Excess cats

Every so often there seems to me that there may be a gene expressed by those with strange ideas as to cats. Molly Brennan loved cats but she did not want to spend a dime on one of her charges for medical reasons. None of the collection that seemed to be ever growing was altered resulting in finding homes for kittens. She had advertised free kittens until the market was saturated and then she told me she had found the answer to her surplus. She offered free kittens with a case of cat food. She was so proud of her solution for a year after which she came to me crying. People would come and adopt a kitten with the cat food and leave with prolific thanks and drive away from her cattery and drop the kitten off. I had no solution to that situation. Then one day she came by to tell me she had found the solution and had placed all her kittens born for the last months. She snipped off the tails of the newborn kittens and advertised free bobtail kittens. Another woman with a different sort of cat problem collected every cat she could catch around the city in her wanderings. She assumed a cat loose in the city was unwanted so she would attempt to catch it and take it home. Her inventory of adult cats grew and every stray was presented for neutering. I assumed she was paying for the surgery for those unable to afford it.
One day she came by to ask me for my opinion of a problem she was having with the IRS. It seemed she owed money on her income tax. She explained that the cost of feeding all her cats took all of her money and there was nothing left for paying taxes. Somehow that was not a sufficient reason for the IRS so she said she told the IRS man she would bring all her cats down and release them in the IRS office and they could pay for the food and then she could pay her taxes. There was a write up in the paper about someone in the city with a problem. It seems the odor in one neighborhood was so bad that everyone had to keep their windows closed in the heat of summer to keep the smells out. It was my client who was accused of the stench. It seemed she had had a cat-proof fencing installed around her small lot behind her house that was a kitty litter area for her cats. I don't know what happened to my client but the health department condemned the house and lot and the city had the job of disposing of over 100 cats.
A somewhat similar case concerned an immigrant from Russia who lived in a neighboring town. She was a caring educated, interesting client with the cat disease of overdoing it. She brought cat after cat in for altering until one day she confided in me that her husband had told her either the cats would have to go or he would go. She told me she helped him pack his bags. Six months or so later she came in crying. She had been invited to go out for a ride and while she was away the City came into her house and took all of her cats and condemned the place. She was moving to the West coast and wanted to thank me for helping her with her cats over the years.
Those are only a sampling of such cases and the question comes to mind, what makes so may reasonable appearing people be so unreasonable?