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84 Cats, 7 Dogs Rescued From Royal Oak Hoarder House

ROYAL OAK (WWJ) - A shocking number of cats and multiple dogs have been rescued from a Royal Oak home.

Neighbors, who called Royal Oak police complaining of a foul smell emanating from the house in the 1000-block of Edgewood, near Main Street and Catalpa, suspected that the residents were hoarding animals.

"We had noticed, especially when it's been really hot and humid," one neighbor, who didn't want to give his name, told WWJ's Jason Scott. "We have two cats — we keep them indoors — but I could definitely tell the smell."

When officers arrived to investigate, Monday afternoon, they found a total of 84 cats and seven dogs.

"The conditions of the home were deplorable," Lt. David Clemens told WWJ Newsradio 950's  Laura Bonnell. "A very strong odor of urine; there was fecal matter throughout the house — a difficult location to spend any time in."

Clemens said the homeowners, a 54-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman, did cooperate with police and are not expected to face charges.

Oakland County Animal Control was called in to assist in making sure all of the animals got safely to the Oakland County Animal Shelter.

RO hoarders
(credit: Royal Oak police)

"They did a great job helping us out with this incident," said Clemens. "You know, housing 91 animals requires a significant amount of space and resources to care for them...and they really helped us out quite a bit with this case."

Clemens said all of the cats and dogs are doing OK.

"The animals do appear to be in very good health and once they're medically clear we're hopeful that each animal will be available for adoption," he said.

Anyone interested in adopting one of these animals can call the shelter at 248-391-4100 or visit this  link.

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