Dr. Linda Jacobson, a Toronto-based veterinary expert on animal hoarding, weighs in on a recent case

TORONTO, ON – Over 100 cats were recently removed from a single residence, a combined effort by Toronto Animal Services, Toronto Cat Rescue, and the Toronto Humane Society. It was a large number, but nothing that hasn’t been seen before by staff and volunteers at the respective organizations.

Animal hoarding is a topic that Dr. Linda Jacobson, BVSc MMedVet (Med) PhD is all too familiar with. As a leading expert on animal hoarding in Toronto Dr. Jacobson has been involved in cases within the city and beyond for close to a decade, and she has seen it all. 

It is estimated that between 2 and 5% of the population have the potential to hoard objects, but the causes of hoarding have yet to be clearly defined. The current thought is that genetics, brain functioning, and life experiences play a role. People who suffer from hoarding disorders may also concurrently suffer from depression, anxiety, OCD, and/or ADHD, as well as drug or alcohol addiction.

Animal hoarders tend to be middle-aged women and cats are the most commonly hoarded animal, but you might be surprised to know that hoarding can affect almost anyone, regardless of gender or socio-economic status. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, social workers, and even veterinarians have been implicated in animal hoarding.

Hoarders can and do certainly cause damage to their own health and the health of the animals in their care, but they may also be the primary caregivers to elderly or juvenile household members and the negative externalities associated with hoarding are often also borne by these unwilling third parties. 

Dr. Jacobson knows it can be hard to sympathize with animal hoarders. After all, animal hoarding is almost always associated with physical neglect and always causes emotional suffering for the animals. It can be easy to forget that there may be human lives at stake as well, and that hoarding is often a debilitating mental disorder.  It is also easy to forget how difficult and courageous it is for animal hoarders to reach out for help and see their animals removed from their lives. In our experience at the Toronto Humane Society, hoarders are willing to accept help and voluntarily relinquish animals more often than media reports suggest.

While cases such as the recent removal of over 100 cats from a single home are sensational, the reality is that hoarding is a slow-burning problem and it may be months or years before anyone outside of the hoarder or the hoarder’s family is aware of the situation.

According to Dr. Jacobson, “hoarding cases that appear in the media are frequently the very severe cases that can only be dealt with through seizure and prosecution.” The majority of cases, she believes, “are smaller and less entrenched and can be dealt with through a harm reduction model. Which is more humane to the owner and the animals, less expensive, less resource intensive and ultimately more successful.”

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium (HARC) found that there is almost a 100% recidivism rate amongst animal hoarders when the seizure and prosecution model is followed and have attributed this at least in part to the failure to address the underlying cause of the hoarding behavior via ongoing mental health treatment and support. Experts in this group believe that animal hoarding is grounded in childhood trauma and instability, and that abnormal attachments to people may drive the behaviour.

Hoarding was only relatively recently added to the clinician’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and prior to this it was extremely difficult to mandate psychiatric treatment for those burdened with the disorder.