I believe there is a TV show featuring the challenges of hoaders. I have been hearing about hoaders on various talk shows. Prior to this, I was not aware of people suffering with this compulsion. Recently a couple of people suffering with this condition were on the Anderson Cooper Show. It was mentioned how the children in these homes suffer as they are embarrassed to bring friends over and the difficulty of living in an environment where there is no room or space, often with just a small path from room to room.
It prompted me to recall a client who called me about ten years ago requesting a phone consultation or healing for her cat. I remember telling the woman that the cat felt restricted, closed in. I did not know what it meant fearing the cat was kenneled all the time. When I conveyed this information to the client, I remember her acknowledging that it made sense to her and that she was trying to make an effort to clear out a room and was slowly making some progress. She also said something about a chair that her cat liked and that she needed to remove a stack of magazines that was now on this chair.
I heard what she was saying, but I now realize that I did not understand what was going on. I had no comprehension of people living with stuff and being hoarders. I may be wrong, but I now believe that this woman was struggling with this condition. And like the children on the TV show talking about having no space, I am sure that that was the feeling I was getting from the cat–feeling caged in. No matter how big the house is, if it is stuffed, not allowing you to move within it, well there isn’t much difference to being enclosed in a cage or kennel.
It’s sad that some animals are kenneled in shelters because they have no home, and just as sad are the animals who are in a home but it feels like a kennel to them