135 cats rescued after being found in Toronto home

A photograph provided by Toronto Cat Rescue on April 25, 2023.

More than 100 cats have been rescued from an undisclosed home and are being transported to Toronto.

In a news release issued Tuesday, Toronto Cat Rescue said 135 cats were found “living in overcrowded conditions and in need of immediate medical attention for upper respiratory infections.”

They also needed to be spayed and neutered, officials said.

The animals will be transported to Toronto in two groups, with the first 80 cats arriving Tuesday.

This includes 41 kittens, 11 unspayed nursing cats and five pregnant females, the rescue said.

"The challenge of situations like these, is that the owner does not recognize that they have too many animals until it's too late,” Cassandra Koenen, Communications Director at Toronto Cat Rescue, said in a statement.

"Unsterilized females can have two or three litters a year. If each litter is four or five kittens, the numbers of cats in the home spirals very quickly out of control."

The 55 remaining cats will be transferred in the next few weeks.

Once the cats receive medical care, they will be placed in temporary foster homes until they are ready for adoption.