The large house with the red shingled roof reeked of ammonia from the outside, enough to immediately raise concern for Tona McCarthy and the Hooksett police officer accompanying him.
Barred by the homeowner from viewing the rest of the home, McCarthy, an animal cruelty investigator with the New Hampshire Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NHSPCA), entered an outermost room and measured the ammonia concentration in the air.
His first meter readings fluctuated between 4.8 and 11.2 parts per million — anything up to 25 would be technically safe over an eight-hour period — and he observed flytraps “loaded with flies,” a slippery floor and cobwebs.
The homeowner “wouldn’t allow us up or down, but the officer and I could articulate that the house was going to be filled with feces and urine,” McCarthy said.
When investigators returned with a search warrant on June 11, the ammonia readings climbed as they scaled the stairs into the two-family home’s vacant upper unit: 78, 84, then 100 parts per million. The irritant, at concentrations higher than 35 parts per million, can cause eyes to water and breathing to become more labored, according to McCarthy.
Their suspicions confirmed, officers seized 29 cats and two dogs that morning from the home, where they said they were confronted with “deplorable living conditions, animals suffering from various health issues and dangerous levels of ammonia.” Conditions so imperiled the well-being of first responders that search and rescue efforts were interrupted to ventilate the house, and NHSPCA staff could only reenter wearing hazmat suits, according to the Hooksett Police Department.
No charges were filed, however, the town’s code enforcers have since condemned the house.
Authorities believe between 10 and 15 cats still remain behind. As far as McCarthy knows, these animals are still unaccounted for, even though the NHSPCA laid traps around the perimeter.
“It’s not shocking, unfortunately, it’s very sad, but it happens too frequently. You may not see a press release by a police department as frequently, but it happens,” said Lisa Dennison, NHSPCA president and CEO. “It’s extremely sad, because not only are the animals living in this condition, but the humans are living in this condition, as well.”
Another realization came as no surprise: McCarthy had visited this house before.
In 2017, McCarthy, then the director of field services at Pope Memorial SPCA, knocked on the front door and noted that the homeowner “was overwhelmed with the caring of the cats.” Their conversation ended with the homeowner agreeing to surrender the animals — the same number, 29 cats, according to McCarthy — and although an officer was present for their interaction, the Hooksett Police Department did not monitor the home any further.
“We were not involved. We were like security, we went just to assist,” said Hooksett support services lieutenant Valerie Lamy. “If we were to have gone and charged animal cruelty, we charge and it goes through the court, and it would be whatever the judge decided. The only involvement we would have would be in cases of a violation of a court order.”
Four years later, in October of 2021, an anonymous tip would bring the home to the department’s attention again. “Either there was no one home or no one would let us in,” Lamy said, but from the entryway, responding officers registered the stench of ammonia, overgrown landscaping, flies crowding the exterior and more than 10 cats prowling the premises outside.
Since the tip had been anonymous, and the homeowner couldn’t be reached, officers referred the case to the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire, which was also denied entry to the house. Their probe flamed out soon after.
This time around, the Hooksett Police Department is still weighing whether to press charges, Lamy said.
The animals have required extensive veterinary attention, said Savannah Alcerro, vice president of animal services at the NHSPCA. The organization took in 20 cats, while the rescue league received two heavily-matted dogs and the remaining nine cats.
Urine and feces encrusted the fur of several cats, leaving some suffering from urine scalding and requiring baths, fecal testing and vaccinations. Other cats were treated for respiratory infections, and two litters of kittens — one about four weeks old, the other just about one week old — were reunited with their mothers for supplemental feedings. One cat, Alcerro said, presented “actively bleeding out of its mouth.”
“The cats are still sick. We suspect they will be sick for a bit,” she said. “Some are doing okay, but there are some that are actively needing additional care after their first set of antibiotics.”
Skittish and fearful, the nine cats transported to the Animal Rescue League of New Hampshire have resisted full examinations, said Stephanie Magnarelli, the organization’s veterinarian and chief medical officer.
They arrived with weepy eyes, raspy breaths and nasal discharge, which in some cases ran red with blood. In Magnarelli’s experience, when the care of a large number of cats is deferred or neglected for an extended period of time, the animals are likely to experience parasite issues and flea infestations as a result.
Severe matting characterized the state of the male and female dogs found tied up outside the house — the female dog presented with scabs and excessive dandruff, and the mats on both of their bodies pulled at their skin, according to Magnarelli.
Judging by their thick coats and the day’s blistering temperatures, if the dogs had been left outside much longer, Magnarelli believes “they would have died from heat stress.”
Both dogs have since been shaved. “They’re new dogs now,” she said.
Although the initial request for McCarthy’s assistance in evaluating the home came from Hooksett Police, he heard a second plea from a family member of the homeowner. They had lived at the home when McCarthy first inspected it years ago and had called asking him to investigate the number of cats there now.
Across both organizations, caretakers agree that advocacy, without shame, can alter the course of animals’ lives for the better.
“It’s very difficult sometimes to tell a loved one how they should live and what they should do, but if they can alert us, if they do alert us, if they call us, if they reach out, then we can help them with support services,” Dennison said. “It happens, and we don’t want people to be ashamed. We want them to come to us before it gets to a point where it’s this difficult. Come to us when you’re in need and not when it’s a crisis.”
