I was very new to the business, probably three months in. I showed up to a normal looking house in a normal development in San Dimas, CA. The only thing I noticed from the outside was a stale smell and all the windows had been covered from the inside with huge sheets of aluminum foil. When the owner opened the front door, the smell hit me in the face like a sack of potatoes. It was this stale/ammonia/pee/death/poop combo that I’ll never forget. As the owner opened the door, I saw probably ten sets of cat eyes staring at me very intently. I stepped into the living room with my t-shirt pinched against my nose (it was really bad). I took some photos of the living room and walked to the dining area. In the dining area I looked back at the front door and I noticed I had left perfect foot prints on the carpet, however, upon further inspection, the footprints were in cat hair. The cat hair was so thick it was like freshly fallen snow.
The backyard was tiny and there were eight dogs chained to fence posts and barking at me like maniacs. I was terrified I was going to be bitten or eaten, so I tried to finish outside as quickly as I could. When I went back inside I noticed that each bedroom had more and more animals, some in cages some out of the cages, and everything was either shredded or stained with pee. One of the 1/2 bathrooms was closed and supposedly had half a dozen cats inside, according to the owner. The smell was so intense I almost vomited a few times, but powered through. The kicker was, I asked, “Why do you have so many animals?” The owner replied, “all these animals have various diseases so I take them in from the local vet because I don’t want them put to sleep.” That’s right, the owner was a diseased animal hoarder. After leaving, I immediately called the lender/client and the local Animal Control. It was horrible to see all those animals sick and living in those conditions. I’ve never seen a house as bad as that one, but it’s one I’ll never forget.
