Dozens of cats have been rescued from a hoarder's house living among faeces and debris.
About 40 pets were rescued from the house on the west side of Houston, Texas, US, with responders reporting a stench of ammonia so strong it was "unbearable".
They had to pick their way through piles of poo and debris to find the poor animals, which ranged from three months old to six years.
Houston Humane Society, the pet rescue organisation that intervened in this case, told ABC13 the home belonged to a woman who was trying to provide a home for the animals but grew overwhelmed.
Pictures show the grim conditions in the property with cats peering out from holes in broken furniture and from among cobweb-covered debris.
The filthy floors appeared covered in poo and brown stains were up the walls.
Officials in protective gear waded through the hoarded belongings to catch the cats, put them in cages and move them to somewhere safe.
In a statement on its Facebook page, Houston Humane Society said:" Thanks to Harris County Pets Animal Cruelty Investigators, Ted Heap, Harris County Constable Precinct 5, and Houston Humane ACU team all the cats have been transported to safety.
"The animals will be medically examined, fed and housed at the Houston Humane Society."
The group's followers were horrified at the state of the home the cats were found in.
One commented: "Ohhhhh my gosh. I can not comprehend those living conditions. Thank you for saving those animals!"
Another was sympathetic to the home-owner's plight saying: "Not that I know because I am not a hoarder, but I do understand that it is a sickness just like any other diseases. I hope people won’t judge them as they can’t help it. Yes these animals are in bad shape but so is the mind of the person that lived there.
"We don’t get it because we aren’t sick. So please don’t judge them. Be kind and be thankful that we aren’t in that mental state."
According to the NHS: "A hoarding disorder is where someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. The items can be of little or no monetary value."
