Pet hoarding occurs more frequently than you might realize. The reality is that data regarding the frequency of pet hoarding is unclear. A good amount of pet hoarding is under the radar. Pet hoarding oftentimes goes on for at least some period of time before anyone beyond the hoarding individual knows of the activities.
If you’re the adult child of parents who are engaged in pet hoarding you may wonder how you can discuss their situation with them. You may wonder what you can do to help your parents to address their situation with pet hoarding.
Obtain Professional Advice and Assistance
A key tactic you need to employ when it comes to discussing a pet hoarding situation with your parents is obtaining professional advice and assistance. There are different types of professional support and assistance that needs to be obtained in a situation in which you parents are hoarding animals:
- Mental health assistance is crucial. As is discussed elsewhere in this presentation, pet hoarding and hoarding more generally is a recognized mental illness. Technically it is known as hoarding disorder. There are mental health professionals that specialize in working with hoarders, including people engaged in pet hoarding, as well as their families.
- An experienced pet hoarder property cleanup specialist is also necessary. When pet hoarding occurs, a biohazardous situation is nearly always created. In this regard, you need to ensure that you retain a pet hoarding property cleanup specialist like Eco Bear. By retaining the services of a provider like Eco Bear, you work to ensure that your parents’ residence will be fully restored to a livable condition in a safe manner.
- Finally, you will want to get support from an organization dedicated to the humane treatment of distressed or mistreated animals. In nearly all communities (or within the surrounding areas) organizations exist that can aid in the removal of animals from a hoarding situation and placement of these animals into safe environments.
Understand the Reality of Pet Hoarding
If you want to have a successful discussion of pet hoarding with your parents, you need to understand what it really involves. As is the case with other types of hoarding, pet hoarding is a recognized mental health disorder.
Bear in mind that the typical individual involved in pet hoarding believes that he or she is involved in a process that is protecting the animals being hoarded. In simple terms, the typical pet hoarder believes that he or she is doing good.
You also need to understand that your parents very well may see any actions you suggest taking as a threat to the animals they are hoarding. You are a danger to animals that they are protecting.
Due to the dynamics of pet hoarding, it is vital that you do obtain the assistance of a mental health provider, a counselor or therapist, that specializes in working with people afflicted with hoarding disorder. Such a professional can prove invaluable in assisting you in working with and not against your parents in seeking an avenue through which a pet hoarding situation can be resolved.
Attempt to Understand Your Parents’ Thoughts and Belief
If you want to have a productive conversation with your parents about their pet hoarding situation, you need to do your best to understand their thoughts and beliefs about the large number of animals in their home. As was just mentioned, your parents likely believe that they are being positive caretakers of animals that would be endangered in the absence of what they are doing. You need to appreciate that although their beliefs may be misplaced, they likely are sincerely held by your mother and father.
Retain the Services of Professional Pet Hoarding Cleaning Company
The affects of pet hoarding can be hazardous and quite literally so. Pet hoarding typically results in the creation of a biohazardous situation in a hoarder’s residence.
We have already noted that a hoarder property cleanup professional is necessary when it comes to your parents and pet hoarding. Indeed, this type of professional assistance is so important that it sincerely does warrant a second mention. Again, the team at Eco Bear is an ideal example of a hoarder property cleanup professional with the experience, personnel, materials, and other resources necessary to safely remediate a pet hoarding situation at your parents’ residence.
Do Not Force the Issue
In order to have effective discussions with parents who are pet hoarding, you cannot force the issue of these family members working to resolve the matter. You need to partner with your parents in developing a resolution to a pet hoarding situation in which your mother and father are part of the team. Your parents did not become afflicted with hoarding disorder in a heartbeat. In a similar vein, resolving the matter appropriately requires an investment of a reasonable amount of time.