SPCA rescues 34 cats from home
Officials say animals were living in filth at Bucks County house.
The Bucks County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is asking for donations to save the lives of 34 cats, many of them sick, that were rescued Thursday from what officials there called filthy conditions in a Tinicum Township home.
The floor in some parts of the home were layered with excrement and the cats had no usable litter boxes, SPCA spokeswoman Cindy Kelly said.
Initial exams, she said, showed some of the cats have skin issues, poor teeth and upper respiratory infections. Many still need to be spayed and neutered.
Kelly said no charges are being filed because the owners were cooperative. Township police notified the SPCA after a visit to the property.
Nikki Thompson, the SPCA's chief humane police officer, called the unsanitary conditions “typical” of hoarding situations.
She said the owners, an older couple, really love the cats and understood that the situation had gotten beyond their ability to care for the animals.
“They got over their heads and welcomed the help,” Thompson said, saying the numbers likely grew from the couple taking in strays.
The cats range in age from just a few weeks old to 16 years old.
With such a large number of sick felines to treat at once, the organization is seeking donations to help pay for surgeries and other treatment. Donations can be made online at bcspca.org, by phone at 215-794-7425, or at SPCA shelters in Lahaska and Quakertown.
It will take some time, Kelly said, to get the animals ready for adoption. But people can help by adopting other cats, she said, as the SPCA shelters are filled beyond capacity.
The SPCA in Bucks currently cares for 146 cats — 123 in shelters and 23 in the care of trained foster volunteers.
The rescue comes about a year after the Bucks County SPCA took in 31 cats, some of whom were pregnant, that had been living in squalor in a Bristol Township home. Last month, the last of those 40 cats were adopted, Kelly said.
In that case, charges were filed and a couple pleaded guilty to animal cruelty and were sentenced to probation, she said.