[music playing]
[birds chirping]
I'm Vula.
I'm 72 years old.
I was a housewife, and I've raised two sons.
David is my oldest son, and 9 years later I had Steven.
When the kids were young, I was, what I would call, normal.
I did the laundry, and we cooked meals.
But I've never really been real fond of housework.
[laughter]
It's not my big thing.
[music playing]
I'm David, and I'm 53 years old, and I am Vula's son.
My mom's house is deplorable.
It's just filled from the floor to the ceiling.
There's cat feces everywhere.
The stench is-- will make you gag
the second you walk into it.
It's just sickening to your stomach
to think that she's capable of living in those conditions.
[music playing]
VULA: Truthfully, as long as I'm able to function in there,
whether or not the living room is crowded
shouldn't really bother the city.
I'm Stevie.
I'm 44, and I'm Vula's son.
I hate that she lives in a really horrible situation.
It's overwhelmed with cats, and she hurt her arm
a couple of years ago when she took a bad fall
and shattered her elbow, and it's
hindered her in being able to take
care of herself and the cats.
I'm Sonny.
I'm 70 years old, and I'm the Vula's brother.
If you say you love an animal and you have one or two,
you hold them, you pet them, you have a relationship with them.
When you have 20 of them in there
and they're crawling all over everything,
I don't see how you can have a relationship
with that many cats.
I just don't see it.
You'd have to be a cat lover to understand it.
They're on your lap.
They're on your leg.
I've got a recliner, so they start at my ankles,
and they work themselves up.
And then there'll be somebody here and then--
and then one of them will want to get under your chin.
As far, are the cats suffering right now?
I don't think so.
They all seem to be doing fine.
I've been trying for years to get her to stop
doing the things that she does.
Well, Sunny is critical.
Sunny, on a good day, is always wants
to kind of tell you what to do.
[clutter falling]
Her cats and her buying is her whole life.
OK, home away from home.
I could go to Goodwill every day of the week.
And every day of the week it's different.
I'm not quivering, but this is one I've never seen before.
DAVID: She's always looking for that bargain.
That's kind of interesting.
DAVID: If she finds the bargain, that's her high.
I don't know.
Let me, uh-- it's the chase.
It's the going and the anticipation of finding it.
This is where I find the things for the kids.
DAVID: And then she tries to, oh, well, I found this for you.
Let me give this to you.
I've already got a couple.
Uh, would you like it?
That's where I have trouble because I'm
trying to do something nice, and it's rejected.
It's like a slap in the face.
DAVID: After so many times of her giving something to you
that you don't want, didn't ask for,
don't need, then that's where the problem
as far as the relationships go.
VULA: My relationship with David is strained to a degree
that I feel like, I guess, he loves me,
but I don't think he understands me at all.
DAVID: If my mom was to refuse the house being cleaned up, I--
I suppose she'll have to go live in a motel
because she would not be welcome to come live with me.
[music playing]
Good morning
(IN UNISON) Good morning.
My name is Matt Paxton.
I'm an extreme cleaning specialist.
We have a lot of work to do, but before we even get started.
We've got to get all the cats out of the house.
OK.
This is going to be a totally different
cleanup than we're used to.
You've got two factors.
You've got infectious waste, and you've got a bunch of cats.
We got our animal handlers here, and they're going to walk us
through what we're going to do.
I'm Heather Ferguson.
I'm with Animal Protection of New Mexico.
This is Dr. Patricia Feeser.
She Is a forensic veterinarian who will
be doing the assessments today.
And this is investigator Robin [inaudible]
We're going to go room by room, and we're
going to make sure that we very carefully and compassionately
remove each cat from your home so that it can
be assessed by a veterinarian.
Are you comfortable with our team?
You know that-- VULA: Yeah.
--we're going to trust and do everything
we can to make sure your cats are well taken care of.
OK.
All right, let's do it.
VULA: OK.
[music playing]
This is the worst hoard I've ever seen.
Have you seen anything worse than this?
No, I've never seen nothing like this.
It's unbelievable.
There's not a single clean surface in this house.
This is a bad one.
We even have to have a decontamination station
for the first time ever.
[music playing]
I think that we're just going to have to be really, really safe.
[glass breaking]
He's blind.
He can't see what he's stepping on.
We're going to get him treated right away.
Oh, guys, there's a whole bunch of them in here,
and a really sick one sitting here on the chair.
It's OK.
Yeah, he's in real bad shape though.
I think that this little guy is going
to be our next urgent care.
He's definitely not doing well.
Normally, cats will run and hide when
strangers come into the home.
These cats were so ill that they really didn't move.
They just sat right exactly where they were.
And you can see how he's got--
that eye has a lot of mucus in there and is half closed.
So we immediately got them caged and brought them out for triage
with the veterinarian.
[music playing]
Hi, gorgeous.
Let's load these guys in the air conditioned van.
[music playing]
Yeah, I got some live kittens.
We were in the back bedroom, and we heard noises.
When we lifted the mattress, what we found
was a mama and six newborn kittens.
