Foreclosed Condo Resident Leaves Cats, Mess Behind

PALM SPRINGS – Some Palm Springs residents are finally breathing easier after a neighbor moved out of their home, leaving more than a dozen cats behind to fend for themselves.

Those neighbors had to deal with an overwhelming mess and smell.

A cat being pulled from inside a kitchen drawer was just one of the more than a dozenthatPalm Springs Animal Control officers have pulled from a condominium unit at the Palm Springs Villas just off San Rafael.

Management says the owner abandoned the place, giving it back to the bank, but leaving her menagerie of cats behind.

A maintenance worker, John Williams says, “It’s a shame it happens, but you see a lot of it going on now with abandoned animals with the economy the way it is.”

The cats created a mess inside the place. Feces and cat fur litter the floor and any other surface where an animal could perch. Ventilating fans have been brought in, but they can only help so much. The smell inside this unit is absolutely overwhelming.

A neighbor, Jack Damoso, says “It’s terrible. It’s like I cannot even breath because I have bad allergies. That’s why I go to work early so I don’t have to deal with it.”

A clean-up crew wore protective gear and had the job of carrying out soiled bedding and furniture. It also was tasked with the job of getting rid of the powerful stench.

The homeowner’s association is paying the bill to clean and disinfect the unit of any bio-hazards, but nothing more.

The property’s manager, Nick Sakis, says, “This is really the bank’s problem, but we have people on both sides [of the condo] we have to protect and upstairs. That’s why we’re doing it.”

Neighbors have been dealing with cats and the smell for months now. They say they are thrilled to finally have this cleaning crew here to deal with all the mess.

Mark Walwick of Miller’s Crime Scene Restoration says, “We’ll get it to the point where it’s enterable and clean. But it’s not necessarily in a resellable condition yet.”

A neighbor, Ray Schuster, says, “I hold the banks responsible for this because it looks like Obama is trying to keep people in their homes and work with the banks. And the banks are just forcing them out.”

No one knows what happened to the lady who left the cats behind.

But four visits later and 13 cats rounded up, animal control will try to find the felines new homes.

The restoration crew will leave a layer of bleach behind, and then a deodorizer to bring some sense of normalcy back to some thankful neighbors.