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Fairfield police and animal control officers responding to the 10:30 a.m. call removed seven cats, four kittens and five decomposing kittens from the residence, police said.
The 86-year-old woman was brought to St. Vincent’s Medical Center for evaluation, police said.
Firefighters who arrived on the scene said the woman didn’t seem to see the smoke billowing around her when she opened the door. The source was a saucepan left on the stove, police said.
Once inside they found dozens of cats — some they couldn’t immediately catch — and cat feces on the floors and in the bathtub, police said.
The woman appeared to be seriously underweight and unkempt and there was little food in the home, police said. She told officers they were making "a big deal out of nothing," police said.
Her sister-in-law, who is her power of attorney, told officers who called her that the home’s conditions did not appear to be out of the ordinary for the residence, police said. She said she orders food for the woman through a food-delivery service, police said.
Several of the cats were brought to the town shelter and others were sent to a Norwalk veterinarian for treatment. Officers will return to retrieve another 20 to 30 cats still in the home, police said.
The Health Department, Fairfield Animal Control and the probate judge are all involved in the on-going investigation.
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