Cats are lovely animals that make great companions at home, but can you imagine living with 191?

Well, one Swedish woman in a Stockholm suburb shared her home with her mother, her sister, her son and 191 cats.

Social services were alerted by a concerned citizen who suggested someone check the living conditions within the home and if you think having one pet is messy, imagine what this family was working with.

Authorities visited the home which they described as appalling with cats everywhere, including tables, countertops and window ledges; also they found sick and hurt animals as well as overflowing litter boxes.

“There was an incredible stench of ammonia that made the air hardly breathable,” Marie Lundin, a Stockholm social services veterinarian.

All in all many of the animals were sick or injured and 173 had to be euthanized on the spot.

The remaining 18 were entrusted to animal shelters.

Although the consequence of housing too many cats was lethal, most people- even social services representative Karina Burlin - believe that the family meant well.

“Such people really love animals and have good hearts. They think they can take care of them, but we don’t agree,” she said.

In Sweden the law states that a family can live with a maximum of 9 cats.

Yet this is not the first case of animal hoarding in Sweden and Burlin shared with the Associated Press how a woman in 2007 was discovered living with 11 swans in a one bedroom apartment in Stockholm.

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