Animal hoarding involves keeping animals in numbers far exceeding an individual's ability to provide care, resulting in severe neglect, disease, and welfare compromise that is simultaneously a mental health and animal protection issue.
Animals in hoarding situations experience progressive welfare deterioration as the individual's capacity to provide care is overwhelmed. Disease spreads through overcrowded populations, wounds go untreated, and nutritional deficiencies cause chronic illness. The welfare emergency in hoarding situations often affects entire populations of animals simultaneously.