Hoarders

I found the British programme 'The Hoarder next door' much better viewing. Many of these horder programmes, especially the American ones are a bit like going to an assylum to watch the mad people.

In The Hoarder Next Door, it involved a therapist who worked with the hoarder to examine the issues that led to the development of hoarding behavious and by resolving the problems help them recover. It was a kinder, far gentler programme and helped non-hoarders understand the problems that ioften lie behind this behaviour, rather than offer the hoarder up for ridicule in a freak show.

I sometimes watch it in horrified fascination. Some people's homes are piled ceiling high in every room with rubbish, dead animals and worse. One team found a woman with no working sanitation had just been using plastic bottles and heaping them up. It was stomach turning. Crew were in complete biohazard suits and I believe the house was condemned. How do these houses get to be like this before there's intervention?

Yes huge numbers of animals, one man started off with pet rats and they took over the house and he was living in a van.

There was another two where one person had dogs and another cats and they believed they were looking after these animals.
It was heartbreaking to see the cruelty these poor animal were having to contend with.

It never occurred to me that anyone did this.

I'm sure they show those programmes because it makes us feel better about ourselves. To know there's always someone much worse than we are.

Sad for the people concerned though.

I've not seen the US version but have watched several episodes of the UK programme. I find it fascinating.

No, not seen it.
Not sure that I would want to.
But it is programmes like that, that help keep me on my toes, clutter wise.

By animal hoarding, do you mean like 72 cats?