Trending

19 cats rescued from home after body of woman, dead for months, found inside, officials say

NEW KENSINGTON, Pa. — Authorities in Pennsylvania have rescued 19 cats from a New Kensington home where an elderly woman's body was found last week.

>> Read more trending news

Officials said the body, discovered last Thursday, had been there for months.

When animal rescuers went back to the home Wednesday, they saved the 19 cats, along with a cat and dog that did not survive, authorities said.

"It's just heartbreaking anybody could put a living creature into these conditions," said Dr. Becky Morrow, the medical director at Frankie's Friends Cat Rescue.

Someone had duct-taped the door and all of the vents shut in the room where the woman's body was found, authorities said. Eventually, the pets also were left behind.

The woman's body was taken to the coroner's office for an autopsy.

A necropsy will be performed on the cat and dog that did not survive to determine when they died.

The cats that survived, mangy and malnourished, will be nursed back to health and be placed in new, loving, forever homes, rescuers said.

"It never ceases to amaze me the resilience of these animals and the forgiveness that they have," Morrow said.

WPXI reported that criminal charges likely will be filed for animal cruelty, at a minimum.