Coon Rapids woman charged with keeping dozens of cats in squalid conditions

A Coon Rapids woman who allegedly kept 79 cats in her garage in squalid conditions, including many sick kittens, has been charged with animal mistreatment.

Deann Marie Jensen, 59, was first reported to police in October 2022, with callers saying she was selling sick kittens from her house at 230 109th Lane in Coon Rapids, charges say. Jensen told responding officers she ran a “rescue” operation that sold kittens called Scratching Post Number 9, the Anoka County charges say.

Officers returned to the house in February 2023 but were allegedly not permitted by Jensen to enter the garage to see the cats.

A year later, someone reported purchasing two kittens from Jensen but found the kittens were gravely ill and had to be euthanized shortly after they were purchased, the charges say.

Officers then carried out a search warrant in April 2024 and found 79 cats and one deceased kitten in her garage that were kept in wire kennels lining the garage walls. There was an overwhelming smell of ammonia and no ventilation, charges say.

One kennel had a mother cat with weeping eyes and three kittens that had a virus called panleukopenia and had to be euthanized.

A call to Jensen seeking comment was not immediately returned Friday. Online court records did not show an attorney for Jensen on Friday.

Twenty-five of the kittens had signs of ringworm infection and were underweight, the charges allege. One cat named Jack had an eye that ruptured from an infection, which went untreated for over a year, according to the complaint. An interested buyer alleged that Jensen was interested in keeping the cat for breeding purposes.

An Animal Humane Society veterinarian who visited the house for the animals’ seizure said in the complaint that most of the cats’ ailments were treatable if they were caught early.

The five cats that Jensen kept in her house and not in the garage were clean and adequately healthy, the charges say.

Jensen is facing four felony counts of animal mistreatment and one gross misdemeanor charge for mistreatment. Her next court appearance is set for Nov. 8.

In a separate case, the Animal Humane Society announced on Thursday it had rescued 55 cats from an overcrowded home in northern Minnesota. Several of the cats were being treated for respiratory disease, which can spread rapidly in overcrowded conditions, the nonprofit said. The owner released the cats to the Animal Humane Society to get them medical care.

Those cats are being prepared for adoption, the organization said in a Facebook post.