"Please, ignore the mess..."

This is one of the phrases I hear most from new clients, old clients, perspective clients. These words more often than not come out of the mouths of those with absolutely spotless homes, clean in a way that my own family will never ever see. Even if there is clutter, unwashed dishes or the like, I REALLY DON"T NOTICE. Seriously.

When I go on a visit, my gaze reaches as high as the tippy top of a pup's head, rarely any higher than that. Of course, I peek around to make sure that there have been no chewing incidents, and my nose is super sensitive to smells b/c I'm on "accident alert", but otherwise there could be a dead body simmering on the counter in a gigantic crock pot and I wouldn't notice...unless it smelled...and it probably would...I digress.

There was a time, however, that I noticed, and big time, and the result has me in a moral quandary at the moment: this is how the story goes...

A couple of years ago, I went to the home of a potential new client who needed care for his several cats (3) and dogs (2) while he and his wife went overseas. He was leaving the following day - the relative that was to care for his brood backed out at the last moment, and he was in a bind. On the phone, he sounded nice enough, was in my coverage area, and we had a slot available, so no problem...or so I thought.

When I arrived at his home, I wasn't allowed to view the full lay of the land. "We're in the process of moving some things around" he said. "It will all be in order before we leave". So we stayed in the dining room. He described to me where the food dishes were (in the kitchen), where the litter boxes were (in the basement). He brought all of the cats to me...and the dogs were super friendly, introducing themselves when I walked in the door.

For a moment, I thought the situation was a bit odd, but I chalked it up to last minute travel stressors and packing hell. I've experienced both and I know it can be rough. So, I didn't press to actually SEE the litter boxes and SEE the food set-up in the kitchen. To coin a phrase "Big mistake...huge".

The next afternoon when I let myself in, I saw what was BEYOND the dining room...a really awful, hoarding hot-mess. Think along the lines of one of those "Hoarding, Buried Alive" episodes on A&E. Seriously.

There were piles of stuff, instruments, papers, clothing. Half eaten burgers and chalupas (or they could have been tacos) that must have been days old...empty soda bottles and moldy, crusty pots & pans in the kitchen. The litter boxes were, indeed, in the basement, but none of the three cats apparently used them, EVER, preferring an upstairs bedroom floor as their personal potty. And that bedroom floor/personal potty had not been cleaned out in eons, if in their lifetime.

The cats scattered and hid when I walked in the door, and as is my policy, I needed to make some contact with them each visit, even if they didn't want me to love on them or play. Of course, they always would hide over and beyond a pile of god knows what, that smelled like heck. I dug through mounds of food containers and shoes, records (yes, lp's) and coupon fliers to try to get a pat or two in.

The pups were ALWAYS happy to see me! So loving and so eager to go on their walkies. They didn't seem to mind the extreme confinement they lived in, and didn't bother the food that was left out (and had been for some time) in various parts of the home.

That first visit, I returned to my car, nabbed a pair of latex gloves that I had in my first aid kit, and carefully removed anything I thought might hurt them if ingested or played with.

The next visit, I brought my good friend Diane along, as a witness, and as a judge to help me decide if the animals were in danger and needed to be removed from the home. I was too shell shocked to trust my own judgement.

The third visit, I concentrated of spending as much time as I could with the pups outdoors, giving them fresh air and relief from their surroundings. I tried to catch the cats and put leashes on them, but you can imagine how well that went.

Each subsequent visit, I tried to make the home that much better, SAFER for the clan. I have a policy to respect an owner's surroundings, and not move or touch anything that I don't have to...yet, I couldn't seem to find the line on where to stop. Moving a pile of plastic bags/old cupcakes/crushed Christmas ornaments to get to a cat would expose a ball of grayish matter that could or could not be potentially toxic, so out it went with the trash...and so on and so on.

The end of the series of visits was around the corner, and I hadn't made a decision on whether or not to call the authorities and alert them to this "hoard-ish" situation. Finally, I decided to let it go. The pups and kitties, although living in a really tough environment, seemed healthy and happy. The owners left them more than ample amount of good quality food. They were up on their vaccinations, had no outstanding health issues that I could see. Lastly, would they end up in an even worse spot if they were removed by the county, possibly even euthanized?

Years have passed and whenever a client says "ignore the mess", my mind shoots back to that home. I think to myself "you have NO IDEA".

Today, I got a call from the owner of the above described "hoarding home" - he needs last minute services, again. On the one hand, the last thing I want to do on a weekend where Dee's Dogwalking is already booked to the gills is spend time in that environment - much less ask a superstar associate to do so. On the other hand, I desperately want to make sure that the situation hasn't gotten any worse, and that the pups still are happy, healthy, well fed and groomed - same with the kittens.

So, this is the dilemma that is ruminating through my brain today....not a ton of time to decide. Put on my hip waders, plastic gloves and dive in, or politely take a pass???