Hoarders

[lumy12]

I'm newly addicted to this show. Enough people have mentioned it to me that I felt like I should check it out. I can see shades of myself in many of the hoarders featured, I just don't have whatever it is that sends them completely over the top.

I actually lost sleep for 2 nights after watching a really horrible one involving cats (horrible images burned in my brain). I wanted to punch that lady in the face! (Vula, if any of you watch) She was cold and mean and showed no compassion at all even for the DEAD cats they pulled out of her disgusting home. ALL of the cats were sick. I really hope no one is comparing me to that wretch when they tell me to watch. Her own children even wanted nothing to do with her. And you know the worst part? THEY'RE RETURNING TWO OF THE CATS TO HER WHEN THEY'RE HEALTHY. Wtf, people?! She refused to acknowledge she had any kind of problem, so clearly her house is going to revert to its uninhabitable state and more cats are going to get sick and die in there, yet you RETURN two of the RESCUED cats to her??? She doesn't deserve to have ANY animals, at least not until she gets help! I even went on the A&E website trying to find where I could contact them to express my concern about that... but I could only find where you could recommend people for this or that show, or complain about technical difficulties with the site. Bah. No, I don't want to just post on their message board. Though I was tempted to do so after seeing a post about that episode in which the OP deplored that her own children weren't willing to take her in while they finished the house. WELL, OBVIOUSLY SHE'S A LOUSY EXCUSE OF A HUMAN BEING, THAT'S WHY.

Anyway. Maybe someday I'll clean out my second bedroom and my garage, but if I don't have space issues, why put myself through unnecessary emotional trauma?

Comments

[gizzi1213.livejournal.com]

I tried watching this program once after a number of people recommended. I was able to sit through about 10 minutes before I felt so physically ill I had to turn it off, and that wasn't even the episode with the cats!!!

I agree with you on that issue! How idiotic is it to return two cats to this woman who has ABUSED them in the past????

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

There was another one with cats that wasn't so bad (no sick or dead ones)... that lady was a bitch too. At least she seemed to care about the cats, though.

Yeah, I mean, obviously you can't do anything about the poor strays she may end up taking in later, but returning the rescued cats makes no sense to me. Poor kitties :(

[caffeinatedkate.livejournal.com]

Oh no, poor kitties, that's horrible. :( You need an RSPCA.

I bet you had to hug your own kitties after you'd watched that.

Maybe someday I'll clean out my second bedroom

Sorry, you have two bedrooms?? Wow, I knew property was cheaper over there but it still seems incredible that you were able to afford that house on your own.

[gizzi1213.livejournal.com]

Wow, I knew property was cheaper over there but it still seems incredible that you were able to afford that house on your own.

That's because she lives in a cheap part of the country!!! Although my condo has two bedrooms as well, I just have one set up as a den, rather than a bedroom.

[caffeinatedkate.livejournal.com]

Well I hope you appreciate it. :P

[gizzi1213.livejournal.com]

I rarely use it these days, actually. I used it more when I first moved in here because I didn't have the big TV in the living room yet, and that was also where the computer was located. Now, I use my laptop downstairs so I can watch the big TV in the living room!

[caffeinatedkate.livejournal.com]

$130K FOUR bedrooms!!!

£81,000 according to a currency converter, that's cheap alright but it's still more than I've got. :P

We don't have scorpions but silver fish are quite common.

[elledwen.livejournal.com]

That's about how much my 1 bedroom semi-detatched house is worth. England is sooooo expensive. Chris and I would be living like kings if we lived in the US. ;_;

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

Yes, I'm rich!!! (okay, no, Deb explained I'm really not :D)

I thought of you last night when they showed one about a guy with 2500 rats >.> I liked him, he clearly cared about the rats and obviously never intended to have THAT DAMN MANY but things spiraled out of control quickly and they took over his house!

[caffeinatedkate.livejournal.com]

There's a crazy rat lady on youtube (username, jorats) but she doesn't have that many, she's careful not to let them breed.

