“This poor little kitty is blind but a purr bug once she gets the chance to warm up,” explained Dr. Graham Brayshaw as he pulled a small kitten out of a crate at the Animal Humane Society.

The kitten’s corneas are scarred from an untreated respiratory infection.

A little later, Brayshaw showed reporters Klondike, a Great Pyrenees, covered with bite marks from fighting.

The two are among 35 dogs and 29 cats being treated at the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley.  

“Give them a chance to be spoiled like they deserve, and kind of see what works best for them,” said Lizzie Carr, a Shelter Behavior Specialist at the Humane Society. “To get to take them from those unfortunate circumstances.”

The 64 animals were seized in a Beltrami County cruelty case that was first investigated in October.

RELATED: 2 charged in large-scale animal abuse case in Beltrami County

Sheriff’s Deputies initially found 200 cats and 50 dogs — starved, filthy, and diseased, without shelter or medical care.

“We saw them actually one of the earlier times on scene, even fighting over a piece of stool between them to eat; they were that hungry,” Brayshaw says. “Such a high number and such a low level of care was really worse than anything we had seen before.”

Court documents say deputies first visited Debra Marshal and Douglas Erickson’s home in Hines on Oct. 21, following a report of “possible animal neglect.”

The couple told investigators they were operating an animal rescue.

According to one court filing, deputies — who did a series of welfare checks, told Marshal and Erickson to “address the serious sanitation issues.”

Instead, after a warrant inspection this past Friday, authorities say as many as 170 animals are unaccounted for.

“This is an active investigation,” Brayshaw says. “So, we can’t speculate what happened to the missing animals. We are examining the numerous bones and fragments that were found on the scene in an ash pile next to a wood furnace on the property.”

Marshal and Erickson are each charged with 10 counts of mistreatment or torture of animals. They face a court date on Dec. 30.

Animal Humane Society staffers say some of the rescued animals simply need to put on weight.

They hope some can be put up for adoption in a week or two, but others may have organ damage.

For now, the plan is to help the furry survivors heal.  

“If you put them into a clean environment, you get them good food and water, they’re going to heal from a majority of what we’re seeing,” Brayshaw says.

“See whatever we can do to make them comfortable here, so we can get them out of here and into a home environment,” Carr adds.