WILKINSBURG (KDKA) — Code enforcements condemned a house where a woman was living with at least a dozen cats and no water or electricity for a decade.

Inside the house at 812 South Avenue, the ceiling was falling down, the paint falling off, and the bathroom didn’t work.

The woman who had been staying there gave food and water to the cats, but it appears they had no litter boxes.

Piles of trash were found throughout the home making it uninhabitable. The water and electricity for the house was shut off in 2002.

Officials from Wilkinsburg’s code enforcement say the outside appearance of the house is what brought them there in the first place.

In early spring they found someone living there. They subsequently posted signs on the door for the woman to vacate, but it never happened.

“The complaint is what you see and we’ve had different words about people residing in there and there’s been no water since 2002, the electricity’s been secured and we’re just trying to keep the occupant out of the building,” Wilkinsburg Code Enforcement Officer Sean Gramz said.

Agents say in addition to at least one person, they found evidence of a lot of cats, although most were gone by the time animal control agents arrived.

“It was reportedly 15 to 20 cats,” Gramz said.

The woman staying at the house left without incident, taking her belongings away in a shopping cart.

According to building inspectors, she refused the help of social service agency referrals.

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