Local rescue looking to rehome 40-60 cats found in Springdale woman’s home

Emily Oliver by Emily Oliver

SPRINGDALE, Wash. — A local animal rescue is looking to rehome 40-60 cats, some in need of severe medical attention, that were found in a Springdale woman’s home.

Murci’s Mission says the woman who was hoarding the cats is going blind and has other health issues that prevented her from taking care of the cats.

Initially, the animal rescue took eight of the sickest cats to the clinic for starvation and other illnesses.

One of the cats they named Lazarus. Katie Schmidlkofer, the founder and president of Murci’s Mission, said he was the sickest of the group.

“For 48 hours, he was getting some pretty intensive vet care,” she said.

The eight are now home, resting and healing.

“It’s pretty upsetting, both for the person’s mental health and for the sake of the animals,” said Schmidlkofer. “Not trying to be negative towards the property owner. She was a pretty nice lady. This was a pretty difficult house.”

Schmidlkofer said they’ve had hoarding situations before, but not to this extent.

“It’s clear that this one, just because of the health of the animals, is going to be really, really intense,” she said.

Murci’s Mission is reaching out to other animal rescues, hoping to get all the cats out of the home by the first weekend of February.

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