KANSAS CITY, Mo. – About 75 cats are now safely at an Kansas City animal shelter after being rescued from what animal control officers are calling one of the worst cases of animal hoarding they have ever seen.
RELATED: Animal control officers remove nearly 100 cats and kittens from area residence
The owner of the cats will face charges in municipal court as a result of the hoarding situation.
The 52-year-old woman has been cited for six violations stemming from this animal hoarding case including failure to provide adequate food and water, and several charges having to do with the condition in which the animals were forced to live.
On Tuesday most of the cats had been brought to the Kansas City Pet Project, safe and sound.
Animal control officers had to put on coveralls before going in to what used to be the woman’s apartments. Authorities say she hasn’t lived there in a year, but kept the two apartments just for her cats, which authorities found living with little water, feces all over the floor and cat food scattered about.
The woman, who is now staying with a friend, would not go on camera, but said, “I am relieved the cats are in a better place and I appreciate the shelters work and everyone’s donations that are helping do what I couldn’t.”
She says she suffers from a sickness for which she is seeking help. This “mess” as she called it was a result of an OCD disorder which she says got out of hand.
The people with the K.C. Pet Project are evaluating the cats, and finding all sorts of 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.”
Animal control officers set traps for the 10 to 15 cats they believe may still be in those apartments. They are going back on Wednesday to try and rescue the rest.
The K.C. Pet project is now offering cat adoptions for just $25 to help make room for the overflow. CLICK HERE for more information.
