Why does tv make pet horders look like bad people?

Question

Whenever I see people on the news about having way too many cats or dogs or other and they are living in bad living arrangements I don't think bad of the person like the news or some people puts them out to be.

I just think that the person loved animals soooo much that they wanted more and more to take care of but then they ended up with so many pets that they couldn't take care of them or even themselves anymore. ending in the house being trashed and their funds being depleted. I don't think of them as bad or disgusting people at all. I wish people would help them instead of criticize.

Answer 1

People DO try to help them.  Unfortunately, animal hoarding (or hoarding anything for that matter) is a mental disorder and the people usually do not WANT help.  They do not see anything wrong with the way things are, even if they are living in 6" of f***s with trash piled to the ceiling, dead animals everywhere, and the live ones starving, diseased, and flea-infested.  Their mental impairment prevents them from seeing how horrible things have gotten.  No, they are not trying to hurt the animals.  But they're doing it anyway.  And because they often refuse help, the authorities have to be forceful in order to rescue the animals and try to get help for the humans.  It's a sad situation all around.  But you can't just sit back and do nothing and say "oh, they mean well", can you?  You have to do something.  The media/news channels probably give them a bad face because all they care about is ratings.  If you watch something like Animal Cops, they always stress that it's not an intentionally abusive situation and the hoarders do love their pets.

Answer 2

actually, i think of them as people who are usually drunk and think theyre helping, but really make the animals live in a bad life. also, they have animal c**p EVERYWHERE in the house. you have to think of what the animals want. and often, the animals dont get enough food, are unaltered, and therefore cause more breeding, and the babies do not get vaccinated and end up dying. then the babies bodies arent removed, and the hungry animals eat them. thats why  they get such a bad rep.

Answer 3

People attack what they find to be strange or different.

Hoarding is not about love, it is an actuall illness.

Love is knowing when you are unable to care for an animal, and passing on the responsibility to someone else. Hoarding is irrationally taking on animal after animal resulting in neglect and low quality of life.

In this day and age, people are finally begining to understand metal illnesses. A hoarder should be treated with the same consideration as someone with an eating disorder, phobia, ect

Answer 4

I agree with the above poster a bit; it's a mental illness.

These people sometimes even have the best intentions for the animals they keep. However, the problem is they don't know when to stop and say "no I cannot do this" to themselves. Then they end up with numerous animals who they cannot support. They feel as though they cannot get rid of them for some reason, and therefore they keep the numerous animals they have.

The media sees this as a horrid situation of animal abuse and the person doing this is selfish, which in a sense all that is true. However, I seriously believe they cannot help themselves. I've seen some disturbing situations of animal hoarding where the people living in that condition are just as bad as the animals they are keeping.

Sometimes, worst. A sane person would not subject themselves to living in an f***s, ammonia filled home.

Answer 5

Hoarding is totally different from loving animals and getting in over your head.. People who really love animals will do what's best for the animals. For instance, let's say someone took in several pets over the years and lost their job to downsizing. They might get into a bad situation where they can't afford decent pet food or emergency vet care. BUT, a responsible person that really loved their pets would look for help BEFORE their pets starved to death. Most of the time hoarders have dead pets all over the place that have died horribly of starvation or untreated disease. I cannot imagine ever not feeding my dog. Same with keeping the place clean.. Bleach costs what? 97 cents? Water's pretty cheap too.. There's no reason for the place not to be clean..

If someone is to the point where the animals they supposedly love are SUFFERING and they still don't ask for help, it's only because the person is so greedy that they would rather the pet starve to death then possibly go to another home or at least be euthanized humanely. When you want to help animals, you have to ask yourself how adding another pet will affect the pets you already have. If adding more animals significantly decreases the quality of life for all the rest of your pets, then it isn't fair to your other pets or your family to save one more. It's better for that one pet to get put to sleep then it is for all of your pets to suffer with inadequate food, no vet care and dirty conditions..

Someone who really loves animals also wouldn't have tons of unneutered pets that were reproducing all the time and filling the house with more pets they can't afford to neuter. That's not love, that's the desire to own a higher number of pets for their 'collection.' A lot of the time, the hoarder hasn't even named the pets or can't remember their names..

Someone who really loved their pets and just legitimately got over their head would still have most of their pets neutered, would have had most of them vetted at some point, and would've fed quality food. Bad stuff does happen to people, heck, I lost my job last year when my husband was out of work. That was some bad timing. But, our pets still would've gone in for emergency care. That didn't change the fact that we got most of them neutered the week we got them. They were all still up to date on their shots too and it wouldn't have been that big of a deal if they were behind a month or two because we were out of work.. What we didn't do was get anymore pets when that was going on. A hoarder will have starving pets at home and STILL bring home more. They don't care about the pets, their just like a stamp collection to them. That's the difference between real hoarding which is a serious mental condition and being a decent person that just got in over their head. A decent person would never let their pets starve and suffer.