved in her daughter. 

There some folks however, who have a form of OCD that develops into a mental illness that can endanger themselves and their animals.

I've been doing some reading about it because my sister's neighbor, who is about our age, seems to have gone over the edge herself. She ended up with over 70 some odd cats in her house...and of course the house became a giant litter box and the cats became ill and weren't fed properly...the whole nightmare. I wasn't a close friend of this lady but I knew her and she used to visit my sister's and her daughter and my niece were friends. Something happened to her after her daughter moved away from home....and this whole cat thing got the best of her. Her exhusband and daughter intervened and she got help and so did the cats. A few months ago her house was put up for sale and my sister decided to buy it and fix it up for a rental. She has had to do some major repairs and cleanup after the cat thing...awful awful...to think a human being could live this way.

From my reading, I understand this is becoming more and more common as a manifistation of OCD as it relates to hoarding. I know I see it on the news about once a week...animals being abused this way and people so unaware of their situation and mental state.

There has always been this joke about old maid women who become "the crazy cat lady" in the neighborhood.

It makes me wonder what is going on with people that they end up this way?

http://voices.yahoo.com/pet-hoarding-crazy-cat-lady-disease-2650511...

[blithe spirit]

Just yesterday, there is a woman in a nearby town who was "turned in" by the sheriff's dept and animal control....she had 65 dachshunds from grown to puppies. The ASPCA has taken them and has said in about a month they will be ready for adoption...those that survive.

I'm thinking I may try to adopt two of them...I was planning on getting a dog or two over the summer so I could spend time with them before I went back to school.
I was hoping to get a dog from a friend of mine but doesn't seem like that will happen, so I think this might be a good opportunity.

[Lifesighs]

So far I'm safe, I have been thinking that if I ever get another pet it will be small enough for me to bathe it in the sink. Mine are 5 and 7 1/2. The 5 year old has Addison's Disease. I think by the time their lifespan is over I will be 75 or so. If I get another pet it will be an older one that I'm giving another chance.

Might be a good idea for me to tell my son my plans so if I start doing anything foolish he can intervene.

It's sad when I hear about those poor women and animals, it does always seem to be women who start hoarding animals.

[Wayne Goodwin]

Any thing to do with Cat Scratch Fever . Well in my past i was a whorder . I had accumulated 14 junk cars . Dad never throw-ed away a tire . He would even cut groves in the middle of tire to keep cops at bay . I have and him run a tire on the inter tube till it blew out . . Trash Galore . One day i decided enough was enough . So i had a front end loader dig a hole and berry it . I whorded cans to sell till the county got on me . Took two weeks to clean that up . Sold them . I don't whord anymore . I decided no use to keep what i can't use ... This cat i have is only one i have ever owned . It does keep me on my toes to keep him off the TV's and anything he manages to reach ..

This is My Rutly .....

 

 

[crestofwaves]

What a lovely little guy!

 

[crestofwaves]

Somebody said if the Duggers' 19 children were cats, they would be considered pet hoarders.

My daughter is a hoarder of sorts.  Her mess doesn't invade the house.  I had a boyfriend who was as well.  With each of them, it's connected to their severe ADD. They honestly feel anxious if they have to throw something away because they can't decide if that is the right decision or not.  I read a lot about it in the case of ADD people.

 

[Kim]

My daughter who will be 25 in a week has been working with dog and cat rescues since she was about 11. She used to spend her weekends helping get these animals adopted then it branched out to Pet sitting for these individual rescues in their homes. My daughter also got involved in Dog agility shows. SADLY....it also involved capturing cats and dogs from some properties that had become overwelmed by too many animals. I often helped her with the pet sitting since she didnt drive. Where WE went, the dogs were well maintained and cared for but some of the owners were one screw shy of an Erector set....LOL!!

FIRST of all...their original intentions REALLY are pure and good hearted but it sometimes goes haywire. They rescue an "abused" dog, then another, and then they adopt it out and the dog is brought back---rejected and scared so they keep it because they dont think anyone willl take as good of care of it as THEY do. Then suddenly they have 25 dogs and 10 cats or worse!! It gets expensive and even if they would WANT to....there's no one to give them to at that point. Melissa (and I) have known other people who are just pet owners and its the same thing....they rescue one, then ANOTHER needs them and another and they do MEAN well but the plan goes South. With STUFF, someone can force you into bagging things UP but what do you do with a buncha animals?!

[Shadowman]

This is one of those, "If I was running this country" things.  Cats are a nonindigenous invasive species (came with the Columbian Exchange). The country should mandate that any cats in private ownership in the country be neutered or sterilized. This would help address the plague of feral and abandoned cats and resulting negative wildlife impacts. In my county and surrounding counties pet shelters and humane societies are being overrun. On one hand county boards and cities are threatening to cut funding and on the other side cat and dog supporters wanting something to be done (other than euthanizing the animals). It is almost like the human population issue, few want to even admit it is there.  Recently a similar problem occurred with domesticated pet rats in a trailer home in my county. Eventually the municipality had to condemn the home. It was not one hoarder but a family. Neighbors complained when the rats began to leave home and branch out.

