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Solo takes a double dose of Xanax (alprazolam) for his nerves during the 4 July festivities in the United States. That is in addition to the antidepressant, fluoxetine or amitriptyline, that the 11-year-old border collie takes year-round. Fireworks just set him off, as do thunderclaps, gunshots — practically any explosive sounds — sending him into nervous fits. Panting and drooling with eyes dilated, he desperately searches for a place to hide. If another dog is nearby, he might attack. "It's called anxiety redirection," says Melanie Chang, Solo's owner and an evolutionary biologist at the University of Oregon in Eugene.

As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, San Francisco, Chang helped to collect hundreds of border-collie DNA samples, including Solo's, as part of a project studying the genes for noise phobia. She estimates that at least 50% of collies suffer from it, with 10% severely affected, sometimes injuring themselves or others in response to loud noises. Steven Hamilton, a psychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, who runs the project, says that he sees parallels between the dogs' panic and human anxiety. And the same drugs work in about the same proportion of cases...

Earlier this year, ASPCA Humane Law Enforcement Agents arrived at a New York City apartment to find that dozens of cats and kittens had overtaken the small space. The cats were severely malnourished, and many suffered from upper respiratory disease. There were no litter boxes, and the floor was covered in several inches of feces and urine. Living among the filth and debris was an 85-year-old woman suffering from dementia—she had been hoarding animals for years.

Animal hoarding is a complex and intricate social issue with far-reaching effects that encompass mental health, animal welfare and public safety concerns. Victims can include cats, dogs, reptiles, rodents, birds, exotics and even farm animals. While it’s not clear why people become animal hoarders, current research suggests the cause is often attachment disorder in conjunction with personality disorders, paranoia, dementia, depression and other mental illness. The hoarder does not intend to inflict harm on animals, and in most cases, the hoarder can no longer take care of himself, much less multiple animals.

"We often see that animal hoarders have experienced some traumatic event or loss in their lives," says Fiona Knight, Cruelty Intervention Advocacy Manager at the ASPCA....