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52 cats taken from Elkhart woman's home
fox28 ^

Posted on 03/13/2010 2:27:28 PM PST by Chet 99

52 cats and one dog were removed from the home of a 76 year old Elkhart woman Tuesday by Elkhart Police Department's animal control officer and Humane Society workers.

Elkhart Humane Society Assistant Director Rachel Dennis says the cats and dog are all in poor health, suffering from respiratory problems, matted eyes and infested with insects.

Adult Protective Services was called to assist the 76 year old woman who was living in the feces covered trailer. The woman is now living with a family member.

Elkhart Police say a maintenance worker at Four Season Trailer Park flagged down an animal control officer of the Elkhart Police department Tuesday morning. Police say that worker told the officer of a cat problem.

When officers went into the home, police say they found conditions described as horrendous and unsafe for anyone to live in.

As many as 10 to 15 cats may still be hiding in the trailer.

The Humane Society says it is taking care of the animals at its shelter, but needs towels and cat food to help the process.


TOPICS: Pets/Animals
KEYWORDS: animalcruelty; animalhoarding; braindamage; brainlesions; clutter; filth; hoard; hoarder; hoarders; hoarding; ocd; pigsty; spca; squalor; stuff
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To: beckysueb
I have never owned a cat, and at best they have only a qualified appeal for me. Yet it seems unlikely that one or two cats in a home readily leads to dozens and squalor.

Just looking at the woman's picture made me think both nutty and slutty -- and that toxoplasmosis is associated with not just lack of energy, schizophrenia, and other mental problems, but also a tendency toward promiscuity.

21 posted on 03/13/2010 7:06:21 PM PST by Rockingham
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To: oprahstheantichrist

May owner, kittehs, and goggie get the help they need.


22 posted on 03/13/2010 8:10:54 PM PST by Slings and Arrows (Cocoa Judas!)
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To: Rockingham
Yet it seems unlikely that one or two cats in a home readily leads to dozens and squalor.

I have owned lots of cats in my life and yes if left to breed they can lead to this kind of squalor. It requires work to keep their litter area clean, their bedding area clean, and usually they will bed where they want to. You have to train them not to claw stuff, they go outside and get dirty from rolling around and bring the dirt back in. They are wonderful pets just like a dog but if you made no effort to keep a dog clean or housebreak it and then never clean up after it and let it breed constantly, it would be a bigger mess then these cats made. You can't get more pets then you can take care of. It will get out of hand. I still say this woman got overwhelmed and just let them go. It looks like she fed them cause there is food all over the place. The litter pan looks bad but it has been scooped out or it would have been full to the top with waste. I saw one like that once. The poor cat was crapping on top of crap. But if you figure 2 female cats have a litter each of say 5 kittens. Thats 12 cats. They can have 2 litters a year. If half of those are females, thats 7 females or 14 females in one year, thats just females. I haven't even counted the males. Then those 14 females will breed at 9 monthes each having around 5 kittens. So you see how she could have that many cats in just a few years.

23 posted on 03/13/2010 8:15:26 PM PST by beckysueb (Scott Brown is a start. Lets keep it going.)
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To: beckysueb

I still think that there is something wrong with the woman. Cats may be immensely appealing, but no one in their full senses lets their numbers and one’s living conditions get out of control.


24 posted on 03/13/2010 8:52:11 PM PST by Rockingham
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To: Rockingham

Oh definitely there is something wrong with her. Probably lazy and slovenly to begin with but then at her age she was probably sick, too. She just let the cats take over. I saw an episode of Animal Cops where this happened to a man. He had a nice brick house and he had over 300 cats roaming around inside. They had totally destroyed the house. The guy had moved out and left the house to the cats. He said he couldn’t take care of them anymore so he left. There is something wrong with people like that. It would all be so different if people would just spay or nueter their animals. I have 3 dogs and 3 cats and they are all fixed except one old male dog and hes too old to nueter and hes in a fenced in yard.


25 posted on 03/14/2010 1:04:41 AM PST by beckysueb (Scott Brown is a start. Lets keep it going.)
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To: Rockingham

Where did you see her picture? I looked in the link and I didn’t see her picture anywhere.


26 posted on 03/14/2010 1:22:43 AM PST by beckysueb (Scott Brown is a start. Lets keep it going.)
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To: beckysueb

My mistake. I thought that post # 6 was a picture of the woman.


27 posted on 03/14/2010 3:39:18 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: oprahstheantichrist

kitty kitty wok wok

That said...it’s good that the lady has gotten some help..and the cats have found Wo Fats restaurant. Cook ‘em Dano


28 posted on 03/14/2010 6:03:03 AM PDT by FlGoldwingGuy (I love cats.......especially in a white sauce)
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To: Rockingham
Wow, so some of these women are literally "crazy cat ladies!"
Wow, that puts this character in context.


LOL
29 posted on 03/14/2010 8:45:39 AM PDT by ATX 1985
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To: ATX 1985

More so than we like to accept, biology and biochemistry shape and can even call the shots as to what we do and who we are.


30 posted on 03/14/2010 10:00:07 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Rockingham

I agree, but you do sound kind of like an apologist for people with disorders and an inability to conform to society’s norms.
Certainly in the most extreme cases, mental disorders “all the shots as to what we do and who we are.” But I wonder how often people make that same excuse with depression or their addictive personalities? It seems to me, in too many cases people aren’t making the effort to progress in their lives. We see even normal people that make excuses, so of course it is no surprise that people with emotional problems will do the same.

I do believe that when someone puts themselves in a position to be depressed, they tend to make excuses to not do the right things and the beat themselves up while telling themselves they are depressed. When this happens, of course there is a chemical imbalance. From what I understand, people by nature are habit driven and our system will eventually feel like it needs these chemicals and the problem can become self perpetuating.

But, the cycle can be broken without drugs, and like all things in life it takes hard work.

For most people, it takes socialization, eating better, drinking more water, working out, getting more Sun and just living better. It isn’t an easy thing to do for a lot of people.

Now, I don’t want to overgeneralize. I think there are a lot of people that seem to have it all, and for some reason are depressed or anxious.

Once again, I think hard work and possibly some important realizations are the key, and instead of worrying about how to deal with chemicals (most of the time with drugs) I think counseling is the best avenue most of the time.


31 posted on 03/14/2010 5:41:35 PM PDT by ATX 1985
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To: ATX 1985
You have taken meaning from my comments that I did not intend.

To make clear, in dealing with mental and medical issues, as with other burdens, we all have a responsibility to do what we can to deal with our problems. No matter how often we stumble and fall, we have to keep going.

Nevertheless, our bodies have limits and defects. We cannot sensibly pretend that the blind can see and paraplegics can stand up and walk if they will themselves to do so. Neither can we suppose that serious mental problems can be banished through an effort of will. We must instead take measure of those problems and look for treatments and cures. And, no matter what, we keep going as long and as well as we can.

32 posted on 03/14/2010 8:42:58 PM PDT by Rockingham
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