This animal hoarding handout contains the definition of animal hoarding as well as the five psychiatric models that Jeannie Lewis, a physician from the US, outlined in a webinar she did a number of years ago.

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If you are a professional working with anyone who hoards animals, it’s helpful to have a shortcut to bodies of therapeutic treatment for various comorbidities. These comorbidities have been identified in certain categories of animal hoarding.

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This is absolutely not meant to be used in order to pathologize, label, or stigmatize individuals who hoard animals; any that I have met were compassionate animal loving people who got stuck, often by their values, beliefs, and life circumstances. They, like anyone else stuck in counterproductive behaviors and beliefs, deserve compassion, understanding, and our support.