The Case of the Victorian Cat Ladies

"Was the stench at Llandudno House really so ungodly awful? Personally, it is hard for me to imagine a smell so strong that it would overtake all the neighboring houses and cause visitors to break out in a feverish sweat."

This author has never been to a cat hoarder's house. Yes, the smell is that bad. The ammonia can be bad enough to literally burn while breathing and requires respirators to trap

Add it Victorian era hygiene standards and construction along with the boiling cabbage and fish offal, and you've got the recipe for a horrible smell.

Like many modern cat hoarders, they start as semi-rescues, then gradually snowball to more cats than can be provided for. It's fascinating that this tale seem remarkably similar, including the somewhat standoffish approach of law enforcement (who often will not or cannot get involved until it becomes a health hazard).

OT: the houses were jerry-built

Ah! A usage of "jerry-built" from well before WWII. I guess it's not a reference to German engineering after all.

cats are very clean animals. They wouldn't do their business just anywhere. If that place is inside the house it is just a matter of regular cleaning of it. Back then, a colony of a farm cats (very close to feral) lived in the attic of my grandmother's house. The attic was clean, they just didn't do it there, probably they were aware that their residence there would overwise be pretty soon terminated. I also once was to a city apartment (in a typical 9-story building in St.Petersburg, pretty high density) where an old lady lived with 17 cats. It was wonderful - they were like kind of furry tornado moving from place to place. The apartment was really clean. Cats were healthy, happy and clean. No smell, etc. Several years ago a couple of 20-something girls moved in to the apartments that we lived at the time. They had a couple of cats. Soon the smell of feces started coming from behind their door and hang in the hallway. A bunch of other people there, including us, had cats too, and it was clear that the girls just didn't take even minimal care. In about a month management had them out.

Modern cat hoarding can be really, really bad, but even at its worst, I think the smell must still be better than that in the same situation in the Victorian era. We have better construction now and many more options for keeping things clean, like enzyme sprays, carpet shampooers, vacuums, and odor-busting cat litter. Back then, the scent of unaltered cat pee would have quickly overtaken the house. With the cabbage and the fish offal, I can see why nuisance officer broke out in a feverish sweat (and I'm not even 100% sure what fish offal is!).