This story kind of rambles (it's actually three stories lumped together). I have a friend who "fosters" cats for the humane society--it's darned hard work to take care of a lot of animals even when you know what you're doing.

'Cat Hoarder' Forced to Give Up 70 Felines
Shelter Takes in More Than 70 Felines Turned Over by Maine Man Who Officials Call 'Cat Hoarder'

BRUNSWICK, Maine Apr. 24, 2005 - An animal shelter has taken in more than 70 cats that were given up by their owner in what officials described as a case of "animal hoarding." Sharon Turner, director of the Coastal Humane Society, said the man who had the cats is a hoarder and that hoarding "is a bona fide mental illness" related to obsessive compulsive disorder.

An animal hoarder "is a person who amasses more animals than he/she can properly care for. Such individuals generally fail to recognize or refuse to acknowledge when the animals in their custody become victims of gross neglect," the Humane Society of the United States said on its Web site. Turner said the cats' owner had been working with the shelter over a couple of years to build up trust. Finally, she said, he recognized his financial limitations and "did absolutely the right thing" by giving the cats to the shelter.

The shelter's staff scrambled Wednesday to accommodate the frightened felines at the same time they were accepting 12 of 92 English springer spaniels and puppies seized last week from a kennel in Dover-Foxcroft.

Turner said the fuzzy cats were in unusually good condition given the circumstances. Some have wounds and burned paws from urine exposure, while others have upper respiratory illnesses that can affect the eyes. Other problems, she said, are a result of inbreeding.

In the Washington County town of Waite, animal control officers responding to a tip seized 12 dehydrated dogs Wednesday from a mobile home and found the bodies of 18 more. The dogs living at the homes were all huskies except for one bichon frise, said Jennifer Howell, an agent with the state Animal Welfare Program. "Most of them were really thin, and a few were emaciated," she said. "They had no food and no water and inadequate shelter."

The owner, whose name was not released, signed over control of the dogs to animal control officials, who took them to the Central Aroostook County Humane Society in Presque Isle.