More than 130 cats rescued from filthy home of twin sisters after police were forced to dig some animals from four-FOOT mounds of feces



Help being sought for 60-year-old women living in distressing conditions

Officers wore gas masks because of overwhelming stench of ammonia



Decomposing cat was found in the sisters' bathroom

SPCA says many of the cats were emaciated and had eye and nose issues

Animal welfare officers and police were forced to wear gas masks as they removed more than 130 cats from the Houston home of 60-year-old twin sisters yesterday.



Conditions inside the home were filthy, with piles of rubbish, an overwhelming stench of ammonia, and a decomposing cat in the bathroom.



Officers were due to return to the home today to try to dig out several more cats, who have burrowed into 4ft high mounds of feces.

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Protection: Police wore gas masks as they removed the cats from the feces-filled home Overwhelmed: One of the sisters is attended to by medical crews outside her home Help: One of the sisters sits with her head in her hands outside the home. Adult Protection Services is helping them find a new place to live

Distressing: Overflowing litter trays, piles of paper, and debris cover the sitting room

A spokesperson for the SPCA told Mail Online someone had called to alert them to the hoarding at the home where the sisters, who have not been named, lived.



One of the twins is believed to be suffering from cancer, and was taken away by ambulance. The other was seen watching, hand over her mouth, as their cats were loaded into a van.



'There's not one square inch of clean area in the house,' Harris County police spokesman J.C. Mosier told Houston Chronicle.

The retired homicide investigator added: 'I’ve never seen the inside of a house look like this,. Never in my life. And I thought I’d seen a lot of things until I saw this today.'

From the outside, the yard was a little overgrown, but there was little sign of the distressing conditions inside.



New homes: One of the sisters, rights, helps a SPCA worker settle her cats into a van

Rescue: More than 130 cats, some emaciated or with eye and nose problems, were removed from the house

Decay: Piles of cat waste and debris is piled on top of the stove in the kitchen of the home

Littered: Every surface in the sisters' home was covered with rubbish and feces Every surface in the house was said to have been covered with waste from the cats, and many of the animals were said by the SPCA to be emaciated, and had hair loss and eye and nose problems.

New start: One of the cats that was removed from the house

In the garage of the home, piles of feces were said to be 4ft high, and several cats had hidden inside the mounds.

'They have burrowed into the mounds of feces like a rat would make a tunnel into a hill,' Mosier told KHOU 11.

Houston SPCA will be given medical treatment to the cats, before finding them secure homes.



'We’re going to work and make sure they get into loving homes. We’re going to work with our adoption partners or even place them in reputable sanctuaries,' Meera Nandlal, of SPCA, said.

No charges are expected to be brought against the women, but Mosier said police were trying to get them help.

'I don’t know that they’ll ever be able to totally recover from what’s happened to their house. But I hope there are people who can help us help these ladies. It’s such a sad situation,' he said.

Mosier told Mail Online that Adult Protection Services were working with the sisters to help them find a new place to live.



He added that one of them has terminal cancer and that they were able to convince her to go to hospital for a check up.

Heavy load: The SPCA removed about 130 cats from the Houston home

Emotional: The sisters, one of whom has cancer, are being given support

Shocking: Mounds of rubbish were in every room of the home, where the sisters and 130 cats had been living



