The Humane Society of Mercer County is reminding people in a big way to spay and neuter their cats.

Since Monday, humane agents and volunteers have removed about 50 cats from the home of a Greenville woman and are working on removing more. Half of the cats were dead and the live ones, which were unapproachable, were euthanized because they were too ill to be treated.

It’s a sad situation, agent Cyndi Sankey said Wednesday of Donna Royal, 67, of 170 Clinton St., who was feeding stray cats and letting them stay in her home. After speaking with Ms. Royal, Mrs. Sankey determined she was only trying to do good and the cat population in her home got out of control.

“She told me yesterday she didn’t know there were that many,” Mrs. Sankey said.

The cats have multiplied the last year, leaving Ms. Royal overwhelmed. She had no intention of letting that happen, so it’s not an animal-cruelty case, Mrs. Sankey said.

“The cats have got this house completely overrun. She’s a victim as much as the cats,” Mrs. Sankey said of Ms. Royal.

Ms. Royal has cooperated in letting the Humane Society remove the cats from her home and take the living ones to a local veterinarian. Unfortunately, all of the live cats had to be euthanized because they were sick with feline leukemia or distemper.

Mrs. Sankey said she fears that will be the case with all of the cats once they’re rescued. She said she’s disturbed the problem got so out of hand before it was called to her attention.

Mrs. Sankey said a lot of stray cats roam the neighborhood, which contributed to Ms. Royal’s situation. People who have house cats as pets need to spay and neuter them to control the stray cat population, she said.

“Every neighborhood is overrun by stray cats. It’s a mountain of a task we can’t seem to get to the bottom of,” Mrs. Sankey said, adding it takes a lot of time, money and volunteers to trap strays and have them fixed.

Mrs. Sankey stepped in to help Ms. Royal when 911 called her Saturday night. She was met at Ms. Royal’s home by Greenville firefighters and Greenville-West Salem Township police, who were responding to a 911 call placed by a friend of Ms. Royal’s, who was concerned when she didn’t answer her door.

“It drew a lot of attention to the problem,” Mrs. Sankey said of visiting the cat-filled home, which had become unlivable.

Once the authorities found Ms. Royal was all right, Mrs. Sankey said, she knew the woman needed immediate help because she lives alone on a fixed income and has no family living nearby.

“As much as I love the animal thing, human life has got to come first,” Mrs. Sankey said.

Neighbors offered to let Ms. Royal stay with them and another will pay for Ms. Royal’s home to be cleaned, two gestures for which Mrs. Sankey is grateful.