Farmington adopts residential cat limit

Kevin Grenz loves cats. But earlier this year, the 70 or so felines that roamed his Farmington home became too much. Most of his monthly Social Security check went to their care, and officials say the corner of his living room had become a community litter box.

So the 47-year-old wrote to the Whitman County Humane Society and asked for help.

Humane society employees went to the man’s home in the tiny town – population 150 – near the Idaho border and took about 35 cats, said Greg Wust, humane society president. The rest will stay with Grenz, who Wust said wants to continue a cat breeding business he claims to run from the house.

Grenz hasn’t been charged with a crime, and Wust is adamant the cats were not abused.

Grenz’s case prompted the Farmington Town Council to adopt an ordinance Monday night limiting the number of cats a Farmington citizen can own to four. Before Grenz’s case became public, the town didn’t regulate cats.

“It needed to be done,” said Laura Hokenson, Farmington’s mayor. “I think it’s pretty awful that anybody would have that many cats staying in their house.”

But Farmington lacks a police force. So even with the ordinance, there’s not much the city can do other than write Grenz letters reminding him of the cat limit, Hokenson said.

“Pretty much what we’re going to do is make it technically illegal,” Hokenson said.

Grenz’s mother, Wanda Grenz, said the ordinance is not necessary. Her son plans to give more of his cats to the humane society once “they’re old enough to leave their mothers,” she said.

She emphasized what Wust had said: Kevin Grenz takes great care of his cats. He just had too many.

“That’s why he called them to help him,” Wanda Grenz said. “It was awfully hard for him to do it, but he knew it was the best thing to do.”

The humane society will continue to stay in contact with Grenz and try to persuade him to get more of his cats fixed, Wust said.

“It’s a man that basically got a few cats, thought about breeding them for sale and it kind of grew on its own,” he said. “There was absolutely no abuse or neglect.”

Grenz said her son treats his cats as if they are his children. “They’re just big babies,” she said.