Homes Needed For 85 Cats Found Living In Deplorable Conditions In Shawnee Home

Pet rescue groups are working to find homes for nearly 85 cats found in a dilapidated Shawnee home.

Rebecca Beard said she discovered the cats just off Highway 3E.

After doing some digging, she found the property owner was given a citation and told to re-home the cats by November of 2015.

“They are very sweet, none of them are feral,” Beard said. “You can tell they were raised together with love and by people.”

Now, Beard is working with pet rescues like 9Lives Rescue, Oklahoma to nurse the felines back to health.

“Ask for help. We can’t take 85 cats, but if you call and say, ‘I need to get my cats fixed, can you guys help me?’ We will absolutely help get your cats a low cost spay or neuter. That will at least stop the bleeding, stop the animals from reproducing,” Katherine Piatt with 9Lives Rescue of Oklahoma said.

Her organization took two kittens to be checked by veterinarians. Piatt said they tested negative for FIV/FeLV but they have terrible upper respiratory infections, along with ear mites and fleas.

“No rescue can take 85 cats,” Piatt said. “So, that’s why we work together. If every rescue takes 5 or 10, it diminishes the load, both financially and just resource wise.”

9Lives and area rescues are working other pet hoarding cases in Harrah, Newcastle and Poteau. She said while spring is typically their busiest time of the year, things are ramping up now. Piatt said finding homes for the cats in Shawnee will be a slow but steady process.

“We are probably going to take three or four or five today, the ones that are probably the worst case scenarios, that need medical attention” Piatt said. “We’ll just slowly keep working on it as we can.”

A Go Fund Me and Facebook page has been set up to help with the costs of food and medical for the cats until they can be adopted out. 9Lives Rescue also accepts donations through PayPal at PayPal-9livesrescueok@gmail.com or at 9Lives Rescue Oklahoma, P.O. Box 1014, Hinton, Oklahoma 73047.