Thanks for your reply. To be clear eviction is based on the ruined house, hoarding cleaning, and water bills to the tune of $18k not to the cat's treatment. The treatment of house broke rental agreement but she acknowledges she was wrong, says it will never happen again, and that she literally has no where else to go. And I do not want to evict her and put one more person or the cat on the street. I want her to be able to take responsibility for her life and succeed.
Cat care issue is separate animal protection and care. No animal should be abused or neglected and I know she loves the cat and Vice versa. She has been given access to free vet advice to hopefully improve the cat's health. It had a major impact on unhealthy conditions in house- smell, 6 large, overflowing, hardened litter boxes, and diarrhea, urine, vomit and wet cat food everywhere under all the other trash. So far she unfortunately has not followed it and the cat continues to be ill.
Nonetheless your suggestion on positive reinforcement support is very much welcomed. I need all the help I can get. The conditions she has for staying are standard basic legal rental agreement conditions about caring for the property. The other things she and I have discussed are suggestions to help her recover, like hoarding support group and counseling and care for the cat.
I appreciate your reply. I am still trying to recover from the trauma of discovering the disaster last month and find ways to support her in reestablishing healthy structure in her life and the cat's, while keeping some boundaries to take care of myself. I live 50 minutes away and have had to take weeks off to get the house habitable again. Thankfully I have a very supportive employer, family and friends and so does she, including her landlord. Thank you!
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