Yes, the animal hoarding thing is a known psychological illness related to OCD and it CAN be treated with medication and therapy. The problem is that it's usually dismissed by everyone as someone being 'just' a 'crazy cat lady.' It's a horrible thing, for the animals and for the person. I knew a (former) vet tech when I first moved here who seemed very nice. I knew she had pets but she never said how many. After about a year of being acquainted I had to stop by her house for something and OMG. I could not breathe once I entered the house. I have never seen anything so filthy -- feces on the countertops, the smell was unbelievable, cats EVERYWHERE -- there had to be at least 50. And the dogs...all kinds of dogs in wire cages, stacked in the living room. She was totally oblivious to a problem. And the animals were not healthy at all, emaciated, ringworm, runny eyes, just horrible. I made my escape and immediately called the animal cruelty people. All kinds of drama ensued, they went out and she would not let them inside -- apparently they can't enter unless invited unless a warrnt is issued -- but she had dogs out back which I was unaware of. Rescued greyhounds in horrible condition, and two dead ones under tarps. Those were confiscated. I told them I would testify if needed but they had other complaints. The animals were all removed, she was cited etc.

She confronted me about it and scared me badly -- I actually denied being the one who called, chickens&it that I was, but she really frightened me and it ended up being almost a stalking situation. She would call 20 times a day, drive by my house etc. I had to call the cops.

Not a good situation. After that experience I read up on this because until then I was unaware of animal hoarders. It is not funny -- it's just horrible.

Now, people who have more than 3 cats or whatever are 9 times out of 10 not afflicted with this. I have more than 3 and my house really is clean and does not smell -- I have people in and out of here all the time and some are surprised that we even have cats in here. I have a system of doing the litter boxes twice a day without fail (even when I was on crutches ) and I have found products which work, and I keep it clutter-free so it's easy to clean. I make a point of telling people about my animals when they come in and comment on how nice it smells/how clean it is because I want to prove that people can have a lot of pets and not be pigs. The whole 'crazy cat lady' moniker is such a shame because I think the stigma does keep people from adopting pets sometimes. This idea that to be normal one must have 3 or less... really sad.