Nearly 60 cats rescued in Jeannette after tenant's eviction

Oct. 11—Nearly 60 cats and kittens connected to a Jeannette home are in the care of six local volunteer rescue organizations as rescuers try to trap about a dozen more that remain around the property.

Erica Puskar, president of Furry Felines, said many of the cats have medical problems, including parasites, respiratory issues and congenital defects from inbreeding. One kitten is recovering after being hit by a car and another has a broken tail. Dried candle wax was found on two kittens, she said.

Puskar is visiting the Gaskill Avenue home daily to provide food and water to the remaining felines until they are trapped. Meanwhile, All But Furgotten humane officer Andrea Palmer is investigating.

"They're all friendly, so we know they've been handled and loved upon," Palmer said.

It's been an ongoing problem for the past couple of years between the cats coming onto her property and the smell, said neighbor Sonja Eckelberry, who along with her fiancee sought help for the animals. The smell remains, but the situation has improved.

"I'm happy for the cats," she said, adding that the rescue organizations that pitched in to help have been a blessing.

Palmer said she first visited the home, from which the tenant was being evicted, two weeks ago and told a person there that they had two weeks to clean up.

"Shortly after that is when cats really started showing up outside," she said.

Then more started appearing in the area as time went on, until Monday when the situation came to a head, Palmer said. There was no food or water outside for the felines.

Puskar said as of Tuesday, 59 cats and kittens have been rescued. She is caring for 31 of them. The others have been taken in by Wayward Whiskers Animal Rescue, Kitten Scoop, All But Furgotten, Trash Cat Rescue and HEAL Animal Rescue. She estimated it will cost $8,000 for basic veterinary care and other supplies such as food and litter for all of the felines.

Puskar is looking for more animal rescues in the area that have capacity to handle any of the remaining cats as well as adoptive homes.

Palmer said there are affordable spay and neuter clinics in the area that residents should contact if they become overrun or feel a situation is getting out of control. Many of the cats rescued from the Gaskill Avenue property appeared to be related.

"When you feel you're getting overwhelmed, the main thing is start spay and neutering cats and dogs," she said. "We're overpopulated with the cats. The cat community, the cat rescues, they're phenomenal, but they're overwhelmed and a lot of them are just small rescues."

All of the organizations involved with the rescue are accepting donations.

Furry Felines is seeking monetary donations or supplies to help with the animals' care at furryfelines.org/donate. Their adoptable animals can be viewed at furryfelines.org/adopt.

The local organizations involved with the rescue have donation information on their websites: Wayward Whiskers Animal Rescue at waywardanimalrescue.com, Kitten Scoop at kittenscoop.org, All But Furgotten at allbutfurgotten.com, Trash Cat Rescue at trashcatrescue.org and HEAL Animal Rescue at healanimalrescue.org.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta by email at rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .