Catherine McCulloch and about three dozen of her supporters and volunteers from Feline Finish Line Rescue crowded into the Catasauqua Borough Council chambers at Monday’s council meeting.

Last summer, McCulloch was cited by Eugene Goldfeder, the borough zoning officer, for having too many cats under her roof and for running a cat rescue business in a residential neighborhood.

A borough residence is limited to housing five cats.

McCulloch claimed she was not running a business because all the cats were adopted at locations other than her house.

McCullough appeared before the borough’s zoning hearing board and presented her case to keep the present arrangement. The board agreed to allow her to rescue cats but limited the number to 10 cats at any one time.

On Monday, McCullough, with her attorney Timothy Pendergast, asked for relief from that restriction. The arguments presented for expanding the number of cats to 25 had already been made to the zoning board and also previously in other presentations to council:

• Services provided by Feline Rescue benefit the borough by reducing the number of feral cats roaming the streets.

• The cats are provided a clean shelter.

• The cats are cared for physically by providing them with food and medical care.

• They are adopted out through local pet stores while hard-to-adopt cats are cared for by volunteers.

• Feline Rescue has a bevy of volunteers who can adequately take care of the cat population.

During the discussion, Councilman Brian Bartholomew commented he has several feral cats roaming his neighborhood and questioned the effectiveness of the organization.

Feline Rescue advocates a trap, neuter and release (TNR) program to control the feral cat population. The idea is that neutered cats will live out the remainder of their lives with no offspring and eventually bring the cat population under control.

Martha Kahan, president of No Nonsense Neutering, added her support.

“We do a lot of the neutering for Feline Rescue,” she said. “The cats are well cared for. I ask that council see it in their best interest to amend the zoning ordinance to continue to offer these services to the community.”

After the meeting, Kahan noted the borough does not have an animal shelter and Feline Rescue provides a great service to the borough by keeping the cat population under control.

“Feline Rescue has a great group of dedicated volunteers that make sure their program works,” she said.

One borough resident has an ongoing, multi-year problem with feral cats. He turns cats over to the SPCA after trapping them with borough-provided traps. The cats make a mess in his landscaping, and that is the rationale for trapping them and removing them from the neighborhood.

Catasauqua Police Chief Douglas Kish was asked why Feline Rescue was not alerted to the problem. Kish replied no one knew of the organization until the middle of last year when a neighbor filed a complaint.

Council met in closed session after the meeting to consider alternatives. No decision was rendered. The discussion will continue at the next council session.