A Redmond woman has been ordered to forfeit 20 cats and several other animals after they were found in unsanitary conditions in April.

Catherine Hicks was charged with 28 counts of second-degree animal neglect after authorities were called to her home in the Desert Terrace Mobile Estates in Redmond. At her home, according to a petition for forfeiture filed by Deschutes County legal counsel Darryl Nakahira, a sheriff’s office field law technician found 24 cats, three rats and a dog in Hicks’ single-wide trailer.

Neighbors described an “unbearable” odor of urine and feces coming out of the trailer, as well as swarms of flies.

A technician checked the health of the cats and along with law enforcement checked the living conditions in the home, which according to the petition was covered in animal feces and garbage.

The animals were then seized because of the unhealthy living conditions.

“Hicks agreed with (law enforcement) that her residence was currently not a safe environment for the animals and began calling different cleaning businesses for assistance,” the petition states.

Hicks could not be reached for comment, and her attorney Kirsten Naito did not return a call.

The animals were taken to Brightside Animal Shelter in Redmond, where one of the rats had to be euthanized because of tumors.

According to the petition, all the cats had respiratory infections, 10 had eye infections, three had untreated open wounds and two needed dental care. One of the cats was pregnant, and veterinarians terminated the pregnancy. The dog had dental problems and untrimmed nails.

Deschutes County Sheriff’s Cpl. Neil Mackey said the cat feces was between 4 and 6 inches deep in the trailer.

The Sheriff’s Office wrote and executed a search warrant and seized the animals. Mackey said Hicks “was in over her head.”

He said Hicks was also supposed to own a sugar glider, a small gliding possum similar to a flying squirrel, but that animal was never found.

Mackey said Hicks had not provided the animals with veterinary care after their initial shots, and had created some home-grown remedies to try to keep the animals healthy.

Mackey said this was law enforcement’s first contact with Hicks about animal neglect, but that about six months prior she had hired local residents to help clean her home after neighbors noticed it had grown unkempt. Mackey visited the home recently and found it cleaner than before.

The petition for forfeiture asked that Hicks be forced to put down a security deposit or bond, and asked that she pay $11,778 if she wanted all the animals back. That is the sum of costs incurred by the county caring for the animals since they were seized.

After a hearing in May, Hicks agreed to forfeit all but four cats. Those cats are being held at the Brightside Animal Shelter until the animal neglect case is completed. The other animals have been put up for adoption.

Mackey said Hicks posted $2,500 in order to maintain ownership of the four animals, and noted the cats Hicks selected were three unspayed females and one unneutered male.

If Hicks wins her trial, there’s a possibility she could get the cats back at that time. If she pleads guilty or is found guilty at trial, Mackey said, she likely would not get the animals back. She is scheduled to go to trial in September on 28 charges of second-degree animal neglect. Hicks pleaded not guilty to the charges last week.

By state law, anyone convicted of domestic animal neglect cannot own similar animals for five years.

Nakahira said the county does not get many cases like this, and when his office seeks an animal forfeiture it’s often because of the sheer number of animals and the expense of boarding them.

The animals, according to the petition, appeared well-fed, and Nakahira said the shelter believed the animals would be adoptable once they got healthy.