I once had two not-my-rats, they were two boys who were stuck in a little cage at the pet shop for about three months, whenever I went for supplies I would talk to them and they sniffed my fingers through the gap in the glass.
Unfortunately, there would have been problems with putting them in with the girls, even if I'd had them neutered the cage really isn't big enough for four. Eventually they disappeared, I can only hope they found good homes.

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

Not letting them breed is key!

Aww. I'm sure they did :)

[minusforever.livejournal.com]

HOARDERS HOARDERS HOARDERS IT IS MY MOST GUILTY OF PLEASURES.

There were a couple pet hoarders I really did feel sorry for. One was a lady named Kitten whose cat group just... snuck up on her, she was ignorant about spaying, and she WANTED to get them help. (She got to keep her favorite one after it was evaluated as healthy.) Then there was a guy with 60 chickens in his house, but he had no idea they were adoptable, and after someone from the humane society said that they could find them homes, he adopted out 40 and built a coop for the rest of them.

The worst lady was Hanna, probably similar to Vula. Me and my friends are always quoting her. :| She just... was completely awful and had her 10+ kids taken away in the 80s. Which pisses me off, because people never want to talk about how related child and pet abuse are.

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

Oh they showed that one yesterday about Hanna! I agree, she was HORRIBLE. And it's just sad that she raised her kids to communicate by yelling too. 16 kids! (does that make her a kid hoarder?) I haven't seen the one about Kitten or the chicken guy... it's okay if the people seem decent, like they care, and can admit they have a problem. But how do you keep so many animals cooped up in cages so crowded they can't even move and still insist they have a good life?

[darkp-hawk.livejournal.com]

...How did I know that, after reading the headline Hoarders, that an episode with cats would come up?

Anyways, I actually don't compare you to those people in a bad way. I actually think "Wendy has a lot of cats which she doesn't always acknowledge as her own but at least she knows how to take care of them. What's wrong with these people?"

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

WTF, LJ ate my comment!

Thank you Nammy! You should be proud of me, I'm discouraging a new kitty from coming inside! (and it's cold out, too! but she has a thick fluffy coat) I swear I will never be THAT BAD.

[darkp-hawk.livejournal.com]

I guess I'm proud of you for not letting another outside kitty in.

[lazypadawan.livejournal.com]

There's an animal horders show on Animal Planet. Sad...not only are there the requisite cat collectors, there were people who hoarded pricey birds, horses, etc..

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

I do NOT need to watch that! I'm sure it would give me nightmares.

[tash-dragon.livejournal.com]

That show is the saddest thing in existence. I can't watch it for long.

There's another on TLC about 'weird addictions' where they had this couple who had so many cats they couldn't afford to feed them all. It pissed me off so much because the couple didn't see that they had a problem even though they, you know, couldn't afford to eat. And they let them keep all the animals! They were all healthy, thankfully, which is better than you can say for most hoarding situations. But when you have to beg your parents for grocery money every month because you have forty+ cats, there is something wrong.

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

As long as the animals are alive and healthy I think I can stomach watching. The child abuse/neglect doesn't get to me quite as much... but yeah, that's insanity!

[frostbit-sky.livejournal.com]

That is just insanity. They wouldn't return abused children to their abusive parents, so why return cats to her when she doesn't even think what she is doing is WRONG!

I just can't...

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you wouldn't want to watch this episode... I saw it a week ago and it's still bugging me (though at least I don't see the horrible images every time I close my eyes now) :(

[veronicaprof.livejournal.com]

I just saw this belatedly. "Hoarders" is terrifying, yet once I start watching an episode I can't turn away....

I think the important thing to remember above all else is that so many of these people are so obviously mentally ill in other ways, and the hoarding often seems to be one of many symptoms. It's just dreadful.

The one I saw most recently was a woman who was hoarding livestock and poultry in her HOUSE....

[lumy12.livejournal.com]

I think I saw that one! I saw one about a lady with chickens though she had most of them in a separate trailer or something next to the house. The expert person pointed out how cruel it was to keep them cooped up with so many in each cage they could barely move, and how sick they were, and the lady just couldn't comprehend.

Nothing gets to me so much as the one with the dead cats, though. *shudder*