Forty cats have been rescued from a studio apartment in East Village after the woman who owned them was hospitalized and no longer able to care for them.
It took rescuers three tries over two weeks to find and pluck the cats from the apartment on Imperial Avenue near 14th Street, the San Diego Humane Society said in a news release Monday.
On Aug. 6, someone reported multiple cats and a “strong odor” in the apartment, Humane Society spokesperson Nina Thompson said.
She said the organization’s Humane Law Enforcement officers worked with the building managers and the woman’s family to get inside the apartment and ensure the cats could be safely surrendered.
Thompson said the condition of the apartment and the stress of the animals hiding prompted a “methodical rescue” on three consecutive Wednesdays from Sept. 17 to Oct. 1.
The first time out, officers rescued 15 cats. The next time out, they found and removed 11 cats. In their final attempt, they found the remaining 14 cats.
In the interim until all the cats could be located and rescued, they were cared for by a family member of the woman who owned the cats.
When the cats reached the Humane Society campus, each was vaccinated and given a medical exam. Thompson said several are being treated for upper respiratory infections.
As of Monday, 16 healthy cats had been adopted, and another eight were available for adoption. All pets available for adoption can be found at sdhumane.org/adopt.