A Look into the Lives of Animal Hoarders

INSIDE EDITION looks at the shocking phenomenon of animal hoarding that experts say can be found in nearly every town in the country.

It's an incredible sight.  A house filled with cats, everywhere you turn there's a cat!

It's a scene from the new Animal Planet series called Confessions: Animal Hoarding, a show that looks at extreme cases of animal hoarding and tries to help the pet owners clean up the mess.

One woman, Bonnie, has seven dogs and she never lets them go outside.  She actually allows them to use the living room and her bedroom as one giant lawn.  The stench is overwhelming.

One of the worst cases of animal hoarding we've come across took place at a three million dollar mansion in the ritzy town of Saddle River, New Jersey in 2007.  One hundred and twenty cats and dogs were found living here.  It was so bad that the whole place had to be gutted.

On the Animal Planet series, which airs Wednesdays, animal control officers in haz-mat suits are called in to rescue the cats.  The animals are taken away to a shelter and the home is cleaned.

Bonnie is persuaded to let her dogs outside and her home is also cleaned.  Hopefully her animal hoarding days are over.