Animal Hoarding Flashcards
1
Q
Animal Hoarding
A
- Failure to provide minimal standards of sanitaion, space, nutrition, and veterinar care
- Inability to recognize the effects oftheis failure on the welfare of animals, people and the environment
- Obsessive attempts to accumulate or maintain animals despite deteriorating conditions
- Denial or minimization of the problems
2
Q
A symptom or a Disease?
A
- A symptom of:
- OCD, Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder, Diogenes syndrome, Dementia, Schizophrenia, PTSD
- A distinct Illness:
- Treatment for OCD is not effective
- Can occur in the absence of other symptoms
- DSM-5 lists hoarding disorder as an official dignosis
- Does not list animal hoarding as an official subtype
3
Q
Who are they
A
- 3500 animal hoarders per year
- At least 250,000 animals affected each year
- >70% females who aree single, divorced or widowed
- >50% live alone
- Many on disability, retired, unemployed
- Number of animals hoarded increases with aage
- Most cases involve a single species
- Cats> Dogs
- Dead or dying animals common
- Hoarding of inanimate objects common
- 100% relapse without treatment
4
Q
Types of animal hoarders
A
- Overwhelmed caregiver
- Rescuer
- Exploiter
5
Q
Overwhelmed caregiver
A
- Some awareness
- change in cicumstances
- Gradual decline in care
- Strong attachment
- Minimizes rather than denies problem
- Withdrawn and isolated
- Passibely acquires animals
6
Q
Rescuer
A
- Unavoidable compulstion
- Fear of death and opposition to euthanasia
- Avoids authorities and impedes access
- Works with enablrs
- Actively acquires animals
- Believes he/she is the only one who can provide adequate care
- Initial rescue-followed-by-adoption pattern is replaced by rescue-only care
7
Q
Exploiter
A
- Indifferent to suffering
- Believes their knowledge is superior to all others
- Rejects authorities
- Need for control
- Manipulative, charming
- Actively acquires animals
8
Q
The Veterinarian’s Role
A
- Warning signs
- Changing parade of pets
- obsessed with animals
- Limited human relationships
- easily preventable conditions
- Request heroic care for newly acquired animals
- Travel great distances at odd hours for care
- Parfume/bathing to conceal odors
- Unwilling/unable to say how many animals they have
- seeks to acquire more animals
- History inconsistent with exam
- Requests medicaiton without an office visit or for other animals at home
9
Q
The Hoarding Environment
A
- Compromised animal health and welfare is at the core of animal hoarding
- Crowded and unsanitary conditions promote pain and suffering
- Remember when possible, medical examiner should be presn ton scene to assess scene and its effects on the victim
- Especally important in cases of neglct
- Elevated Ammonia levels common
- Due to excessive accumulation of excrement and/or lack of cleaning and sanitizing
- Meters to read ammonia levels
- Ammonia causes irritation to mucosa linin of entire airway system
- chronic exposure to ammonia is detrimental to health of animals
10
Q
Medical Conditions Relevant to Documenting Animal Hoarding
A
- Starvation, malnutrition, cannibalism
- Dehydration
- Infectious diseases
- URI
- Giardia
- External and internal parasites
- Ringworm
- Retroviruses
- FIP
11
Q
Starvation and malnutrition
A
- Malnutrition: poor nutrition which results from insufficient or inadequately balanced diet
- Can result from inadequate digestion and absorption of food
- Can lead to starvation
- Starvation: long term effect of a lengthy and continuous deprivation of nutrients
- What is happening to an animal over time
- Behavioral manifestations: pica, cannibalism
12
Q
Death due to starvation
A
- Bone Marrow Fat Analysis
- Available form Michigan State University and Purdue
- Quantitative measure of starvation
- If body >48 hours post-mortem, may see false positive/lower bone marrow fat analysis due to decomposition
13
Q
Starvation
A
- Emaciation =/= Starvation
- If typical picture of emaciation in absence of chronic debilitating disease, then animal is malnourished or starved
- Want to document weight gain with minimal veterinary intervetion
14
Q
Dehydration
A
- Under normal circumstances, thirst ensures that water intake meets or exceeds requirement for water
- What can lead to decreased water intake?
- Not clinically observed until animal is at least 5% dehydrated
15
Q
Infectiou Diseases
A
- Crowded and unsanitary conditions lead to physical and mental stress
