Coparenting with an animal hoarder
I believe my child’s dad is an animal hoarder. Maybe not to an extreme level. When I met him he had only 8 dogs. He said he was fostering 4 of them. That turned out to be a lie. Since then, at one point he had 15 dogs (I think down to 7-9 now), 2 cats, Chinchillas (possibly passed now), baby bunny from the yard, Turtles, Fish., Now chickens and a pig.
My child came home and said when the dogs are “bad” they are put in a kennel outside where they pee and poop in the kennel and are only let out to eat. They neglect and mistreat these dogs and animals and just continue to get more.
I have not actually seen this kennel because drop offs are at a public meet up.
I addressed the situation with my child and said that kind of behavior towards animals is not okay. But I’m at a loss of what to do about this situation. If I call animal control I worry they will know it was me and it will result in backlash towards my child. But I also don’t know how to address this situation with my child, but I don’t want them to grow up thinking this behavior/neglect towards animals is okay.
Posted Aug 12, 2026, 3:31 AM UTC