SHADYSIDE — A domestic violence call on Thursday led to four children and dozens of cats being removed from a Shadyside home due to allegedly deplorable conditions, according to Shadyside police.

James Groh and Debora Groh both were arrested Thursday according to Shadyside Police. James Groh was arrested on domestic violence and child endangerment charges, while Debora Groh was arrested on child endangerment charges.

According to police, Shadyside Police Officer Brenen Collette was called to the Grohs’ home on Lincoln Avenue Thursday on a third-party domestic dispute call. When he arrived, he discovered four children and 38 cats in the house.

“The living conditions were extremely deplorable. There were no litter boxes, and no beds,” Shadyside Police Chief Don Collette said. “You couldn’t get downstairs because they dumped all of the trash in the basement. It was so full that you couldn’t even get down the steps.”

He added that the parents were arrested and the Belmont County Children Services came to get the four children and the cats were removed from the house by Belmont County Hoof and Paw humane officer Julie Larish.

Larish said that this is not the first time that the Groh family has been required to relinquish an extensive amount of cats from their home.

“With this particular family, we had taken 35 cats from them almost three years ago as a courtesy to CPS,” she said. “They had four fixed cats and a couple of unfixed cats that they were under contract to get fixed. And within two years we’re back up to 38 cats.”

Larish added that, regardless of a cat being an inside or outside pet, they need to be fixed because they populate very fast.

“It’s horrendous. No child should have to live like that,” Brenen Collete said. “It’s horrible, it’s basically a landfill.”

Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services director Jeff Felton said that he appreciates the police department’s rapid response.

“We work really well together as a team; they know that they can rely on us. They don’t want to have to sit and watch kids until we get there. So we try to respond very quickly so that they can take care of the criminal part of it and not worry about the kids being taken care of,” Felton said. “We try to get there as quickly as possible. Sometimes it takes a little while, depending upon where the caseworker is but we appreciate that relationship we have with our local law enforcement.”