ST..JOHNS (CBC) - Sixteen pets were left in deplorable conditions in an apartment in downtown St. John's for about a week after the tenants moved out without notifying the landlords, police and animal welfare authorities say.

The landlords of the Holloway Street building found 15 cats and one rabbit on Sunday, and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is now looking for the former tenants.

Debbie Powers, a spokewoman for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, believes the animals had been left in the one-bedroom apartment without food and water for about a week. They were malnourished and severely dehydrated, and the litter boxes were full of feces and urine.

"There were feces from one end of the house to the other ... in the sinks, everywhere. It's not the cats' fault. They've been left with nothing. Pee was all over the place. When we were trying to catch the cats we were slipping in the feces trying to pick them up. They're very scared."

Powers said abandoning pets is punishable under the Criminal Code, but the RNC says it's too soon to say if charges will be laid.

The animals are in the custody of the SPCA, which is trying to determine if they can be put up for adoption.

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