WOODLAND — A Woodland woman who kept more than 40 cats in the home she shared with her young children was sentenced this week to five years of probation.
Katrina Emma Gamble, whose Yolo County court history includes three prior cases of hoarding excessive animals including dogs, cats and chinchillas, also was ordered to perform 400 hours of community service and refrain from owning any more animals, Deputy District Attorney Kyle Hasapes said following Monday’s sentencing hearing.
Gamble, 39, pleaded no contest in December to a felony animal abuse charge, which stemmed from the Sept. 26, 2014, discovery of 42 cats in her North Pioneer Avenue home during a welfare check by Child Protective Services.
Her boyfriend, Jack Louis Dearing III, and their 3- and 4-year-old children also lived in the house, which authorities described in an arrest warrant affidavit as filthy and having an “overwhelming” ammonia odor detectable even from outside the residence.
“The smell was so bad, it took my breath away and caused my throat to become irritated and my eyes began to burn,” Animal Services Officer Stephanie Amato wrote in the document. Amato also reported finding numerous urine and fecal-matter stains in the home and pet drinking bowls with mosquito larvae in the water.
An air quality reading inside the house registered the ammonia presence at 84 parts per million — anything over 1 part per million being unhealthy to humans, the affidavit says.
Dearing, 42, also was charged in the case and was sentenced in December to a year of probation, 80 hours of community service after pleading no contest to an animal abuse charge, according to his court file.
Both had two child endangerment counts dismissed in exchange for their admissions to the animal-abuse counts.
The hoarded cats, meanwhile, were seized by Yolo County Animal Services, which diagnosed two-thirds of them with upper respiratory tract infections, while five had disfiguring injuries resulting from the neglect, according to the arrest warrant affidavit.
Still, Animal Services was able to place all but five of the felines with new owners or in foster homes after they received veterinary care.
— Reach Lauren Keene at lkeene@davisenterprise.net or 530-747-8048. Follow her on Twitter at @laurenkeene