Hoarding
February 20, 2014
Jenai Thomsen’s Posts
Charlie
February 20 · 2014
CHARLIE RIP
JUST ONE OF MANY CATS THAT DIED AT E.E.'S HOUSE.
people really need to stop defending animal hoarders and using their mental instability as an excuse for their messed up behavior. their mental instability should be an excuse for not owning animals not giving them an excuse to abuse and neglect them.
Teddy
TEDDY RIP
JUST ONE OF MANY CATS THAT DIED AT E.E.'S HOUSE.
people really need to stop defending animal hoarders and using their mental instability as an excuse for their messed up behavior. their mental instability should be an excuse for not owning animals not giving them an excuse to abuse and neglect them.
Just because you pull an animal and place it in a random house
just because you pull an animal and place it in a random house doesn't mean you're a great rescuer. I see too many animals go into houses that don't belong there. so many hoarding cases makes me sick. people living in delusional world. if you're not capable and able to mentally, physically and financially care for yourself what makes you think you can do it for animals????this is one of the well cared for cat facts everyone is defending eileen about
this is one of the well cared for cat facts everyone is defending eileen about really..... the cat weighs 4 .7 pounds look at her spine yeah....reason for her medical condition you ask neglect!!!!
Caroline bath video number 2
Caroline bath video number 2
Jerri Berg This cat is starving to death
Jenai Thomsen Jerri Berg Not only is she starving.... the life is literally being sucked out of her by millions of fleas she is two points away from needing a blood transfusion and this cat from the inside of someone's house
Caroline bath video number Four
Caroline bath video number Four
Jenai Thomsen Jerri Berg nearly one year after the last hoarding rescue I did uuuuggghhhh I cant handle anymore they are so sad and with everyone defending this behavior these hoarding incidents wont stop so sad
Eileen: Sign Over Custody of the Cats Immediately
March 22, 2014 at 3:52am
On January 12, I learned that Eileen Edgecomb, who lived in Dunedin, Pinellas County, FL and had also helped save cats from high-kill shelter HCAS in Hillsborough County, had been reported to animal control, and urgent placement was needed for her cats. I joined this Facebook group:
The description given was that the 60+ cats were well cared for, and I also saw local-area people whom I knew in the group, in support of Eileen. I believed this was a case of a rescuer/foster who had taken in too many cats from high-kill shelters due to a shortage of places for them. I also believed Eileen had been reported to animal control by her landlord. I added hundreds more rescue contacts to the group and started a petition, with Eileen's encouragement, to try to get more time to place her cats:
I also started speaking with Eileen on the phone, to offer support and help find solutions for many problems. Regarding laws on animal control and tenants' rights, I tried to find potential pro bono attorneys for her to talk to. I explained it would not be a good idea to guess about her situation and that only an attorney could give her legal advice. One of the people I had added to the group was Sheryl McGrath, who had formerly had her own rescue in another state and who soon began trying to coordinate rescue and fundraising efforts.
Some rescues and individuals had already stepped up to take cats, but many more were needed. Our focus was very much on finding homes, rescues, and fosters before the deadline to prevent the cats from being taken by animal control and placed in kill shelter(s).
It began to come out that the situation was not as described. When pictures and brief bios were finally posted, we learned that these cats were not all rescues from high-kill shelters, some were adopted from PetSmart, found on Craigslist, found in the neighborhood, etc. Eileen admitted to me that she had over 100 cats, and that some had been taken away to another location before animal control came. She had lost her job and told me she was working only irregularly and getting about $1000 a month from her parents, who were now declining to help keep the cats from animal control. It was obvious that she could not have the funds to pay for proper vet care for that number of cats. Indeed, she admitted to me that she was sharing antibiotics prescribed for some cats with others without taking them to see the vet, and that not all the vaccinations were up to date. She told me 10 or 11 of her cats had already died. She said one of these had been diagnosed with FIP, and that she had also had calicivirus in her home. She gave these illnesses as reasons for having so many cats, that they were considered unadoptable, and did not admit to any problems in their environment or care.
