Animal Hoarders

Have you seen that show Animal Hoarders?  I'm watching it on Netflix.

Now, I can kinda understand how someone could hoard cats.  I love cats.  And kittens are so adorable.  I have three cats right now and the reasons I don't have more are mainly because cats get unhappy when they are too crowded and because I cannot afford to care for more than three.  I feel very strongly that people should not have more pets than they can care for properly, and that includes paying vet bills.  I just spent more than $1500 on Cayenne's vet bills and believe me, I can't afford another cat right now! 

The most cats I've ever had at one time was six, and besides the cost issue, the "cat density" was too high.  One of our cats began spending almost all of her time outside, rarely even coming in to eat.  She used to hunt and leave mice on our patio for us.  She typically stayed out all night and there would be one or two mice waiting for us almost every  morning.  Then she would come in and sleep in the house all day.  But after we adopted five other cats (she was the first), she began staying outside almost all the time and began eating the mice she caught.  She didn't even want to come in to eat.  I felt bad for her since she was here first and got crowded out, but she was obviously unhappy, so we found her a new home.  We found her a home where she would be the only cat and get lots of attention and she was much happier there.

Anyway, hoarding cats I can kinda understand.  But on this episode I am watching, this guy hoards chickens.  He has 158 of them.  In his house.  That I don't get.  If you wanted to have 158 chickens, why not build them a big chicken coop?  I mean, even if you didn't mind the horrible mess in the house (and how could you not?), the chickens would be happier outside.

Animal hoarding is really sad, I think, because of the terrible conditions the animals end up living in.  When people hoard things, their lives may be miserable, but when they hoard animals, the animals suffer.  It makes me sad.