Luvskats, Mary, and Dennis:

Thank you for your compassionate and informed responses.  I have been
in contact with the relative today and had a glimmer of hope from her
when she said she'll "consider" going for counseling.  And Crisis
Management has agreed to make a home visit and *try*--try--to gain
access to the interior, to check up on the animals.

From the animals' point of view, volitional counseling (as opposed to
court ordered) makes all the difference in the world, as--something
you've pointed out--legal incompetence of whatever sort makes the
state legally liable for matters that may strike the mentally ill as
extraneous; but animal neglect or endangerment is a crime in my state
(Pennsylvania).

Everyone who reads this post tonight, please pray to whatever God or
Divine Being you believe in to convince my relative not only is she
not alone in the world, she is the *mother* to nearly twenty helpless
beings whose welfare depends upon her willingness just to admit she is
in need of sobriety and mental health help.

I will keep the group posted on the progress of this horrible horrible
situation.  Whatever your sorrows tonight, thank God you do not have
to deal with the the combined burden of an infantile addicted human
and animals who by their nature will always be our mutual infants.