I had believed that animal control had been called in by her landlord and/or a person who had opened the window on Christmas Eve and let cats out. Eileen now told me that she had been reported to animal control by someone at her vet's office (who she also believed had opened her window). I was also starting to hear from local people that it was known Eileen had too many cats and had refused home inspections. We were continuing urgently to try to fundraise and secure rescue for the cats. I got in touch with Rick Chaboudy of Suncoast Rescue, who had been called by animal control and had visited Eileen's home. His e-mail expressed concerns about the healthiness of the environment. Eileen seemed convinced that Mr. Chaboudy was going to save all her cats and to me seemed to stop seeking other solutions and trying to place every cat. She had a visit set up with Janet Gill to take two cats for evaluation at the Humane Society of Tampa Bay and cancelled on the same day. Eileen would often be unavailable, while the deadline to place the cats or be evicted neared. Sheryl McGrath tried hard to get the needed information to complete the database of all the cats from Eileen, to finish listing them on RescueMe.Org and track their placement. When Mr. Chaboudy was unable to find a storefront to use to evaluate and house the cats, as he had sought, Eileen switched to saying she did not want him involved at all, even to take in small numbers of cats. Much later she agreed to bring him some cats, but I do not know if this ever happened, since the last I heard, he was waiting for her to provide vet records.
Eileen did locate a new home through someone she had contacted on Facebook and gave notice. She acknowledged to me that she understood she could not provide the needed costs of upkeep and medical care for so many cats. People had already chipped in for transport and for medical bills for some of the cats before the fundraiser by Sheryl McGrath was started. After someone else paid for ill cats including Mugsy and Caroline to be treated, Eileen was advised not to return them to the same environment with the others, and to be sure to flea treat all the cats. Money raised through the funding link Sheryl McGrath had set up also went to food and litter for the cats and bug bombs for Eileen's house. Additionally, Eileen had asked for help with moving expenses and to turn on the power at her new place (these were not provided from the funds that were raised for the cats) and had taken money from individuals for things like gas, etc.
Eileen moved the cats out in time to vacate her home by March 1. She took some to her new place, where someone else reported that she, not Eileen, was chiefly caring for them, and took many to an undisclosed location. Eileen did not seem to acknowledge that the emergency continued. She now refused to contact Rick Chaboudy or Janet Gill re placing cats with Suncoast or HTSB; there was interest in the cats she had not followed up; she still planned to keep more than 7 of the cats, including some likely to have significant medical expenses, such as senior Chester, and cats with medical issues Mugsy, Charlie, Henry, and Jenny; and she did not make herself available to complete the record-keeping with Sheryl nor seem to understand that she should be coordinating with other peoples' schedules, not the other way around, to place the cats. In many conversations, I tried to communicate the ongoing urgency of her situation to Eileen. One thing that she did agree to was to allow Mugsy as well as Caroline to go to the person who had paid substantial vet bills for them.
Meanwhile we were learning from people who had taken in Eileen's cats that many were ill (those that were being fostered/rescued by Jenai Thomsen, Barbara Moseder, Orly Anaconinda). In the case of Caroline, a cat that was still with Eileen, she was known to have flea anemia, so it was important that flea control be achieved with ALL the cats. I was increasingly alarmed by Eileen's lack of cooperation in placing the cats as quickly as possible, concerns people had expressed about Eileen's emotional state (four people that I know of said Eileen had talked about harming herself), and the apparent widespread illness among Eileen's cats, with Eileen still not financially stable and not enough funds available to help.
Next, two of Eileen's cats died, about a week apart. I tried very hard to persuade Eileen to get a necropsy each time, urging her that if 10-11 cats had already died and many were proving sick with sometimes undiagnosed illnesses, a necropsy could help save lives. A necropsy did not happen--both times Eileen said she didn't have time to get the body to the vet nor the funds to pay for it.
We also learned when Mugsy and Caroline finally went back to the vet (despite urgency for Mugsy to be seen for URI, Eileen again did not go when urged and also wanted to wait for a vet she liked to be there), that the vets now said they were too sick to be transported and recommended euthanasia for Mugsy. They had declined, not improved, since their previous vet visit. However, Eileen also claimed Mugsy was not in imminent danger of dying, she was taking care of him (including giving him fluids that vets had not prescribed for him and had told adoptive mom were not recommended), and that he was doing fine. She stated Caroline was now going to be adopted by the person who had been intended as foster. (This person later told me that Eileen had NOT, as she had been urged to do, revealed how sick Caroline was.)
At this point, I refused to continue helping Eileen unless I could get a straight story from her vets. Eileen denied permission for me to speak with the vets, but I contacted them anyway and confirmed from the office manager that euthanasia had been recommended for Mugsy. Eileen had just asked for money for bug bombs that week to treat her old place. She then brought Mugsy and Caroline back, presumably from the location where she admitted to me that none of the cats were being quarantined. I also learned that Eileen had been reported to animal control a second time, by her vets, I understand. I followed up on this, first to find out if Pinellas AC would be able to take the cats in Ruskin too if Eileen's cats were seized, or if they would end up at high-kill shelter HCAS (Pinellas confirmed HCAS had been called in for the Ruskin cats), then to find out if the SPCA might be a better option than animal control, and if they would be willing to work with local rescues willing to help save the cats once they were in custody and vetted, and finally with a legal aid for animals organization to learn more about the process and find out if the cats' interests could be protected.
