For my brother's 30th birthday party, we held a special costume party. Guests were asked to dress how they thought they might look 30 years down the road. I dressed up as a "cat lady." I lived alone at the time in a tiny upstairs apartment with two cats, and had taken in my grandparent's cat as well, while they vacationed in Florida. The costume didn't seem to be too far off the mark, all those cats in that little space. My friends and family nodded knowingly.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the cat population in my apartment decreased after that winter. But though my costume was meant to be funny, animal hording is a rare but serious condition. You hear about it every now and then on the news -- a person discovered with an alarming number of animals in their home, sometimes numbering in the hundreds. Often, these people are arrested for neglect ,and the animals that are not adoptable euthanized.

MSNBC has an interesting article on why animal hording happens. It often stems, they say, from an abusive or traumatic childhood where animals become the only stable force for a child. In some cases, care-giving becomes compulsive. The condition isn't an isolated diagnosis, but often stems from a combination of attachment disorders, addictive behavior, and personality disorders. It's a sad situation for all involved -- human and animals alike -- but with treatment, people who horde animals can learn to control their behavior.