A total of 44 cats were removed Saturday at a home in Mahanoy Township.

Employees of Hillside SPCA, humane officers, township code officer Bonnie Whah, and those interested in animal welfare removed the cats after Whah received a call Thursday, Rick Merwine, humane police officer with Hillside SPCA said Sunday.

“The conditions as soon as we got in the house were horrific,” he said, adding the smell of urine permeated the air and feces was visible.

Merwine said he saw three litter boxes, some bowls of food and one bowl of water.

“We took all 44 cats back to Hillside,” he said.

The Ruth Steinert Memorial SPCA in Pine Grove agreed to accept 14 of the cats, which Merwine transported Saturday.

He estimated the cats ranged in age from 10 months to 5 or 6 years old. The physical conditions of the cats varied in severity.

“Two of them were severely matted,” he said.

The cats, which didn’t appear underweight, also had fleas, needed nails trimmed and dental work. One of the cats appeared to have a problem with its eye, Merwine said.

The cats will receive rabies shots, be treated for fleas, dewormed and be tested for feline leukemia, he said.

Initial visit

Merwine said Kristin Beers with Save the Strays and Whah went to the house Thursday but no one was home at the time. The owners showed up later, but Merwine does not know if Beers and Whah spoke to them.

Merwine contacted Mahanoy Township Police Chief Brandon Alexander and Whah, who later along with Merwine visited the home Friday.

Merwine asked the owners, whom he declined to name, how many cats they had, which he said they estimated at 30. Since they were unable to transport them, Merwine said they would return for the cats they agreed to surrender.

When Merwine, Hillside humane officer Michaela Royer, Whah, Beers and Rebecca Moyer, a volunteer with Save the Strays, returned, additional cats were found.

Of the 44 cats surrendered, 39 were on the first floor and five on the second, Merwine said. He estimated it took between 2½ to 3 hours to catch the cats, although some of them were in cages when they arrived.

Merwine said the owners told him the five on the second floor, which lived upstairs with them, were theirs since they were born. Those found on the first floor were ones they tried to help.

“They just kept bringing cats in,” he said.

While the couple might have had their hearts in the right place, their generosity spiraled out of control.

“If pets are spayed and neutered, this would not have happened,” Merwine said.

He said pending charges would be for neglect of veterinary care, which would depend on all veterinary reports and conditions of the cats.