Menagerie is told to shut its doors

Patricia Martin concedes the situation got a little out of hand.

Police responded to an assault complaint at her Garden Grove home Tuesday and found more than just a shaken woman. Inside Martin’s house were 150 caged cats and kittens, along with two opossums, two doves and a parrot.

The city’s legal limit for adult domestic animals is four, said Ryan Drabek, a spokesman for Orange County Animal Care Services.

For the last four years, Martin, 53, a former veterinary technician, has run an animal rescue organization, Furry Critters Rescue and Rehab, out of her home. She said she takes in diseased and homeless creatures, nurses them to health and puts them up for adoption.

But the Orange County native said that recently she had had a tough time placing a slew of older cats, despite Saturdays spent outside Petco looking for potential owners.

But thanks to news reports about her situation, Martin said, she was able to give away 80 cats Wednesday. Newport Beach Animals Services officer Jayme Rogers came with her crew and left with four, saying that the department wanted to help Martin out of a common situation.

“She just wants to take care of these animals,” Rogers said. She noted that the conditions inside Martin’s home “aren’t bad as others, and I’ve been doing this 23 years.”

Martin declined a reporter’s request to tour the inside of her home or to comment on the alleged assault at her home.

Drabek said Martin had until Dec. 1 to reduce the number of adult animals in her home to four. Martin said she planned to apply for a permit that would allow her to keep more cats.

She said she tried not to get attached to the cats she took in but still got sad when it was time to let one go. “I cry, OK? But you can’t physically touch and love that many cats,” said Martin, standing on her porch piled with kitty food and adorned with a sign that reads “A Spoiled Cat Lives Here.”

“They need people who will love them and hug them and sleep with them at night,” she added. “That’s what they deserve.”

kelley-anne.suarez

@latimes.com