2nd House Full of Cats Linked to Va. Woman

"I know I'm the villain," she said, her voice full of despair. "But if they're saying I'm cruel to animals, that's just not right. . . . They're dear cats. I love them."

Neighbors complained to police in August 2001 about odors in their prosperous neighborhood near George Washington's Mount Vernon plantation. At the time, police found more than 120 cats, many of them Siamese. All but five were removed.

But Knueven said her cat population continued to grow as she continued to collect homeless animals. She confined them to the family room, kitchen and garage. She fed them expensive, name-brand food, and they went about having litters.

In September 2002, neighbors lodged another complaint about odors, this time with the county Health Department. Agency officials said that Knueven did extensive renovation and cleaned up waste and that in mid-November the case was closed. But it was not the end of the story.

Knueven said that over the years, she had taken cats to the local animal shelter, but the number continued to grow. "It mushroomed," she said.

A "cat collector" is generally considered a person who accumulates cats without the space, resources or ability to care for them properly. John Yetman, chairman of the county's Hoarding Task Force, said trouble typically begins when people don't realize that their collections have expanded beyond their control.

"There's a point in time when their reason and decision-making alter and they start making bad choices," Yetman said.

Fairfax police said there are no hard-and-fast rules on how many cats a person can own.

"There's no such thing as too many cats," said Officer Richard Henry. "But what [officials] look for are unsanitary conditions, and often they're alerted to the problem by a lack of a rabies certificate," which carries a criminal charge.

Before last night's discovery, Knueven was caught putting 32 cats, which had eluded the county's traps at the Mount Vernon house, into travel carriers, police said. Police said she was trying to sneak the animals out of the house; Knueven said she was trying to avoid a repeat of the trauma caused when animal control officers rounded up the vast majority Friday.

Police said only eight of 219 live cats they recovered in the Mount Vernon area house were spared euthanasia. They said the rest were feral and sick and would have threatened the health of other animals at the animal shelter.