My mom is obsessed with the hoarding shows. And those that I have watched are very depressing and pitiful. I cannot get angry at the person, since there's usually a trigger for the behavior.
Speaking from experience, I know how panic-stricken you can feel when deemed that there is no control in your life. And in order to create some type of control, one latches on to something so drastic (I.e. hoarding, drugs, cutting, alcohol, etc.).
With the animal hoarding I think it's different than any other type of abuse. With animal abuse (with regards to puppymills/byb/greeders) I think there is a malicious intent to cause harm all for the sake of money. Yet with animal hoarding, it's done with the hope of good intentions.
If you listen to them, they usually say,
"He needed me.." or "I wanted to give him a good home..."
I know I could easily fall into the animal hoarding trap. When I go into the Humane Society, I want to rescue all of them. Especially since I consider Gizmo to be my therapy many times.
Nancy, know that the positions from your family do not hold any memories, only you do. And spreading those memories doesn't require any physical object. Giving something up that was theirs only makes the person that receives it honored to have such a wonderful item with them. I know for a fact that if I kept something that was my grandma's that she deemed unimportant for me to have, that she's be crossing her arms and shaking her figer at me somewhere up in heaven!
And I'm rambling...