Every little girl is afraid that if she never finds love she will become an old lady with a million cats. This fear is reality. Animal hoarding involves keeping a larger number of animals than usual as pets without having the ability to house or care for them properly, while at the same time denying this inability. Animal hoarders have difficulty understanding the harm they are causing to their animals until it is too late. They feel they are providing for the needs of the animals and in most cases saving them. There is no real reason why people hoard animals. So why do people hoard animals if there is no medical reason behind it? There are several reasons why people do this. Animal hoarders think that if they rescue an animal (for example, a stray cat with an injured foot) they will feel good knowing that it wasn't killed in a shelter or put to sleep. Some hoarders think it's a way to feel important, needed, or even to get attention. Some are lonely and animals create an emotional bond that they are unable to achieve with people. Many hoarders will have enablers, just like a drug addict would; these people support their habit and believe in stories about providing life-saving support to animals (psychology today). While there is no real reason why people should feel this way, according to recent studies and theories they are leading to attachment disorders along with personality disorders, paranoia, delusional thinking, depression and other mental illnesses. Some animal hoarders began collecting animals after a traumatic event or loss, while others consider themselves "rescuers" who save animals from life on the streets (ASPCA). Not many people understand or even know what animal hoarding is. It......middle of paper.......Web. April 3, 2011. “Facts about Animal Hoarding: Animal Hoarding: Animal Planet.” Animal planet: pets, wild animals, dog breeds, cat breeds. Network. April 1, 2011. "Pet-Abuse.Com - Hoarding." Pet-Abuse.Com - Home. Network. April 3, 2011. .Petfinder. Discovery Communications, LLC, 2011. Web. April 1, 2011. .Sholl, Jessis. "Animal Hoarding: A View from the Trenches | Psychology Today." Psychology Today: Health, Help, Happiness Find a therapist. Sussex Publishers. Network. April 1. 2011. .