Man turns up at rescue charity with 76 cats in the back of his car and says 'I can't do it anymore'

Man turns up at rescue charity with 76 cats in the back of his car and says 'I can't do it anymore' A total of 112 cats were surrendered to Hector's House Cat Rescue in Torquay after the man admitted he could no longer care for the pets A man who admitted he "can't do it anymore" turned up at an animal rescue charity with 76 cats in the back of his car, crammed into a crate and loose in the footwells and on the dashboard. The man ended up handing over a total of 112 cats after Hector's House Cat Rescue in Torquay, Devon, answered the door to the caller who said he "can't do it" and needed them to take the cats. In the back of his car, there was a crate full of animals piled on top of one another as well as loose cats in the footwells and on the dashboard. A group from the rescue charity began "wrangling" between 20 and 30 loose cats before managing to secure them in carriers. One by one, the cats were then taken out of the crates and counted, with rescuers counting 76 in total. But that wasn't the end as they learned there were more cats at the person's property. The group arranged a collection on November 8, with 36 more cats rescued bringing the total to 112. Hector's has now returned five cats to the man. The rescue's founder Zara Oldfield, 58, said: "In front of our rescue manager was a very upset person. He said 'I just can't do it anymore, I need you to take these cats'. We had to move them into the centre, there was no choice. "We didn't have space, but we can't let these cats that are not well stay there. The ones at the bottom of the crate didn't look well at all. We had a long chat with the person surrendering these cats and it became clear there were more at his property. He didn't know how many more there were. "We have contacts with the RSPCA and explained the situation to see if they could provide any space on Sunday morning. By lunchtime they'd arranged for several branches to attend and take cats straight away from site. "Because the property was a little away from the car park we created a chain and as we secured the cats we passed them down and put them into the appropriate vans. They were all photographed and assessed. Some went straight to the vets because they weren't well and a couple had breathing difficulties." The rescue charity already had 60 cats in their care, split between foster homes and the centre. Their priority was getting them to the vets to have them all neutered, microchipped, flea treated, parasite treated, and health checked. They have now completed all the checks with the help of Griffiths Veterinary Centre and Estuary Vets Topsham. The RSPCA has now taken 47 cats to different branches and Margaret Green Animal Rescue in Tavistock took 16. They agreed to return five of the man's cats once they had been neutered and microchipped. 44 of these cats are still in the charity's care. They are said to be "remarkably well" with most just "grubby" and underweight. Zara said: "He's made the right decision. It's not just the cats that needed help. The owner needed help desperately. We'll be looking for homes from next week. I'd like to point out that neutering is the most important thing you can do to avoid this situation and for the health of your animal." You can register your interest in adopting one of the cats by clicking here.