By asking a few cats to move to smaller quarters and doubling up some of the dogs, the Central Dakota Humane Society's shelter north of Mandan was able to find room for all 25 small dogs that it took in from a dog breeder near Pollock, S.D., on Wednesday.

The dogs, mostly mixed-breed combinations of Maltese, Lhasa, dachshund, Westies and others, were initially bathed, cleaned and examined Wednesday by Humane Society volunteers. Many have eye and skin infections, dental problems and deformed paws, said Sue Buchholz, CDHS shelter director.

The Humane Society was initially notified about the dogs by a concerned person, she said. By contacting the USDA, Buchholz said that they learned the kennel was a licensed breeding facility until February, when it let its license lapse.

The owner had moved off the farm, and the dogs remained housed in a farm outbuilding in a series of wire kennels, she said.

The pens were stacked like rabbit hutches and the dogs had no blankets or toys, she said; a number have splayed toes from standing on bare wire floors. Some dogs from bottom cages had urine scald, burned skin on their feet and stomachs from standing in urine or having urine and feces come down on them from the top cages, Buchholz said. Along with long, untrimmed nails, some have eye infections - one may have to have an eye removed, she said - one has part of a foot missing, and others have green and blackened teeth.

Buchholz told the dogs' owner that the Humane Society would help to find homes for them.

Buying animals is a slippery slope, she said, and the Humane Society doesn't usually have the resources to buy dogs. However, in order to remove the animals as soon as possible, Buchholz called the CDHS members to lobby for funds to purchase the dogs. The owner initially wanted $7,000 for 34 dogs, but agreed to $100 per dog, which members contributed, she said.

"It was a legal way to get them out of there, right now," she said. "We're so happy we did it. We have zero regrets."

Prairie Paws Rescue of Jamestown accompanied CDHS volunteers and took nine of the dogs, which were put into foster care.

Three others, they were told by the owner, were sold and had to be left on the farm to be picked up by purchasers within the week, she said.

"We hated to leave them, but we are happy to get what we could," she said.

For now, they are housed one or two to a kennel, many of which are hung with "quarantined, do not touch"signs while they receive their medical assessments.

They are adoptable, Buchholz said, but will need a minimum of three to four weeks to get acclimated. They also will be vaccinated and dewormed, and have dental work done.

Buchholz said the owner told her that 70 percent of these dogs went to pet stores, but the bottom fell out of the dog market.

"This isn't unusual in the state - there are lots of these around," she said.

For more information, contact the Central Dakota Humane Society at 667-2020.

(Reach reporter Karen Herzog at 250-8267 or karen.herzog@;bismarcktribune.com.)