In the conflict over what would happen to Mugsy and Caroline, Eileen stated she would now take over and did not need our help, and started making claims about rescue commitments and medical treatment the cats were supposedly getting, including the claim that they had had flea treatments, and that "none of the cats with the fosters are sick." This was quickly disputed by Jenai Thomsen, who had taken in 7 of Eileen's cats through St. Francis and gave details about how sick they were. Finally, when Eileen stated her only objection was that the cats not be transported until a vet gave permission that they were well enough to travel, I spoke with her on the phone. We worked out the language for a contract signing Caroline and Mugsy over to the fosters, to go to adoptive mom when well enough to fly, I sent it to her by e-mail for her approval, and it was signed by Sheryl, Eileen, and a witness when she dropped off Mugsy and Caroline.
I also told her emphatically that she was endangering the cats by preventing them from getting needed medical care, and that she needed to sign over decision-making for all the cats to other parties, a rescue, Sheryl Mcgrath, someone--Eileen said she knew and agreed to do this. I understand from the person at Eileen's new home in Ruskin that Eileen did verbally give her permission to adopt out the cats at that location, and some were taken into rescue or foster, by Janet Gill, Jill Edgley-Hampton, and Lynn DuBois, but when Eileen finally moved into the Ruskin location, she took back control of the cats. Claims have been made that cats at the "hidden location" have also been placed, but no record-keeping was ever provided for this, although Eileen did continue to seek funds from Sheryl McGrath.
When Mugsy and Caroline were released and taken to the vet, they were found to be in critical condition and suffering from neglect, with fleas and blood from flea bites on their bodies, which clearly would not have been the case if they had been kept in a safe environment and the cats had all been flea-treated. Photographs were taken and have been posted in the HELP Eileen's Pride group and other places; some pictures of Mugsy and one of Caroline are included here. Despite Sheryl McGrath's efforts to save Mugsy, he died on March 18.
Christie Anderson is one of the people who first tried to help Eileen, wanted to take pictures of the cats, and showed up to be a witness when it was feared animal control was coming to take the cats. She recently returned to Eileen's home in Dunedin, which was being gutted for remodel. She took pictures that have been posted on her own page and in the HELP Eileen's Pride group; some have been included below.
Another benefactor paid a considerable sum to have the Ruskin cats tested and vetted. It was important to maintain quarantine and not bring over more cats from the "hidden location." Eileen and the person at the new location who still continued to help care for the cats were asked many times over the past month to provide updated records and photos of the cats to facilitate legitimate rescue. The record-keeping never happened; it is unknown if quarantine was maintained or if the medications were given properly. I was recently told that Eileen had been out of town and that the person helping her claimed not to have a key. Eileen again cancelled two rescue efforts, one by Sheryl McGrath to drive from Pasco to Ruskin to evaluate the cats, and one from Janet Gill, who wanted to evaluate and pick out two more cats for HSTB according to their criteria. After Eileen cancelled the visit from Sheryl, there was another demand for money for food for the cats, and after the timing for the visit with Janet did not work out, Eileen told her not to come back, period. Eileen now says the ONLY person she trusts to take her cats is Jill Edgeley-Hampton, who does not have room for any more. It is obvious that the legitimate rescue process is at a standstill. The only thing Eileen could now do that might get the cats into rescue is immediately sign over decision-making for the cats to Jill or another rescuer and then grant complete access to the Ruskin cats.
Eileen has had over two months to benefit from the goodwill and massive efforts made to help her. She needed to treat her situation as the self-caused emergency that it is. Thousands of dollars of other people's money have been spent trying to help clean up her mess. It is obvious Eileen cannot provide the medical care and food needed for these cats, and in my opinion, she has amply demonstrated her unfitness to make decisions on their behalf. The fund-raising has stopped, and many people who have tried to help her are exhausted, fed up, have been very badly impacted by their involvement in this case, and have no more time to give Eileen. We are terribly concerned that the hidden cats are being kept in the same conditions evidenced by the pictures taken of Mugsy and Caroline and of the location where Eileen lived with over 100 cats.
It is far past time for Eileen to relinquish all control of these cats, both the Ruskin cats and those at the hidden location, to a legitimate rescue. She should immediately sign a contract surrendering all the cats and reveal where the hidden cats are.
Eileen’s cats
Inside Eileen’s House
