Officials find 24 cats living in ‘dire situation’

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2002 | 10:34 a.m.

Good intentions might be to blame for the squalid conditions in which a Las Vegas woman was keeping 24 cats, officials from the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said.

The SPCA received a call from the woman Tuesday, saying she was being evicted from her apartment on the 4500 block of Paradise Road and that she could no longer care for the animals.

When feline specialists from the SPCA reached the woman's home, they were not prepared for what they saw, said Doug Duke, director for the Nevada SPCA.

Duke described the air as "unbreathable" and said the floor was covered in garbage and the walls were smeared with feces.

"It was worse than we imagined," Duke said. "We were thinking it wouldn't be such a dire situation."

SPCA officials wouldn't release the woman's name and age until they decided whether or not to pursue criminal charges for animal cruelty. No other details on the woman were available this morning.

Many owners who keep their pets in similar conditions are known within the SPCA as "collectors," meaning they take in animals indiscriminately and often find they've taken on too much.

Often, it is because of a fundamental disagreement with euthanasia in any form, Duke said, although he could not specify why this woman would have taken in so many cats.

"Sometimes a good-hearted person just gets over their head and everything starts to drop," Duke said.

For SPCA animal specialist Kim Schultz, what she saw Tuesday surpasses anything she has seen in her job. Until Tuesday, the worst she had ever seen was 27 puppies in a trailer home.

"The conditions were so horrid you couldn't even walk through," Schultz said. "The cats did whatever they could with whatever they could find."

SPCA officials have not decided how to approach the case, but have not ruled out involving law enforcement authorities, Duke said. So far, no charges have been filed.

Animal specialist Raquel Boyd, who was also at the scene Tuesday, and said the woman's story has changed since she first called. At first, she was only able to say a friend left the animals before leaving for California. Later, however, she was able to give names and birth dates for all the animals, indicating she had had them for a while.

"This is somebody who's been collecting cats," she said.

Such discoveries are rare, Duke said, recalling only a handful of cases involving collectors in the past year.

However, he did say that the group would make sure she did not take in any more animals.

"We will take steps to make sure she doesn't have cats in the future," Duke said.

The cats are currently being evaluated by SPCA staff and are being fed regular cat food. An official course of treatment will be determined once the cats have been examined by a veterinarian today.

One of the two dozen cats is in the late stages of pregnancy, which concerns the staff, Duke said. Because of malnourishment, the kittens may be deformed, he said.

"If we had been there just 24 hours later, it could've been a real tragedy," he said. "Hopefully it's not too late."

The SPCA is a no-kill facility, he said, and is currently at full capacity. However, veterinarians at the facility with euthanize animals if it is deemed humane.

To deal with the added load, the SPCA urgently needs cat beds, wet cat food, blankets, towels, washcloths, towels and toys, Duke said.

To contact the SPCA, call 873-7722 or visit www.nvspca.org