PROSPECT — State police responding to an animal welfare check last month discovered six dogs and three cats in an unoccupied trailer home with floors covered in feces.

The animals — for at least two days — had no food, police said. The dogs had no water either.

The home at a trailer court on David Street in Prospect also had no heat. The inside temperature was only several degrees above freezing.

A subsequent examination, authorities said, determined the dogs had parasite infection.

On Tuesday, police charged the owner, Sona M. Murphy, 41, of Worthington, Armstrong County, with nine counts of cruelty to animals and six counts each of neglect of animals and failing to license the dogs.

Trooper Philip Treadway said he began his investigation Jan. 13 after a neighbor contacted police and advised them of his concern for the dogs' well-being at the trailer next door.

Following his own on-scene inspection, Treadway was unable to speak to the homeowner. He then notified the county's animal response team, which recommended an immediate rescue of the dogs and cats.

Treadway got a first-hand look at the conditions in the home, which had a temperature reading of 38 degrees, police said.

“The floor in every room in the residence was covered in feces and urine,” the trooper said in his affidavit.

There was no food for any of the animals. Only the cats could access water from a small bowl on the kitchen counter.

The animals were taken to the Butler County Humane Society and tested. All six dogs, documents said, were found to be infected with giardia, an intestinal parasite.

The disease, authorities said, is transmitted through exposure to the feces of an exposed animal.

Treadway eventually tracked down and spoke to Murphy on Jan. 24. She admitted taking the dogs and cats to the trailer home Jan. 10 and leaving them.

She returned Jan. 13 to check on them, but acknowledged that she had not been back since then.

According to police, she was unaware that the animals had been removed and were in the custody of the state.

“When questioned about leaving the animals without food, water or heat,” Treadway's affidavit said, “Murphy had no response.”

A preliminary hearing was not immediately scheduled.

Online court records did not list an attorney for Murphy, who could not be reached for comment.