People Who Hoard Animals

By The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium, Corresponding Author Randy Frost, Ph.D. | April 1, 2000

Research on animal hoarding is in its infancy, despite its seriousness and the frequency with which it is described in the news media. Directions for work on this problem include creating comprehensive methods of assessing the features and potential causes of animal hoarding and identifying potentially effective interventions to address the problem.

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by Samantha Beck | September 22, 2010 4:45 PM EDT

The documentary series Confessions: Animal Hoarding is looking for people who own more animals than they can properly care for and need help - whether they have a houseful of rabbits, reptiles, birds or common household pets. If you know someone who needs help, submit their story by going to www.animalhoardingproject.com

by Karen Weeden | August 29, 2010 11:13 PM EDT

I posted a few weeks ago and have seen a few other people wanting to know how to help. I've thought about reporting my friend to the council in that she has 13 dogs and in that area only 3 dogs are allowed but I've decided that this is not going to help solve the problem, but make her more secretive and defiant, and if anything will reinforce the behaviour. I will keep an eye on this site and see if anyone comes up with a solution as to how to help.

Karen Weeden karen.weeden@hotmail.com

by doug casey | August 19, 2010 8:08 PM EDT

how is it possible for these folks allowed to work with elderly people in a care facility (which is my case) and if you have one in your neck of the woods what can you do ? need a little help here!!! thinking of posting on u tube for a reality check for all the good people to see. looking for suggestions on how to handle situation.talked to sheriff who said she got convicted of animal cruelty in another county moved to lincoln county mt because we have no rules on # animal you can have.

by jean copeland | August 14, 2010 5:10 PM EDT

I want to find out if there is a way to avoid full-blown animal-hoarding once my 80-something-year-old parents die, with whom my 45-year-old single sister lives. She is a hoarder of clutter (trash, mail, newspapers, clothing) and currently has 6 cats and 1 dog. Her attitudes are those of animal hoarders, and I am anticipating these to go into overdrive, based upon what I've read. She refuses any and all medication, even aspirin for a headache, and only trusts one therapist, whom she has seen off and on for 30 years, but who clearly has been unable to help with the hoarding issues. My parents enable the entire situation, and when I say anything to her about how I feel when she puts the dog's needs for a walk above my needs to spend time with her by taking her out for dinner, she becomes defensive and hostile and makes it clear to me that her animals come first. Is there anything I can do?

by Karen Weeden | August 02, 2010 6:32 PM EDT

I found this site after searching on 'animal collecting' because I have a friend who is hoarding all sorts of animals on a large scale. They're not properly looked after but she continues to get more and more animals and as a professional horsewoman I could not understand this phenomenon. She declares that she has love for them all and has no insight at all into this behaviour as a 'problem', she also displays extreme hostility if I even approach the subject. The information that I have read does help to me to understand her behaviour and I can see that there is no way forward in terms of talking to her and hoping for some commonsense or self-enlightenment. Intervention from council authorities would not seem to be the answer. Her family all accept her behaviour, her children rarely go to school, her husband brings home presents in the form of more animals and there is a large degree of collusion amongst family members.

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Acknowledgement

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium is a collaborative effort to study the hoarding of animals. Members of the consortium include: Arnie Arluke, Ph.D., Northeastern University; Carter Luke, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; Edward Messner, M.D., Massachusetts General Hospital; Gary Patronek, V.M.D., Ph.D., Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine; and Gail Steketee, Ph.D., Boston University.

References

Frost RO, Gross RC (1993), The hoarding of possessions. Behav Res Ther 31(4):367-381.

Frost RO, Hartl TL (1996), A cognitive-behavioral model of compulsive hoarding. Behav Res Ther 34(4):341-350 [see comment].

Frost RO, Hartl TL, Christian R, Williams N (1995), The value of possessions in compulsive hoarding: patterns of use and attachment. Behav Res Ther 33(8):897-902.

Frost RO, Kim HJ, Morris C et al. (1998), Hoarding, compulsive buying and reasons for saving. Behav Res Ther 36(7-8):657-664 [see comment].

Frost RO, Krause MS, Steketee G (1996), Hoarding and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Behav Modif 20(1):116-132.

Frost RO, Steketee G (1998), Hoarding: clinical aspects and treatment strategies. In: Obsessive Compulsive Disorders: Practical Management, 3rd ed., Jenike MA, Baer L, Minichiello WE, eds. St. Louis: Mosby Inc., pp533-554.

Frost RO, Williams L, Steketee G (1999), Compulsive buying: relationship to OCD and OCD hoarding. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, Washington D.C., March.

Hwang JP, Tsai SJ, Yang CH et al. (1998), Hoarding behavior in dementia. A preliminary report. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry 6(4):285-289.

Lockwood R (1994), The psychology of animal collectors. Trends 9:18-21.

Lockwood R, Cassidy B (1988), Killing with kindness? The Humane Society News of the Humane Society of the United States. 1-5.

Meagher E, Frost RO, Riskind J (1999), Compulsive lottery, scratch ticket, and Keno gambling: its relation to OCD, hoarding, impulsivity, and the urge to buy. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Behavior Therapy, Toronto, Nov.

Patronek GJ (1999), Hoarding of animals: an under-recognized public health problem in a difficult-to-study population. Public Health Rep 114(1):81-87.

Summerfeldt LJ, Richter MA, Antony MM, Swinson RP (1999), Symptom structure in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a confirmatory factor-analytic study. Behav Res Ther 37(4):297-312.

Tamaki J (1997), Tragic pattern of animal collectors. Los Angeles Times, pB1.

Winsberg ME, Cassic KS, Koran LM (1999), Hoarding in obsessive-compulsive disorder: a report of 20 cases. J Clin Psychiatry 60(9):591-597.

Worth D, Beck AM (1981), Multiple ownership of animals in New York City. Trans Stud Coll Physician Phila 3(4):280-300.

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People Who Hoard Animals

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