They are probably less than a day old.
The only way those kittens were going
to survive the next 24 hours is the fact that we found them.
When we are able to save a life, and we
are able to get an animal out of a situation
before they get sick, it doesn't get any better than that.
Hey, sweet peas.
[music playing]
Man.
This is guts.
That's its guts.
Ugh.
This house, man, it just gets worse and worse.
Let me get a bucket.
You know, you see this, and you just want to get angry.
And you can't get angry.
This-- this is a pile of sadness.
[music playing]
Excuse me.
Hey, wait a minute.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
God darn it.
I want to see that.
I'm sorry.
What's going on, Vula?
I want those.
I'm sorry.
We're going to have class right now.
That's fine.
But this is all trash.
It's not either.
This is all contaminated.
No, it's not.
Yes, it is.
This is unhealthy.
It has to be burned.
I can't even throw--
I'm not allowed to throw this at the dump.
This has to go be fired up and burned.
She's a professional hoarder.
She's awesome at this.
She can avoid and deny anything.
So you have to get very direct.
This is a fact-- it's a medical fact that this stuff is
contaminated.
It's bull [bleep].
MATT PAXTON: Vula--
VULA: I'm sorry.
MATT PAXTON: --cats are dying in that house
because they're so unhappy.
VULA: Oh, they're not dying.
I'm not dead.
MATT PAXTON: I got a bag of dead cats already.
These are porcelain plates.
They could be washed.
MATT PAXTON: Well, if it's in the house, it's contaminated.
Well then--
MATT PAXTON: Anything on the front porch--
--why don't we set fire to the damn house?
Pull up the carpet.
The carpet needs to go.
How the hell am I going to get to your carpet?
There's 400 bags of this [bleep] on top of it.
VULA: There's not a damn thing wrong.
They could be taken out of the bag, they could be washed.
MATT PAXTON: Vula-- - You don't have to wash them.
I'll wash them.
MATT PAXTON: This is where I said to you, things
that you want are going to get thrown away.
VULA: Well, [bleep] you.
Go ahead and take it. MATT PAXTON: You know what?
VULA: But [bleep] you because right now--
MATT PAXTON: I would-- VULA: --right now
Mom--
MATT PAXTON: You better respect me.
Mom--
MATT PAXTON: Do you hear me--
VULA: That is not-- MATT PAXTON: --Vula?
VULA: --what I was promised. - Look--
VULA: Just leave me alone.
Don't--
VULA: Leave me alone, Sonny.
DR. CHABAUD: Hold on.
I am Dr. Chabaud.
I'm a clinical psychologist who specializes
in OCD and compulsive hoarding.
You're in a position now that if this place--
we don't address this place right now,
you're probably going to just be pulled out of your house.
I don't give a damn.
But I don't want my entire life ripped out
and put in a garbage bag when it doesn't have to be.
It's-- it's not--
it's not-- MATT PAXTON: It sucks.
It's not-- MATT PAXTON: It sucks.
--garbage.
STEVE: OK, Mom.
And-- and-- an--
[vula crying]
DR. CHABAUD: I know it's not garbage.
STEVE: We have to let them help you,
Mom, because if they don't--
VULA: All right, Steve.
MATT PAXTON: She's not [inaudible]
[music playing]
Her hair coat's a little sparse.
I did see fleas on her.
So far, the veterinarians that have done their assessment do
believe that most of these cats are going to be adoptable.
Although, they will require medical treatment.
[cat meows]
[music playing]
We have a lot of deadlines today.
We lose our cleaning help at 3:00 PM,
and then we have an inspector coming at 4:00 PM.
So we, basically-- we have six hours to get
whatever we can get done done.
[music playing]
Cat hair and poop, man.
We're down to the business now.
[music playing]
Trying to get a free breath of air, man.
This is very overwhelming.
Just horrible.
I can't hardly stand the smell of it.
[music playing]
Today, at least, three or four of the rooms
have been cleaned out, and they are clutter free, box free.
They're still filthy.
It's been a tough week emotionally.
Cat hair.
Kind of disappointed not more was done.
I've inspected your house, and good news and some bad.
We still have some unsafe conditions
with the animal feces and some unsafe material
inside that has to be removed.
VULA: OK.
The good news is the structure is good and sound.
The floor assembly is good.
I don't see any evidence of water damage,
but I still have to condemn the property
and not allow you to live in it.
[music playing]
This is a very painful situation
for people who love her.
Some have given up.
DAVID: At this time, I believe she's going to probably
end up in a shelter for--
local womens' shelter.
There's just been too much animosity
right now that I don't want her to come to my house.
Some try to get closer.
STEVE: Well, I try my best to be there for my mother.
I'll do what I can to keep her alive for many years to come.
Thank you.
But nobody can fix her.
SONNY: I'm not sure whether she's willing to admit
that she has a problem.
DR. CHABAUD: But she is a long way from getting well.
I have no sense that she is really
going to recover from this illness of compulsive hoarding.
[music playing]