I notice there are a lot of people who support the cat hoarder on the show. I will agree that her intentions are good, and in that she spays/neuters the cats that come in as being good. Her methods, however, are dead wrong, dangerous to the health of the animals and her as well as in violation of the law. Let’s look at the facts as presented in the show.
-She lives on ten acres but it is not zoned agricultural or there would not be a limit of four on domesticated animals. Thus, she cannot have whatever she wants on her land, even if it is a bit of space.
-As mentioned in previous posts, 200 cats on ten acres is 20 cats per acre.
-The lady said she spent 40,000 dollars in five years. That makes 8,000 dollars a year on cats. Assuming the population remained at around 200 cats you have 8,000 divided by 200 or 40 dollars per cat per year.
Here are some guesstimates based on my own experience with cat ownership:
-I am currently fostering five cats in my home until the rescue I work through can find them homes. I clean their litter boxes twice a day, removing approximately three to five pounds of waste each time. Let’s keep the numbers on the small side to give her the benefit of the doubt, in this scenario every five cats will produce six pounds of waste a day (we are counting the weight the urine mixed with soil would make in this number). Divide 200/5 and we have 40 sets of five cats. Forty times six pounds of waste is 240 pounds of waste a day.
-Now let’s put the waste on ten acres. There are 240 pounds of waste distributed evenly over ten acres which means 24 pounds per acre. That is in ONE DAY. (The average lot size in a city near where I live is 2.5 acres for comparison.)
-Next, let’s talk cost. By averages, each cat gets forty dollars a year. We will not count the spay and neuter cost which, in my area, runs 80 to 100 dollars. Assuming she includes a wellness exam, lab tests, and vaccinations for the best possible care the vet visit will run about another 100. I would guess that to make the numbers she is merely going with the vaccines for maybe around 20 dollars.
-Food, every body loves food. Say she gets a twenty pound bag of IAMS for about 25 dollars. She could go cheaper at the grocery store, but we are assuming a high level of commitment to cat health. My six barn cats can consume a ten pound bag a week, along with birds and mice. If we have 200 cats/6 we have 33.3 cat units eating ten pounds each a week. That is 333 pounds a week. This number may seem high; my cats are really fat so they might be a bit overfed. J Using this number as a rough estimate she buys 333/20 or about 17 bags of cat food every week. At $25 each times 17 bags she spends $425 a week on cat food, or about 2 dollars and 13 cents a cat. If there are 52 weeks in a year that should be 110 dollars per cat.
-By these numbers, there is no way she can be providing what she says she is, not by normal standards of “good care.”
-Time: To take a stray or abused cat and make it adoptable takes time. I spend at least twenty minutes a day with each of my fosters handling and socializing them. Since, in all fairness, not all of her cats can possible be adoptable, let’s say half of them, or 100, could be adopted out and so require handling. If she spent as much time as I do, or even, let’s say 10 minutes a day, that adds up to 1000 minutes of cat handling. One thousand minutes divided by 60 is 16.6 or close to 17 hours a day.
These numbers are largely guesses, but I am trying to be fair about it. I live on ten acres, zoned ag, with two horses, six barn cats, four fosters and a semi-feral who is in my tack room until she gets her stitches removed from spaying. There is no way a person could have 200 cats on 10 acres where there would be no smell or no annoyance. There is no way that these cats can have optimal medical care based on the information I have. There is no way these cats can have the attention required.
It is admirable that this person wants to help cats, but she needs to do it the right way. She needs to set a limit on how many she can adequately care for without being a neighborhood nuisance. Then, she needs to adopt out cats as others come in. Finally, she needs to realize she can’t save them all and she can't keep them all. This is the difference between a true rescuer and an “animal hoarder.” She needs guidance and therapy so she can assist these animals in a positive manner instead of putting them and herself at risk.
(Original Air Date: 11/15/06) Imagine discovering that your next-door neighbor owns over 200 cats. Ray and Dennis never thought their neighbor, Kristy, would let her pet collection get that big. Once friends, the three are now in a nasty and vindictive war because of the felines. Ray and Dennis say Kristy's property is one big, disgusting litter box, and they want Kristy to get rid of her cats. Kristy says she'll never part with her "cat sanctuary." Are Ray and Dennis playing dirty in order to run Kristy out of town? When is it too much, and where do you draw the line in the litter box? Then, Mike says his wife, Lori, keeps everything from used envelopes to empty food jars and medicine bottles, because she "might need it" in the future. He is ready to take desperate measures to put a stop to this. Lori says the thought of throwing her stuff out is her worst nightmare. Is Mike guilty of making nasty bribes to get his wife to change? What's really behind Lori's habit for hoarding? Tell us what you think!
You may e-mail me and I will help where I can.
