I want to help a cat hoarder

I'm pretty sure my mother in law is a cat hoarder. She has about 17 cats. My husband gently suggested that we could find homes for them and she reluctantly agreed to consider it--only if the homes were people in my extended family. No strangers, not even friends. I approached one of my family but stopped before the "ask" because I felt that if we help her find homes for the current crop of cats it won't make any difference. She'll just "rescue" more. My husband was pretty unhappy with me.

She's always loved cats but it's gotten pretty bad the past ten years or so, I think since my husband's youngest brother finally moved out. I suspect she's become a cat hoarder out of loneliness.

We live 6 hours away. I'm worried about her cats, but I'm more worried about her. If anything should happen to her we can't take care of all those cats. In fact she became temporarily homeless when a tree fell on her house. Her elderly aunt very reluctantly took in the cats until she gets her house back. That was in September and she's finally moving back in this weekend.

I don't want to make her unhappy. I'm not judging her lifestyle. How can I help her?

Have they all been neutered? That would be a good first step. Maybe talking to her about fostering for a rescue organization.

Veronica

This is a symptom of depression and she really needs help. Hoarding is a real mental health issue. The best thing you can do for her is get her into treatment. Find the cats a home, but she should be your main concern. Otherwise, she will just keep repeating the same behavior.

I am also curious to know if they have been neutered or spayed. Did she acquire all of the cats individually, or did a few litters crop up along the way?

My MIL had 21 cats for a while, after two of her barn cats had litters. However, only 4 of them lived inside. Having all of them neutered/spayed would have been quite expensive, even for low cost spays, so she started volunteering with the local charity that helps people with the low cost spays. Eventually she was able to get all of the cats in for free, AND she's staying busy volunteering. Her cat population is dropping over time. She still has a lot of cats, but it's under control.

I've had fun mathematically modeling her cat colony ;)

First priority is to get all the cats spayed and neutered.

21 cats is too many to take care for almost anyone. Things you should watch for tell-tale sign for a hoarder are the health of the cats. Are they being fed, what are the litter box situation, best indicator, and the general health of each and every cat. Are they up on their FelV/FIV shots. Need one every three years. So each year she needs to take on average of 7 cats for their shots.

If she is unable to give them the basic care to the cats, then she is overwhelmed.

We have 10 cats, two dogs and three chicken. We stopped fostering since we can't handle any more. Last year my animal expense totaled almost $10,000, that's right that much. Between getting their annual physical checkup, blood test for seniors, dental work, food, litter, medical supplies, anti-biotic, steroids. Several of my cats have either auto-immune disease, or immune compromised, and one with Urinary blockage problem, he's been in emergency twice with less than 12 hours before his bladder would have ruptured. He would have died.

However, I do know of one person who routinely foster that many but that is all she do all day everyday. She goes through about 100 pounds of litter every week, two cases of large cat food and a large bag of cat food every week. Her garage is a stock room for cat litter, food and other supplies. She lives and works for the cats and her husband just puts up with her. When she goes on a vacation, it takes three of us to take care of the foster cats every day.

So with 17 cats, you should have some perspective on what it would take to take care of that many.

Hope this helps. And what Crankin said, she needs help too.

smilingcat

Starting about 10 years ago I have been unable to visit her because I literally can't breathe in her house. That was back when she "only" had about 12 cats. They are all indoor cats. She is terrified to let them out because they could be killed by dogs, coyotes, birds of prey, cars. She is on a limited income and can't afford regular medical care.

Most of them she has adopted. I believe there were one or two litters that happened accidentally. After the last litter I sent her $600 to have them fixed (which she did get done). When they are sick if she has money she takes them to the vet. Otherwise they don't get yearly shots.

I hate that we are 6 hours from her because I don't think she can take care of herself very well right now, much less all the cats. I would work very hard to help her find homes and take care of the cats, but that isn't enough-- I don't want to spend a lot of time and money only for her to take in even more.

Even in her homeless situation right now, with her elderly aunt taking care of all her cats, she managed to acquire one more. He managed to get out, and she's terribly worried about him.

My husband wants to wait until she's moved back in (which is happening this weekend), and when she is settled again he is going to talk to her. He (finally) is starting to agree that she has a problem-- the cats are part of her problem, they aren't the whole thing.

Recently we got all of her photos (they needed a safe dry place...boxes of photos we can take, they don't need litter boxes). My husband has been scanning them in. All the way back to her childhood in the 50's there are more photos of cats than of people! :D She remembers the fate of most of them, and even a lot of their names. She really does love cats, and I respect that, but I think it's taken an unhealthy turn recently.

Maybe a symptom of depression.

Not entirely sure what to do...I feel better since my husband seems to be taking it seriously, he is starting to be worried about it-- AND he has started calling her more frequently even though it's really hard to get a hold of her, even when she has a house.

Thanks for letting me talk about it on here. :)

I would think you'd want to address the psychological issues that lie behind hoarding first.

Thank you.
I was afraid to say this. This is a serious mental health issue, which often times needs someone who really specializes in hoarders. I would not be qualified to deal with this; it really is a specialty, often stemming from unresolved trauma and depression. I worked with one woman who hoarded cats and many other things at my first clinical internship and it was one of the toughest cases I have had.

Here's what the ASPCA has to say about hoarding. The situation you describe doesn't sound as extreme as some of what is discussed here, but there might be some relevant info:

http://www.aspca.org/fight-animal-cr...-hoarding.aspx

Good luck to you and your husband. These situations can be heartbreaking. I don't know if she will realize it right away, but your mother-in-law is lucky to have your help.

I'd say to make sure the cats are all fixed first, which is sounds like is done. Next is to deal with her and her mental issues. Which from everything I've seen, read, heard hording of any kind is a mental issue. With the cats all being fixed as long as she can't acquire any new ones then at least the population won't grow so that is a good start.