TEMECULA -- The nine surviving puppies recovered Friday from a rural property where more than 200 cats and dogs were found dead are showing signs of improvement and may be ready for adoption in three weeks, a local animal shelter official said.

The puppies and one well-mannered adult dog were saved while 115 feral cats and dogs found alive were later euthanized.

"(The puppies) are really flourishing," said Willa Bagwell, executive director of Animal Friends of the Valleys in Lake Elsinore, adding that the 5-week-old dogs have been placed in foster homes for now.

"The puppies are being socialized, nurtured and medicated," she added.

Bagwell said a local family has already adopted the adult dog. The 10-year-old cockapoo is named Johnny Otis and was the property owner's personal dog, Bagwell said.

The 115 cats and dogs that were euthanized were feral and disease-ridden, she said.

Animal control officers Friday afternoon found 204 dead animals decomposing in plastic bags at the 5-acre site.

Bagwell called it the "most disgusting thing" she's seen in her 21-year career.

The resident and owner of the animals, Elisao Jimenez, 66, was arrested Friday by Temecula police on suspicion of animal cruelty.

He posted bond on $5,000 bail Saturday and was released from jail the same day.

Jimenez is scheduled to be arraigned in late February, however the Riverside County district attorney's office has yet to formally charge him.

A chain-link fence in front of Jimenez's rural property was locked Thursday. There were no signs of the man at the residence, which sits atop a small hill and is shaded by several trees.

The property is located near a nursery about 2 miles east of Chaparral High School off Nicolas Road.

A neighbor who lives directly across from Jimenez said he saw the man from a distance Monday and Tuesday, but hadn't seen him since.

Bagwell said earlier this week she did not know how the 204 dogs and cats died. Some were puppies and kittens, others were full-grown, she said. She said there was no pet food found except for a small bowl of cat food in a bathroom in a mobile home on the property.

Animal control officers had to go through 100 bags of feces, as police officers had asked them to make sure no human body parts were on the property, Bagwell said.

At times, animal control officers were gagging, and their eyes burning, because of the condition of the mobile home, which the dogs had access to, she said. The dogs and cats were kept in separate kennels.

Authorities learned of the situation after responding to a call from a neighbor who reported there were two vicious dogs running loose on the property on Liefer Road, Bagwell said.

Most of the dogs were chow and rottweiler mixes, she said.

On Thursday, several neighbors said they complained in the past to Animal Friends, which runs the shelter and provides animal control services for Temecula.

Janet Allen, who can see Jimenez's property from her backyard off Diego Drive, said she called two or three times about barking dogs.

She said she also expressed concern to staff members at Animal Friends that some of the dogs may have been attacking one another.

"I called repeatedly," Allen said.

Bagwell said her computer records show only two dog barking complaints have been made regarding the property.

She said each time animal control officers responded to the site, only to find a locked gate. They left a note on the gate about the complaints, she said.

"We were never told more was going on," she said.

Contact staff writer Chris Nichols at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 5426, or cnichols@californian.com