If the cats are all neutered and contained inside it is one thing and a problem of one sort. If they get out it is another:

http://blogs.suntimes.com/bowman/2010/12/feral_cats_economic_impact...

[frenchy]

yeah that is a sad thing fer sure .. i guess when some people get older just havin a dog or a cat can help to make them feel less alone .. and then somehow they get another one and thats ok and then they get to thinkin gee all these cats with no place to go .. let me save them .. so they get that florence nitengale complex about cats or dogs .. and i'm sure their heart is in the right place but their mind ain't thinkin right .. i have two dogs .. and i've always had two dogs since i moved to florida .. so if one dog dies .. i get another one .. don't get me wrong havin one dog is ok and it works for most people .. but somehow people can't play with a dog like another dog can .. and while i have no desire to have 15 dogs cause thats way too many 2 works for me .. but i can see how that can get outta hand tho .. add or ocd .. maybe a little bit of both .. or just plain lonely and feel like you wanna make your own corner of the world better .. i think the best thing they could do is get every animal they have neutered asap to control the population .. and maybe some kinda visitin social worker to see just how crazy these people really are .. cause you can't take all their animals away from them .. cause people and animals form this bond thats real .. and if you take all their animals they could go into a real depression .. so deep its a tailspin they might not recover from .. get it down to some kinda manageable number .. like maybe 4 cats or somethin .. 

[Kim]

I seriously thought my daughter would grow up to be a homeless cat lady with mice and hamsters in each pocket, a bird on the shoulder, and a lizard hiding somewhere....LOL!! We would go to the store and she would be talking to her pocket. And I would say, WHO did you bring THIS time? Before she was a teenager, she had a room wall to wall of cages and tanks JUST of animals. (She did NOT sleep in there.) If you walked in there blindfolded, you would never dream there was anything but Tropical FISH in there because though you could hear the various pumps and lights,you could'nt SMELL anything bad. SHe took really good care of a LOTof animals. We let her do it because it seemed good for her. We had a couple cats and a dog but we refused to let her "foster" others at that point. So she compromised. She enjoyed walking thru the pet stores and just looking at the animals and she discovered you can go into ANY petstore and ask about "free adoptions". There are these rooms full of injured animals, mostly reptiles, rodents, and birds that are "unsellable" yet Petsmart and Petco will take care of them in these "back rooms" till they die. It got to the point where The rule at home was NO MORE CAGES so if there was no more room, SOMEONE had to go. So, her and her 2 best friends would go to Reptile shows, Bird Shows, Guinea Pig shows, etc. and she would successfully sell the rehabilitated animals. The more she got to know these "dog and cat rescue" people, the more she gained some good common sense about staying in control of the "pet population". I was just SO sure when she worked at a shelter, she would end up bringing every one eyed or 3 legged dog HOME with her! Seriously, she said to me when she was 12, "When I have my own house and everything, I want to find a 3 legged dog to adopt." I was ready to bust up laughing until I saw on her face she was DEAD serious!!

Technically we live in the same house but I only live there weekends and she is only there weekdays. When she moved in with me a couple years ago, she brought her 2 dogs (adding to MY 2 dogs) and her 4 birds. She got rid of some lizards, frogs, a turtle, a bearded dragon, 2 cats, and fish before she came. I said sorry...I have "X" amount of room. She said No prob.

People STILL give her Chinchillas, sugar gliders, etc. and she works hard on getting homes from them...often making a little profit too. But she stated clearly she will NEVER have more animals than she has time to spend with them. She makes sure EVERYONE gets the proper attention. SO as far as I'm concerned, she can have what she wants...within reason. I will never have cats again. One cat is good, even 2 are ok but MORE and they get pissy with each other and start taking revenge. PLus...cats would LOVE my wall to wall Berber carpet!! (which I hate BUT dont want ruined either!!)

 

[frenchy]

yeah cats are so ...indifferent ain't they kim ?? not like dogs .. and its not that i don't like cats .. i have actually met a few that i liked very much .. but most of em just act like they're tolleratin me or somethin .. dogs are different .. someday i hope to be the man my dogs think i am .. yup i do .. 

[dwalt]

I am not a cat person for sure.  Close as I would come to having one is a barn cat for mice. We had a case out by my home  where a women collected horses.  They found them starving and rescued them. To take care of horses up here (properly) it cost about 300.00 a month per horse.  I have two and even finding hay in the winter can be hard. (I buy two tons to ensure I have hay)  People don't realize what they are getting into..

[Shadowman]

Churchhill while visiting a pig farm reportedly said, "I like pigs, cats look down on us, dogs look up to us, but pigs treat us as equals."