Almost two dozen sick cats and kittens were rescued from a single apartment in White Plains, N.Y., after a tenant was evicted and the felines were left behind.
The Westchester County Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) is currently caring for 23 cats and kittens who were left with little to no food or water for weeks in an apartment building, ABC 7 New York reported on Tuesday, Feb. 11.
“They weren’t in good shape, many of the cats, basically they were skin and bones,” Ernest Lungaro, a spokesperson for SPCA Westchester, told the news station.
Two of the felines had died by the time help arrived, and one was so desperate for water that it climbed into a toilet.
SPCA Westchester
Lungaro said the animals are now doing better than they were last week and continue to be treated at the Westchester SPCA.
This latest rescue was linked to a previous visit to the same apartment complex last year. In that case, the Westchester SPCA’s Humane Law Enforcement Unit rescued approximately 40 cats as their owner, an elderly woman, was in the process of being evicted.
The woman was finally relocated last month. However, building management failed to notify the SPCA that no one was living at the apartment. The cats that were left behind bred and multiplied.
“You couldn’t even go in there, it was very difficult to breathe and then with the cats, they made holes in the wall where they were going through the building, some even got down into the basement,” Lungaro said.
SPCA Westchester
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The animals were suffering from dehydration, and were sick with severe upper respiratory and ear infections, SPCA Westchester told ABC 7 New York in February 2024. The resident was cooperative with animal rescue workers, and no charges were filed at the time.
“It’s not livable conditions within a minute of being inside,” SPCA Westchester’s Lisa Bonanno told the news station last year. “You can’t really breathe. It’s really unhealthy.”
SPCA Westchester did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Tuesday.
Anyone interested in donating to help the cats and kittens that were recently rescued can do so directly on SPCA Westchester’s website.
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