Salt Lake County health officials have condemned a Salt Lake City home that they believe has been overrun with cats and is unsafe to live in.
The Salt Lake City Fire Department and Salt Lake County Animal Services responded to the home, in the 1800 South block of Roberta Street (about 250 East), Friday afternoon because neighbors had complained of strong odors. They found a home in disarray, with the floors and counters covered with garbage, boxes of videotapes and cat feces.
"This is unhealthy for the animals and the people in these homes," Animal Services spokeswoman Temma Martin said of the homes of so-called "cat hoarders."
Martin said animal services had been to the home about five years earlier, where they found a similar situation. They worked with the resident to get the house cleaned up, but Martin said old habits die hard.
"It's always a really difficult thing because probably this starts as someone who is trying to help animals," she said. But it can quickly get out of control, she said. Often, sick and dead animals are found, though Martin said she wasn't sure whether any were found in this house.
The 58-year-old woman who lives in the home had originally planned to meet with animal control officers Friday after investigators gathered statements and complaints from neighbors. But Friday, she contacted Animal Services and said the stress of the situation had sent her to the hospital but that she would leave a key for officers to get into the home.
No charges have been filed against the woman, Martin said.
Neighbors said they were unaware anyone was even living in the home and that they never saw anyone come or go. They did, however, often see cats in the area.
"You never know where they go," one neighbor, who would identify herself only as Lindsey, said of the cats who frequent the neighborhood.
She said she often blamed the Great Salt Lake for the smell she occasionally noticed.
Salt Lake fire spokesman Scott Freitag said high ammonia levels were found, indicating a house filled with urine. Levels were determined to be safe enough for animal control officers to enter, he said. The fire department provided Animal Services with suits and masks.
While Freitag said firefighters saw a few cats running through the home, by the time Animal Services entered, the cats had all either hidden in the home's debris or exited through a broken window in the basement. Fire officials did not know how many cats she had been keeping.
Martin said Animal Services will continue to check the house for cats and that the house must be cleaned up before the woman can return to live there.
Cat hoarding, Martin said, is similar to other types of hoarding and is often related to obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In addition to a foot-and-a-half of cat feces they found on the kitchen counter and a plastic storage container full of cat waste, officers also found boxes full of various items and garbage all over the floors and counters of the Roberta Street home.
Martin said the unhealthy homes of hoarders often go unnoticed in the winter, but as the weather warms up and people open their windows, neighbors start to notice the smells.
"We always find out about these in the spring," she said.
E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com