Animal Hoarding Essay

Animal hoarding has become a large problem. It has been estimated that there are nine-hundred to two-thousand new cases every year of animal hoarding in the United States, with two-thousand and fifty thousand animals falling victims. Another case of animal abuse is animal hoarding, animal hoarding impacts communities across the United States on a daily basis with approximately three thousand five hundred reported new cases discovered each

Hoarding is not currently considered an illness on its own right. Compulsive hoarding has been treated as symptom or subtype of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (Cluttergone).

Thesis: Hoarding is seen as unhygienic and repulsive, but it is simply a disorder due to either genetics or as a coping mechanism to trauma. While it has been linked to other problems, researchers are still trying to find better treatments for the destructive habit causing emotional, physical, and legal effects.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, is an anxiety disorder in which people have unwanted and repeated thoughts, feelings, ideas, sensations, or behaviors that make them feel driven to do something. There are many different forms of OCD such as checking and contamination.. People affected by the many types of OCD have to contend with overcoming them to live a normal life, but they should not have to deal with society’s incorrect stereotypes as well.

As hoarding appears in a variety of fashions, the actual items being hoarded are also variable. Items that a normal person may collect out of sport are typically hoarded in excessive amounts, such as stamps or tax records. Commonly hoarded items of compulsive sufferers include excessive amounts of papers or documents, such as brochures, junk mail, newspapers, wrappers, and shopping lists. More often than not, these items are of very little realistic importance (Claiborn). Because hoarding is often either directly or indirectly associated with a person’s inability to let go, items such as food products, clothing, books, craft materials, or even broken items that need to be fixed are commonly stockpiled. In the reality-warped mind of a hoarder, each of these items is of significant value and could be put to future use in some way. Therefore, it is absolutely imperative that the items be saved and never discarded (Claiborn).

Instead, the DSM-IV-TR listed hoarding as one of the diagnostic criteria for Obsessive–Compulsive Personality Disorder (OCPD), and a symptom of Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder (OCD). More specifically, the DSM-IV-TR stated that if the hoarding behaviour was excessive, then clinicians should consider a diagnosis of OCD; however, the criterion for OCD fails to mention hoarding symptoms. Consequently, clinicians may have been unsure when a diagnosis of OCD was appropriate, particularly in situations when hoarding occurred without other OCD symptoms (Mataix-Cols et al.,

Hoarding has become a problem, but animal hoarding is a problem too. The animals are unkempt, malnourished, often have broken bones, and dead. There are many signs that a person is an animal hoarder. They have numerous animals and may not know the number of animals in their care. Their homes are deteriorating or deteriorated. Strong smell of ammonia and the floor may be covered

As children we learn to be wary of the lions, tigers, and bears we see on TV, read about in books, or watch at the zoo. What you may not know is that all three of these exotic animals and hundreds more are kept as pets in America. Private ownership of exotic animals should be banned because these animals are dangerous, diseased, and they belong in the wild. Multiple animal welfare organizations such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), The Humane Society, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) strongly oppose keeping wild animals as pets. This practice harms humans, the animals, and the environment.

Animal hoarding is an issue in every division of society around the world (Donaghey 2011). Whether rich or poor, there may still be an animal hoarder living right next door (Donaghey 2011). In some situations there may be obvious signs that a person is a hoarder; however, others live seemingly regular lives to the public eye and the problem is growing. Animal hoarding is a growing problem because of the lack of understanding of the issue and lack of action.

Hoarding Disorder (HD) is an urged to store items, in this case animals, and have a hard time getting rid of these animals. “HD is estimated to be present in about 1.5% to 6% of the population” (Ung et al). That may not seem like a huge percentage but that’s roughly 4,875,000 to 19,500,000 people that have a hoarding disorder. “Previous research on animal hoarding suggests that individuals with animal hoarding problems tend to own 30 to 40 pets” (Ung et al). When we take the number of people that are animals hoarders plus how many animals they have the number comes out to be a lot of animals that are not being cared properly. With that many animals, care for them would be inadequate. That person must pay for food, veterinary bills, plus normal bills like electric, water, house payments. The list goes on and on and it sums up to be a lot of money that people do not usually have. Cleaning the house by itself is a difficult task, if the animals cannot go outside to do their business, which if not cleaned can cause health problems for everyone living in the house and the pets. In some cases, the animals could overflow the house and the neighborhood would have a lot these pets, who are not spayed or neutered, roaming

