Jean Coady traveled across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, taking pedigree cats from shelters before they were euthanized, then tried to find homes for them through her unofficial cat-savior operation, Born Free Feline Rescue, officials said.
The problem: She never got rid of 115 of them.
All 115 cats, plus two dogs, lived with Coady and her husband in their rancid Montgomery County home, many of them sick, and most of them starving, according to officials from the Pennsylvania Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (PSPCA) and the Pet Adoption and Lifecare Society (PALS) of Delaware County, which took control of the animals yesterday.
"Cats were lining every flat surface in the house," said Pat Maloney, executive vice president of PALS, a nonprofit, no-kill rescue group.
Coady, 61, of Audubon, who rescued "very, very fancy and expensive cats" like Himalayans, Persians, Siamese and Maine coons, wasn't a typical hoarder, Maloney said. She has a private school, Main Line education, a college degree and a husband, according to Maloney.
The way the situation was handled wasn't typical, either.
PSPCA officials were alerted to the hoarding in August, but no shelter in the area could take that many cats, said Nicole Wilson, PSPCA humane officer.
So, PSPCA officials allowed PALS to bring veterinarians, food, litter boxes and vaccinations into Coady's home for two months until a facility could be rehabbed to house the animals.
That undisclosed facility, which was privately donated, was finished yesterday and all the cats, except for four fighting for their lives, were taken there.
When the cats were found, many were starving and ridden with ear mites, fleas, internal parasites.
With the help of local vets and with its own money, PALS nursed many back to health, Maloney said. The animals will soon be put up for adoption through PALS, Wilson and Maloney said.
Wilson said the PSPCA is looking into whether criminal charges are warranted against Coady and her husband.
Anyone interested in adopting one of the rescued cats, or in donating to PALS, is urged to go the organization's Web site at www.palspets.org. Photos of the rescued cats are expected to be posted on the site within a week, Maloney said.
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