Pet owner to be cited for too many cats

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Neighbors at the Sands Point West Condos have an issue with a home that's filled with cats, and one recent homeowner feels like she may have made a mistake in buying her place.

In many ways, it's Delma Khan's dream home. "My husband for our anniversary he surprised me and bought the condo," said Kahn.

But soon after closing on the condo in August, something didn't smell right.

"It was such a horrible odor," said Kahn.

In fact, it's so bad she says she hasn't been able to move in.

"It's so bad where I would not be able to eat, it burns the inside of your noise. It gives you a headache. It makes you want to throw up, that's how bad it is," said Khan.

Delma says the smell is coming from the condo above where the owner has at least a dozen cats. Other neighbors say they are fed up with foul odor too.

"If it's raining the smell is everywhere, the poo is everywhere," said Jamal Igu, a neighbor.

Even the condo's maintenance man says there's an issue.

"She's got to get rid of some," said Mahmoud Papahn, maintenance worker for Sandspoint West Condos.

Animal control stopped by the cat owner's condo on Tuesday afternoon. By law, BARC with the the City of Houston says you can only have three cats in a home. According to BARC, the owner said she has twelve. Neighbors tell us they believe it's more than that.

When animal control arrived at the condo and knocked on the door, no one answered. Animal control left a note saying a citation would be issued.

The HOA would not return our calls for comment.

The cat owner declined our request for an interview. We did talk to her attorney by phone. She said she's fighting to keep the cats. The attorney says the city began limiting cats to three per household in 2014. The attorney says the woman had the cats prior to 2014, so therefore she should be allowed to keep them.

The attorney did say that if any no-kill shelters have room for cats, they would like to know about it.

The woman with the twelve cats also was registered with the city to assist feral cats as a cat colony manager. In light of recent events, the City of Houston revoked that status.