From Wiki, "Animal Hoarding":
Animal hoarding is keeping a higher-than-usual number of animals as domestic pets without having the ability to properly house or care for them, while at the same time denying this inability. Compulsive hoarding can be characterized as a symptom of mental disorder rather than deliberate cruelty towards animals. Hoarders are deeply attached to their pets and find it extremely difficult to let the pets go. They typically cannot comprehend that they are harming their pets by failing to provide them with proper care. Hoarders tend to believe that they provide the right amount of care for their pets. The distinguishing feature is that a hoarder fails to provide the animals with adequate food, water, sanitation, and veterinary care, and is in denial about this inability to provide adequate care.
The primary animal health issues involved are malnourishment, overcrowding, and problems related to neglect. Many people are unaware of the severity of neglect in typical hoarding situations.
Lack of sufficient food and water is a common feature of hoarding situations. The immediate consequence of this is starvation and death. Malnourishment also leads to increased susceptibility to disease, and the hoarded animals are often in advanced stages of sickness. Furthermore, when there is a limited food supply, animals may resort to aggressive behavior in competing for available food, killing and sometimes even eating other animals.
Overcrowding is also an acute animal health problem in hoarding situations. The number of animals found in hoarding cases range from dozens to several hundreds, with extreme cases involving over a thousand animals. Animals are confined to houses, apartments, or trailer-homes. In addition to lack of living space, overcrowding facilitates the spread of diseases among animals. Hoarders, refusing to acknowledge the deteriorating health conditions of their animals and scared they will be forced to give up custody, often refuse to take their animals to veterinarians. As a result, diseases are left untreated and allowed to become more severe.
Basic animal waste management is absent in virtually all animal hoarding situations, and animals are filthy and often infected with parasites as a result. Poor sanitation practices, a general characteristic of hoarding households, pose health risks to both animals and humans. In typical hoarding residences, animal waste is found coating interior surfaces, including beds, countertops, and cupboards. In addition to severe odors which may pose a nuisance to neighbors, animal waste poses serious health risks through both the spread of parasites and the presence of noxious ammonia levels.
Animals suffer behaviorally from a lack of socialization caused by an absence of normal interaction with other animals.
Hoarders are frequently found to collect large numbers of inanimate objects in addition to animals, giving rise to clutter as well.
Evidence suggests that there is a strong mental health component in animal hoarding. Animal hoarders display symptoms of delusional disorder in that they have a belief system out of touch with reality. Virtually all hoarders lack insight into the extent of deterioration in their habitations and on the health of their animals, refusing to acknowledge that anything is wrong. Furthermore, hoarders may believe they have "a special ability to communicate and/or empathize with animals", rejecting any offers of assistance. Animal hoarders often feel a strong sense of responsibility to take care of and protect animals, and their solution—that of acquiring as many animals as they possibly can—is unrealistic. Delusional disorder offers an explanation of hoarders' apparent blindness to the realities of their situations.
Read more of this fascinating stuff here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_hoarding
Mak Intan is a 120% animal hoarder. Pak Mie, I'm not so sure.
