[nana911]

I think the point of when it negatively impacts your ability to care for yourself in addition to the animals is correct. I saw the animal hoarding episode on yorkies. She used to be a breeder and then had something like 40-50 and they were in some cases caged and not being properly cared for, although she did love them. (sometimes love is not enough in any situation).

Hoarding of any kind is a mental illness, usually due to a loss of some sort in life and the obsessive need from that point on to not lose anything. Security and love is what hoarders are looking for. They are starting to do research that shows the propensity towards hoarding has genetic components and their brains do work differently than the norm. As in sorting and spacial perceptions.

btw, I have 4 dogs and 2 cats. no rodents...lol