STANWOOD, Wash. — Eight of more than 100 Persian cats found in a hot U-Haul in Central California are now recovering in Snohomish County.
On June 29, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office says the cats were found in the abandoned moving truck in a Taco Bell parking lot with no food or water.
106 were found extremely emaciated and 28 did not survive, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office says.
The cats were brought to a shelter in Merced County and veterinarians treated them to be put up for adoption.
Eight of the cats were flown to Washington on August 5 and brought to the Northwest Organization for Animal Help (NOAH) Center animal shelter in Stanwood.
“It is definitely a rough situation. We wish that these people would have asked for help sooner rather than later,” said Elizabeth Booth, the foster care coordinator at The NOAH Center.
She says the eight cats they took in have a lot of recovering to do.
“They have some rougher patches of skin that will be taken care of. And they definitely have some colds going on. They have a lot of sneezing and eye discharge, so these guys are back in our quarantine room for a little while right now until they get all checked out,” she explained.
Booth says they regularly take in animals coming from a hoarding situation or at risk of euthanasia at the Merced County animal shelter.
These new arrivals are in good hands, but she says it’ll take some time before they can come out to play.
“They might need extensive surgeries, they might need recovering in isolation a little bit longer than most cats. So we’ll kind of have to play it by ear,” she explained.
The NOAH Center says vet care for these cats is going to cost a lot of money and donations are always welcome.
“Eight cats are just what we have the ability to care for at this moment. That doesn’t mean other ones aren’t arriving later on. These are cats that might need dentals, that might need eyeball surgeries. So they have a long road to go before adoption,” Booth said.
She says it could be several weeks before the Persian cats are adoptable. You can check for real-time updates on the shelter’s website.
The Merced County Sheriff’s Office says the owner of the cats, 69-year-old Jeannie Maxon, was arrested on 93 counts of animal cruelty.
The NOAH Center says the eight cats at their facility are being cared for and you can read more about their mission at thenoahcenter.org.
©2025 Cox Media Group
