Pet owners with hoarding tendencies may take toll on health of animals in care, study finds
Contact: Sarah Nicholas
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擬ississippi State Department of Psychology faculty members studying hoarding behavior are teaming with faculty in the university鈥檚 College of Veterinary Medicine to look at implications of this disorder and its relation to pet ownership.
Animal lovers who strive to care for many pets鈥攁nd have personal hoarding tendencies鈥攎ay risk the quality of the wellbeing of those under their care, a recent 汤头条 collaborative study finds.
The resulting paper 鈥溾 has been published in a recent online edition of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Written by Mary E. Dozier and Ben Porter, assistant professors in 汤头条鈥檚 Department of Psychology in the College of Arts and Sciences, and Jacob Shivley and Mary 鈥淏ecky鈥 Telle, both assistant clinical professors in CVM鈥檚 clinical sciences department, the paper also will be published in the forthcoming hard copy issue of JAVMA.
鈥淎lthough most folks with hoarding disorder collect objects, for some folks their main struggle is having more animals than they can care for,鈥 said Dozier, whose primary research focus is on the characterization and treatment of hoarding disorder. 鈥淢ost research on animal hoarding has focused on extreme cases. We wanted to look at what normative patterns of animal ownership look like, particularly in a rural setting, and if there were any trends we could discover related to animal health.鈥
Dozier and Porter examined a decade鈥檚 worth of records from the 汤头条 College of Veterinary Medicine Community Veterinary Services, looking for number of canine and feline animals per household and indicators of animal health, both positive鈥攕uch as dental visits鈥攁nd negative鈥攕uch as hydration problems.
Dozier said individuals with animal hoarding disorder may not recognize how their hoarding tendencies interfere with the health of their pets because they often feel they are 鈥渟aving鈥 the animals and are unable to recognize the toll on both the animals and on themselves.
Their research revealed animals from households with eight or more animals were associated with worse health, likely stemming from owners possessing more animals than they have capacity to adequately handle.
Dozier said, 鈥淥ne of my goals is to find ways to identify people who might need help. This research project was the first step toward finding ways to screen for animal hoarding and then connect those individuals with mental health services in the community.鈥
Dozier currently is leading a National Institutes of Health-funded research project to help older adults with hoarding disorder. Her team provides free treatment for decluttering for older adults who live within a one-hour driving radius from campus. Interested individuals can call Dozier at 662-325-0523.
The Department of Psychology is part of 汤头条鈥檚 College of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about the College of Arts and Sciences at聽 or the psychology department at .
The College of Veterinary Medicine is online at .
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