Posted on 07/28/2010 7:30:12 PM PDT by Chet 99
Diane Mapes writes: We’ve all heard the stories of people keeping outrageous numbers of animals. The Today Show ran a segment on the topic just last week, to coincide with the premiere of Animal Planet’s new show, “Confessions: Animal Hoarders”.
But why is it so many of these tales seem to involve women and cats?
There was the elderly woman in Phoenix with 104 cats, 10 of them dead and tucked into freezers; the woman in Greeley, Colo., whose house was condemned after authorities discovered she was harboring 83 felines. Women cat hoarders have been discovered in Citrus Heights, Calif., where a woman and her mother had 60 cats; Orange City, Fla., where rescue workers discovered an unconscious woman surrounded by 59 cats and Piney Flats, Tenn., where a 64-year-old woman was found living in a trailer with 31 cats.
And that’s just so far this month.
Is there something that makes women more prone to animal hoarding than men?
(Excerpt) Read more at bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com ...
I once walked into a house where the woman of the house owned sixteen cats. The house looked immaculate....and smelled liked cat urine and disinfectant.
I have a friend in the office at her job “rotates” the paper in the printer so they all get a chance to fulfill their destiny, and not get thrown out after getting too old. No joke.
It ain't an easy job, but when you bring a herd into town, and you ain't lost a-one of them, ain't a feeling like it in the world
We have an elderly male relative who's herdin' about a dozen of 'em at the moment.
I had three (or four when I covered for my brother) different paper routes. In one central Jersey town I had a morning paper route and an afternoon paper route, two different papers. We moved to a more urban town and there I had one afternoon route. My brothers also got routes there, and occasionally I would have to cover for them.
In the rural suburb each route was between 80 and 110 homes, mostly the same house getting both papers. Made collections easy.
In the city, the routes were smaller. In any case overall, I had three cat ladies. You are right, I hated collecting them. I fact I used a trick to get rid of one very stinky one, who was also a forever late payer. I would throw the paper just to the edge of her driveway, so she had to walk out to get it. Eventually she dropped the paper, I was so happy!
In all three cases the lots were overgrown.
Cool, as minor harmless obsessions go. Everyone should have one.
Women are just plain and simple NUTURERS by nature. We want to help...be it people, children, homeless people or aniamls. And the animals that need the most help are CATS ---because they are EVERYWHERE and easily obtainable. Women recognize the helplessness and need in the homeless unwanted cats and it breaks our hearts. I know MANY many women who like me, have a colony or more of cats they feed every day. We are all educated and alot of my friends have family that help them....we can't walk away from them.
It is very sad that many people will villify these type of women. These kind of woman should praised...they are out there helping because something needs help and they can't turn their backs on it or ignore it-- because they have a conscience.
Some women get so overwhelmed and reach that point of no return and become neglecting. Then it's them that need the help.
People who make fun of the 'cat ladies' are selfish, ignorant and lack understanding to a compassionates persons makeup. It's become a stereotype that is just totally misunderstood.
I saw her interview years ago, and she sounded like she was a few clumps shy of a litter box. She had all the plastic surgery done so she could look like a cat. UGLY cat!!!
*spew*
That is so totally false. Dogs LOVE to smell and be dirty, and cats love to be clean and will always wash themselves. They spend about a third of their day cleaning themselves. A litter box is supposed to be scooped ...preferably several times a day...because most cats won't use a dirty litter box. So, if yours is gross, your cat thinks so too but has no option. It's your job to clean it and keep it clean. Then of course, dogs love to eat poop, so you can just have your dog keep the litter box clean.
Who is that?
The need for this is totally feminine. The need to mother.
I mother EVERYTHING. I would give everything I own to have the health to lavish this attention on children.
I bought one of these. Changed my entire life.
Thank you.
My dogs don’t smell, aren’t dirty and do not eat feces.
As I stated in my post, which you did not seem to comprehend, I no longer have cats. Was nice of you to infer that the cat box was filthy when we had them though. You’re a sweetie.
This whole animal "rescue" culture is crazy.
IMHO, of course.
Get your money back then...
cute cartoon. Good comments above Fawn. Have both cats & dogs. Love um all
My grandmother was a cat lady (not a crazy one, just a cat lady, about 30 cats on the property around her trailer) and she not only had a son and 3 grandchildren, she had a husband to boot and hadn’t ever owned more than one cat before she was in her late seventies, IIRC. Of course, she had a handle on it since most were outdoor cats.
But yeah, you ask a pertinent question. It not only goes (possibly) to the motivation for getting the first couple of cats, it also goes to why they accumulate so many without someone stepping in. No kids coming to visit, no one intervening when you acquire cat #82.
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