NBC News – Every cat kennel at the Iredell County Animal Shelter is full as workers try to save many of the 90 cats pulled from a Mooresville hoarding house.
Medical staff and the shelter's veterinarian were examining the cats one-by-one Thursday.
Animal control officers served a warrant at a home Wednesday and discovered the woman living there had 90 cats in the house.
Shelter director Brad Gates calls the hoarding case "the largest in years."
According to the warrant, animal control officers went to the house to pick up a dog that had bitten someone. They noticed the smell of urine at the time but were not invited into the home. A short while later, they returned to the home, smelled the urine once again and saw several cats that appeared to need medical attention.
According to the warrant, the woman at the home refused to let the officers in house, claiming she had 20 cats inside. Animal control returned with a warrant and found 90 cats in the house.
"These cats were living in conditions that were just creating a factory for disease," Gates says.
Animal control workers say the inside of the house was covered in squalor. They say it took hours to find all of the cats in the home; some were hiding in furniture and living inside dresser drawers. Two cats at the home were deceased, a third had to be put down shortly after arriving at the shelter, Gates says.
"We're finding out more today some had ringworm, some had upper respiratory infections," Gates says, fearing many more will have to be put down.
The owner officially surrendered custody of the cats Wednesday. The healthy, adoptable cats will be sent to nearby rescue groups and will be available for the public to adopt soon, Gates says.
The owner's name has not been released and charges are pending.
"Most hoarders think they're doing the right thing," Gates says. "They don't see the situation that they have the animals in. They don't see sometimes they're doing more harm than good."