Our Animal Control officers responded to a call about dead cats inside a home in Elkhart. When we arrived, we were shocked to find around 60 living cats inside a garage and abandoned home.
Our officers removed 24 cats on Friday and an additional 13 on Saturday. 30 – 40 more cats still remain and for the next week, we will be spending most of our time on the property trapping more.
The house and garage are in very bad living conditions. Our staff could barely walk through the house without falling and we were very worried about their health as the house and garage was littered with rotting trash, cat feces and even human urine. As the staff continued to wade through the trash, cats were running by them in groups.
“It’s the most disgusting place I’ve ever been in in my life,” said Teri Klingler, staff member with the Humane Society of Elkhart County.
As of now, we are treating 12 kittens with medication. These cats and kittens haven’t eatten in a long time. There was no food, or water on the site. These cats were neglected and abandoned.
On Friday, Minerva Anderson, a veterinarian with Animal Aid Clinic South stopped by to help us assess the kittens who are in the worst shape. “There’s definitely a lot of illnesses going on, upper respiratory illnesses, the eyes are completely matted shut, a lot of discharge from the nose where they’re finding it very difficult to breathe,” said Minerva Anderson.
“After we took a warm wash cloth to the kittens eyes, it was almost like they had never seen the light of day before. It was really sad,” said Rachel Dennis, Assistant Director. We can only hope they will all survive.
Currently, we are working with the Feral Cat Coalition in trying to get the feral cats relocated to other sites in hopes of having a better future. The remaining domestic cats will be adopted out through our shelter and rescue groups.
How can you help:
If you are interested in adopting one of these cats, you can fill out an adoption application off our website at www.elkharthumanesociety.org/application. Please understand that these cats and kittens may not be available for adoption for a couple of weeks as we see how they respond to the medication.
We are in need of the following:
- Small cat litter boxes (half the size of a regular cat box)
- Stainless steel cat bowls
- Dry cat/kitten food
- Monetary Donations (we are having to use our own supply and our own funds for medicine)
Follow the story on www.wndu.com and www.wsbt.com.
Humane Society of Elkhart County 