More than 100 cats seized from Tacoma home in ‘rough condition’ after welfare check
Sep 2, 2026, 5:24 PM | Updated: 5:41 pm
Some of the 85 cats seized from a Tacoma home this week. (Photo courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department)
(Photo courtesy of the Tacoma Police Department)
More than 100 cats were seized from a Tacoma home this week.
Officers responding to a routine welfare check discovered the animals living in poor conditions, police told KIRO Newsradio. In total, 101 cats were removed from the home, including one dead cat. Sixteen were seized Tuesday and another 85 on Wednesday.
Officers were called to a home in the 6100 block of 29th Street Northeast on Tuesday afternoon to check on a person lying on the ground outside. When they knocked on the door to confirm the person was welcome on the property, they observed a large number of cats inside — well beyond the city of Tacoma’s limit of six domesticated animals.
Animal control officers were called to the scene. The resident initially surrendered 16 cats on Tuesday.
“The individual who lived at the location surrendered 16 cats and said, ‘Yep, that’s all we have,'” Tacoma Officer Shelbie Boyd told KIRO Newsradio. “However, animal control could still see that there were a large number of cats in the house. So, they left, they got a warrant, and they came back today.”
Officers were still conducting a final sweep of the home Wednesday.
“I asked [animal control officers] if the cats were all in healthy condition. They replied, ‘No, they weren’t,'” Boyd said. “They didn’t give me details, but said that they were in rough condition.”
The cats will be examined by a veterinarian, and the Pierce County Prosecutor’s Office will then decide what, if any, charges will be filed.
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Third major cat seizure in the Tacoma area in roughly a month
This week’s seizure is the latest in a string of large-scale cat removals in the Tacoma area. Last month, about 60 cats were rescued from an abandoned sailboat, and about a week after that, 20 cats were found in a vehicle. Police said there is no known connection between the cases.
Boyd said this kind of thing happens across the country, but this is a lot of cats to be seized at one time. She said there are many reasons why something like this happens.
“It could be mental health. It could be a financial situation where they’re just not able to get them spayed and neutered,” she said. “Maybe they’re elderly, and they’re not aware that it’s getting so bad.”
Frank Lenzi is the News Director for KIRO Newsradio. Read more of his stories here.
