Animal hoarding — keeping far more animals than can be properly cared for — represents one of the most severe forms of companion animal welfare compromise, often involving hundreds of animals.
Hoarded animals suffer prolonged neglect — not from malice but from a profound mismatch between care capacity and numbers. Disease spreads unchecked in crowded conditions. Animals die unnoticed among hundreds of others. The scale of suffering in a large hoarding case involving hundreds of animals is enormous. Effective responses address both animal welfare and the human psychological dimensions simultaneously.