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is a mental health disorder in which a person gets entangled in a chain reaction of obsessions and compulsions. Obsessions are repeated thoughts, urges, or mental images that cause anxiety. (“Obsessive-compulsive disorder,” 2013) Compulsions are irresistible urges to behave in a certain way, especially against one 's conscious wishes to combat the obsessions. Common obsessions are contamination, losing control, harm, and perfectionism and are often associated with uncomfortable feelings, such as fear, disgust, and doubt. (Foundation & IOCDF, 2014) Obsessions hinder the person’s daily life as they cannot be controlled, they must be acted upon to even briefly relieve the severe anxiety it causes, and the person can often tell that these thoughts are excessive and unnecessary but can do nothing to stop them. “Compulsions are incredibly repetitive behaviors or thoughts that a person uses with the intention of neutralizing, counteracting, or making their obsessions go away”. (Foundation & IOCDF, 2014) Common compulsions are washing and/or cleaning, double-checking, repeating movements and/or activities, and mentally counting, reviewing, and praying. These compulsions are completely temporary and usually only relieve the anxiety from obsessions momentarily.

Homeless animals out number homeless people nearly five to one, and roughly six to eight million enter a shelter where approximately three to four million are euthanized. These animals deserve a second chance; they don’t deserve to be neglected and forgotten. The majority of animals in shelters show up because of circumstances that surround their owners, such as families moving or the owner being terminally ill. As opposed to purchasing

While there are many forms of conditions of OCD here are a few. One form of condition OCD has is checking, People who have OCD constantly check themselves to make sure everything is fine because they fear that there might be something they can prevent, For example they might check their memory (checking one’s memory to ‘make sure’ an intrusive thought is just a thought and didn't really happen.) Another form of condition is Intrusive thoughts, intrusive thoughts are obsessive thoughts that are repetitive or disturbing that makes that person often act in an unusual nature. For example, thoughts of causing violence or sexual harm to loved ones. Hoarding is one condition also, it is an obsession where that person has an inability to discard useless or worn out possessions.

In most cases, a hoarder has good intentions. Hoarders want to save animals, but they end up multiplying the animals instead. Michelle Welch writes, “We have learned over the years to let hoarders keep two or three of the animals so they can have the companionship they seek” (Welch, 65). These cases are especially sad because of the emotional component with hoarders and effected animals, and how important it is for individuals with hoarding issues to get the proper psychiatric care. Welch also states, “It is critical that the hoarders get psychiatric treatment. In one particular case, the hoarder was standing barefoot in inches of feces” (Welch, 65). Although it is obvious that hoarders are generally mentally unstable, they, too, should lose their rights to own animals. After all, owning an animal is a big responsibility that some just cannot take on. Pet owning ethics should be primarily be focused on the owner meeting the needs of his or her pet, rather than centered around the emotional health of the owner. While the companionship of an animal could positively impact a person in this situation, the potential neglect and abuse to be suffered by these animals is unacceptable. Animal owners have a responsibility to care for and maintain the overall well-being of their pets.

One reason why animal abuse occurs is because people often receive awards from the mistreating of animals, or it is a way to for them to deal with certain situations that happen in their life. According to an article from the ASPCA, people who watch 2 or more dogs fight receive a great amount of money. Dogs are made to fight each other for the benefit of the people. The people watching the fight either receive money or just do it for entertainment, “It is not unusual to see $20,000-30,000 change hands during a single fight—major dog fight raids have resulted in seizures of more than $500,000.” ("What Is Dog Fighting, and What Can You Do To Stop It?") One of the main reasons for dog fighting is the award for the amount of money they would obtain for a dog. One of the reasons people are involved in dog fighting is because they receive money, more than $20,000 per dog. With dog fighting comes a greed where people want to come out on top and leave with the most amount money. Others may take advantage of animals without even knowing they are hurting the animal, according to Jared Newnam, people with anxiety tend to hoard animals because it is a way to deal with their stress, “Hoarding is part of an anxiety disorder in which people, for a variety of reasons, feel they are incapable of forming lasting relationships with people, so they substitute them.” (Newnam) People who hoard animals try to fill a void by collecting various objects or animals. They can’t make the same