Detectives from the Suffolk County SPCA arrested a Bayport woman on Monday, Nov. 6, with animal cruelty by failing to maintain a habitable living environment for her 14 cats and two dogs and allowing them to live in squalor.

Roy Gross, chief of the Suffolk SPCA, said that its detectives charged Laura Nordstrom, 57, with multiple misdemeanor animal cruelty charges, alleging that Nordstrom failed to provide a habitable living environment for the cats and dogs living in her home.

Assisted by the Suffolk County Police Department and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department, SPCA detectives executed a search warrant at the home, and 14 cats and two dogs were recovered from the residence, many of which were underweight, dehydrated, and covered in urine.

The lack of habitability was evidenced by the extensive amount of urine, feces, mold, and mildew strewn about the home, and the air quality inside the home where the animals were found was so poor and punctuated by the smell of ammonia that investigators had difficulty breathing in that environment.

Staff from the nonprofit Paws Unite People assisted with the rescue.

Nordstrom is scheduled to appear at First District Court in Central Islip on Nov. 24, 2023.