Household Full of Neglected Animals

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Ohio.

Does having too many animals constitute an unsafe home and/or neglect?

There is a gentleman I know who has three cats, all unaltered, and a dog, also unaltered.

The dog is either crated or else left outside in the fenced backyard most of the time.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the cats had a litter of seven kittens. The kittens have not yet been weaned.

Then, just in the past couple of days, another of the cats had kittens...a litter of five.

This makes a total of one dog and fifteen cats.

The house reeks of cat urine.

Am I obligated to report this? And if so, to whom? What are the possible consequences?

The gentleman in question has two children. One 12 year old and one 6 year old. Mother is not present in the home.

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Does having too many animals constitute an unsafe home and/or neglect?

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it could or it may not. There are many other issues involved to be able to say yes or no from that simple fact.

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Am I obligated to report this?

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are you a mandated reporter? If not, you are not obligated to report anything to anybody.

If you believe there is a valid issue, child protective services or whatever name they use in Ohio is the people to contact.

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Quoting ConcernedmomofOne

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My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Ohio.

Does having too many animals constitute an unsafe home and/or neglect?

There is a gentleman I know who has three cats, all unaltered, and a dog, also unaltered.

The dog is either crated or else left outside in the fenced backyard most of the time.

A couple of weeks ago, one of the cats had a litter of seven kittens. The kittens have not yet been weaned.

Then, just in the past couple of days, another of the cats had kittens...a litter of five.

This makes a total of one dog and fifteen cats.

The house reeks of cat urine.

Am I obligated to report this? And if so, to whom? What are the possible consequences?

The gentleman in question has two children. One 12 year old and one 6 year old. Mother is not present in the home.

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Your definition of "reeks of cat urine" may not be the same as someone else's. It also may be simply that its time to clean the litter box. Also, kittens and puppies generally do not count as "pets" unless they are kept after they are weaned.

So, the gentleman has 3 cats and one dog. That is unlikely to be too many pets under your city's ordinances.

In what fashion do you imagine that possession of a number of pets - some undoubtedly for only a couple months until they are weaned - is indicative of the children being neglected?

Are the children properly fed? Clad in weather appropriate clothing? In good physical condition?

If the gentleman in question were fostering those litters of kittens for the Humane Society, would you still be thinking about calling CPS? If not, why not?

Unless those kids are being ACTUALLY NEGLECTED, you mind your own business. CPS is already overburdened.

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So, the gentleman has 3 cats and one dog. That is unlikely to be too many pets under your city's ordinances.

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I have two cats, two dogs, two hamsters, a rabbit, a chameleon, a couple of hermit crabs, and a 35 gallon aquarium. I'm hard pressed to call that"too many"!

I second the "mind your own business" response.

You apparently have too much time on your hands.