Waterford – More than 40 cats have been removed from an elderly couple’s home, according to police and the town's animal control officer. 

Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control Officer Robert Yuchniuk said he and others became aware of the issue because of a social media post showing one of the cats stuck in a tree. The cat came from the elderly couple’s home. Comments on social media indicated that there were many cats at the home, and they might not be getting the proper care. 

Yuchniuk said he went to the house Wednesday, talked to the couple and determined the best course of action for the cats would be to get them out of the home. 

“There were way too many for me to take, we have eight cat cages in our shelter that we share with New London. I can’t take 43 cats,” Yuchniuk said. “In order to make sure this story had a happy ending, I reached out to rescue groups and Paws Cat Shelter CT agreed to take all the cats, sight unseen. They didn’t know if these would be unpleasant feral cats or nice lap cats, so we give them all the credit.” 

Paws posted about the cats on its Facebook page on Friday.

 “We agreed to take lead on helping remove all the cats from the home and see if we could get help from rescues after the cats were safe,” the post reads. “In these situations, there are always more cats than they believe. The family was a lovely family that cared very much for their cats, they fed them very well, but things had just gotten out of hand. The cats needed medical care and the resources weren't there for that.” 

Also helping move the cats from the house was Bouvier Insurance, a company with multiple Connecticut locations. Yuchniuk said his wife works there, and when he called her for help, she brought extra volunteers. 

Paws said the cats would now get medical attention including surgeries for eye and ear issues, spaying, neutering and vaccinating. Some of the cats suffered from medical conditions such as respiratory and other types of infections. 

"Our team worked for 14 hours to help remove these cats, have them seen by a vet, and set up for continued care,” the post reads. “Our biggest expense will be dentals with 10 or more needing them. Right now all are on a 14-day quarantine, per our vet. They are all very social and sweet and our volunteers are doting on them. Our goal is to ensure they get the care they need before they go to their forever home.” 

Paws is fundraising for the cats’ medical care and has received more than $2,000 in donations thus far.  

Some of the cats also had injuries from fighting. Yuchniuk noted that “you get a bunch of unneutered male cats in a house, and they’re going to end up scrapping.” But officials learned that the cats were well-fed, and none were feral. 

“It’s apparent that the family really cared about these cats, they just got in over their head,” Yuchniuk said. “There were too many.” 

None of the cats will be euthanized. 

Police Chief Brett Mahoney said the couple would not be facing any charges. He declined to identify the couple or where they live. 

“We bring cases that we believe can be prosecuted, and we don’t believe this can,” he said. “Our primary concern is the health and safety of the people and the animals.” 

Mahoney said before the social media post of the cat in the tree, police had gone to the elderly couple’s house several weeks ago for a well-being check, “and we ended up assisting them through some town services.”

Waterford-East Lyme Animal Control has been in contact with the elderly couple and their family and aims to take measures to allow for the couple to eventually have one cat instead of the 43.

Yuchniuk is organizing an effort to have the town bring a dumpster to the elderly couple’s property so they can clean up the property sometime in the first couple weeks of March. He is seeking volunteers for the endeavor.

“As you can imagine, in a hoarding situation they didn’t just hoard cats, they hoarded stuff, so they’ve agreed to let us help them because obviously a couple in their 80s isn’t going to fill up a dumpster of stuff,” Yuchniuk said. “This is a story that could’ve been very bad, and it turned out to be pretty decent. We’re showing the good side of humanity – everyone wants what’s best for the cats and what’s best for the family. People are stepping up, and they want to come out and help with the cleanup in a couple weeks.”

s.spinella@theday.com