AURORA | Six weeks after 46 cats were seized from her Aurora home, Karen Schultz got five of her pets back this week.
The move came after a judge in Jefferson County ordered Almost Home Adoptions, the Westminster cat shelter that had been boarding the animals, to turn the five cats over to Schultz.
In March, city officials seized 46 cats from Schultz’s home after finding the cats living in filthy conditions and many suffering various medical problems. Schultz said that after years of having as many as 80 cats in her home —all of them licensed and vaccinated — her home fell into disrepair after she was hospitalized for various health problems.
All 46 cats were taken to Almost Home, and Schultz said she expected the shelter to turn over five of them to her once her home passed an inspection.
She passed the inspection in late March, but officials at Almost Home refused to turn over the cats.
Almost Home officials have not returned repeated requests for comment, but on the shelter’s Facebook page they argued Schultz was a hoarder and after the condition the cats were found in, they wouldn’t be safe at her home.
Schultz took the shelter to court, and this week a judge ruled the shelter didn’t have a right to keep the five cats.
Jennifer Edwards, Almost Home’s lawyer, said she didn’t expect the shelter to appeal the ruling.
For her part, Schultz said she is looking forward to having her cats back. The past six weeks have been the first time since she was a child that she didn’t have cats in her home, she said.
As for the workload, Schultz said she can’t imagine just five cats being an issue after successfully raising a colony of as many as 80 cats for decades. The city animal control department had sanctioned the cats previously.
“Five is like a normal cat family, and I’ve never had a normal cat family, not since I was a kid,” she said.
Schultz has been a fixture in Aurora for years, hosting an open house every summer at her prize-winning day lily garden. The proceeds from sales of potted day lilies went to help area cat shelters. Last year marked the first time in two decades that Schultz didn’t host the open house because the garden was in too rough of shape.
It was a heavy workload even in the good times, with Schultz and her husband, Glenn, tending to the massive garden, caring for as many as 80 cats and still working full-time jobs. But the couple managed well, Schultz said. Then, in fall 2010, Glenn died suddenly.
Schultz said that losing Glenn was the first of what proved to be several consecutive blows that left her in the sorry predicament she is in now. After Glenn’s death, Schultz underwent several surgeries that left her hospitalized for weeks at a time and also had to declare bankruptcy.
Karen. . I hope you will ask for help if you need it this time. You’ll have kitty litter
in and out of the house, as well as cleaning up after them. Will you have
visits from anyone to see if you need help? Do you have funds if the
cats need medical care?
She asked for help though and willingly accepted it….to turn the cats over to rescues except for the five she wanted to keep. She is a senior, her husband died and she was in the hospital! Heck my house would fall into serious disrepair in one day if I was gone for 24 hours with my animals two! Most of our homes would and with like 20 plus, YEP! So it can happen quick and she did ask for help and this rescue took on these cats knowing that the 5 were not theirs and would foster them. They lied and it’s ridiculous to take advantage of a senior when she was sick and needed help and when she asked for it she was taken advantage of! Terrible! 5 is not bad but yes she might need help if her medical problems get to be too much and I am sure there are lovely people who will help if she needs it.