WILDWOOD, Mo. — From the outside of a serene property on Country Trails Court, you might never guess the filth on the other side of the door. The order to vacate sign is a hint.

You can’t walk without tripping over food dishes and litter boxes. The spaces where you can walk are covered with food and litter.

Every piece of furniture was a scratching pad for the 180 cats that were inside.

There are air fresheners on every vent—and buckets of coal, which were futile attempts to cut the odor.

It’s Bryan Fischer’s childhood home. He told us, “You can’t be in here for more than five minutes without smelling like cat (urine).”

Fischer was only recently able to re-enter after being kept away for years by a relative who moved in with his parents.

“This was their home,” Fischer said after taking a deep breath and fighting tears.

His old room is one of eight bedrooms you can’t even walk into.

“It’s literally a litter box,” he said.

The sinks and tubs in the nine bathrooms were turned into toilets for cats.

The game room, which Fischer remembers as one of the prime places to gather during the holidays, is now unrecognizable, covered with pieces of a couch shredded by cats.

“In good condition, this home would be worth about $1.3 million,” he said.

There’s even cat hair in the cobwebs. The five-car garage has room for only one car because of empty food bags and boxes.

It all happened in a matter of about two years when a relative moved in with his parents and prohibited anyone else from entering—even posting a note on the door threatening family with trespassing if they tried.

“She kept us out because she knew if we got in here, we would do exactly what we did,” Fischer said.

His sister, Carolyn Haydon, was the first to raise the alarm with FOX 2 in September, sharing pictures she’d obtained of the inside when the cats were still there—and complaining that adult protective services would not act.

“I was called by the social worker that had been assigned to the house. Her response was, ‘I’ve gone out and knocked several times. I have visited. Nobody answers,’ and I said, ‘Isn’t that concern enough?’”

Things only changed when Fischer and Haydon’s mother died. It was tragic news they learned about from a neighbor a week after her death. That’s when they convinced the courts their dad needed protection.

“He is doing a lot better. He is excited to be out. He gets to hang out with people now,” Fischer said.

The Department of Health and Senior Services told FOX 2 that it does not conduct welfare checks; rather, it relies on police. The St. Louis County Police Department said they did welfare checks, making contact with people inside who said they were fine. But they could not see enough from the front door that would cause alarm.

Now that people can get inside, authorities are investigating.

“I hope that in the future, when people say that there are things going on, people take action. We have government agencies specifically for this, and none of them believed us,” Fischer said.