KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Animal Control officers returned Wednesday to the apartments where on Monday they rescued 69 cats from an extreme hoarding situation. However, the ammonia in the cat urine was still so overwhelming that the air was tested and deemed unsafe.
The ammonia level at the apartments near 82nd Terr. and N. Everton was more than twice the limit allowed for animal control officers to enter. So, firefighters were called in. They suited up in full gear, wore oxygen tanks and ventilated the apartments for Animal Control.
Before they left the apartment on Monday, Animal Control officers set traps to try to catch other cats left behind. When they returned on Wednesday, all the traps were empty. They say the owner left bags of food scattered, so the cats did not get tempted by the traps.
They did rescue one more cat on Wednesday, bringing the total number of rescued cats to 70. They also found five cats dead inside the house, while two died at the vet.
Animal Control says it will be back from time to time to look for more cats.
The 52-year-old woman who rented the apartments said she started with only a few cats, but it soon got out of control. She has been cited for six violations, including failure to provide adequate food and water for the cats. Authorities said the woman hadn’t lived in the apartment for a year, but kept the two apartments for the cats.
Most of the cats were taken to the Kansas City Pet Project. They are evaluating the cats and determining their health problems.
“A lot of them have upper respiratory issues that comes along with having a lot of cats in one area and they all have fleas pretty bad,” said Tori Fugate, with the K.C. Pet Project. “They have a lot of scabs all over their bodies from itching and things like that from having fleas so lot of hair loss. Ear mites, we have one cat that almost itched his ear off because he has such bad ear mites, so they are in pretty bad shape some of them.”
