Hoarding Must Stop!

Last night, I got to sleep on the “big bed” with Mom and Dad. This only happens when 1) there is a really big thunderstorm (and I get scared), 2) during a hurricane because everyone is nervous and 3) when Mom gets upset (and she needs lots of terrier cuddles to fall asleep). Last night was reason number three.

We stayed up to watch the show Hoarders on A & E. The show documents the real life mess of people who cannot part with any of their belongings. Last night’s episode was a doozy; the one lady, Vula, was an “extreme hoarder” and had junk piled to the ceilings throughout the entire house. There wasn’t even a place to walk!

However, that wasn’t the worst of it. She claimed to have 20 cats living with her. Now, if you didn’t see the show you can only imagine what the house looked like with junk everywhere (literally) and 20 cats - Vula’s opening line of the show went something like “I never did like housework very much”! So, everything…EVERYTHING…in that house - furniture, appliances, the floor, all the junk - was covered in peemail and poop!

We dogs know that cats are super clean freaks, so how they lived in that disgusting house I will never understand. Vula insisted all her cats were happy and healthy – WRONG! You could see the cats were sick since their eyes were swollen shut and they were very skinny.

Anyway, the cleanup crew comes in but they decide to first let the Animal Rescue people in to get the cats out. Well, they are grabbing up cats (who aren’t even running away they are so sick) and assessing their health and then, sadness…they find a dead cat under some boxes. Then they find another dead cat in the kitchen! (Yes, that is right!!! This lady is living in a house with dead cats everywhere!!!) The worst, they find two dead kittens with the umbilical cord still attached! WTD?!?!

This lady is so “sick in the head” that when they tell her they found 36 cats total but that 13 were dead she said it wasn’t her fault!! Are you kidding me???? If you take in animals then you are CHARGED with their care!

The real kicker in Vula’s case was what was written at the end of the show (where the show “updates” you on each person’s situation). Vula had to go live in a shelter for six weeks while her sons paid to fix up her house (since it was condemned in the end by the city) but was then able to move back into her home. AND, after veterinary care was complete she would get two of her cats back!!

*Tilts head in utter confusion* I am sorry, but why would anyone give Vula a cat, never mind two, after she abused, neglected and tortured 36?!? You know what she should get? Two urns with the ashes of all the cats she killed. That’s it.

Now, I also watch Animal Cops on Animal Planet and I know there are only a limited number of these types of police in each city, county, whatever. They are spread thin, what with all the crazy people like Vula hoarding, abusing, neglecting and torturing animals these days. But why can’t they charge people like this with a crime and say they are never, Never, NEVER to own an animal again!?!

Is it because they would have no way to check on all these crazy people? Probably, since there are so few animal cops and there are so many people like this. But then I thought: my local sheriff’s office has what is known as a “Citizen Patrol” made up of trained, everyday people who cruise around in special patrol cars helping citizens. Why then couldn’t the Animal Cops have a “Citizen Patrol” too, and train people how to go check on all the known hoarders in a jurisdiction to make sure they are no longer keeping animals?

I bet there are plenty of animal lovers out there who would gladly go and check on these “sick in the head” people and make sure they do not own any pets! If you could be one of these people, how great would it be to report these crazies when you find they have pets even though they aren’t allowed any?!? Satisfaction, my friends…satisfaction!

This whole situation disgusts me and apparently made Mom so upset that she needed terrier cuddles most of the night. I don’t know how long it will take to get the show’s images out of our heads and the pain out of our hearts for these poor, precious animals.