by Harvie Schreiber
Harvie has been with the Cat House for eight years. She coordinates Facebook and Fundraising for The Cat House on the Kings, fosters kittens, and serves as an Adoption Coordinator and on our Board of Directors.
For the last 28 years of her life, The Cat House on the Kings Founder/Director Lynea Lattanzio has been saving kittens by the thousands. This energetic, outspoken, and hardworking “animal rescue superhero” has spent countless nights hand-feeding and fighting for the most fragile and sick kittens, refusing to give up on them even when told by veterinarians that they wouldn’t pull through. Her tenacity and talents—not to mention her stubborn refusal to take “no” for an answer—has meant life for cat after cat, kitten after kitten. “I am very good, one on one, saving kittens,” explained Lynea as she mentioned that her most recent miracle (a cute Siamese kitten named Addie) was recently spayed. For nearly two months, Lynea cared for and fought for this sick little girl, and Addie’s survival is another victory for Lynea. “She was so close to death that no one thought that she would live overnight. But she did.”
Many of the kittens we’ve written about over the past year were personally saved by Lynea: Bernadette (her paws and tummy were burned on a Taco Truck grill); Mercedes (rescued from a car engine with two broken legs); and countless others. As Lynea quietly celebrates her 70th birthday this month, those of us privileged to work with her just wanted to take a moment to publicly thank her for her life, her work, and for the lives of all those precious cats and kittens that she has personally saved. Please consider dropping a birthday card in the mail for Lynea (7120 S. Kings River Road, Parlier, CA 93648), and making a donation to The Cat House on the Kings in her honor: cathouseonthekings.com/donate
Lynea with fluffies manx
There are still 10 more months of 2019 ahead of us, and we’re hoping that some of you would be willing to help us out and purchase a gorgeous 2019 Cat House on the Kings fundraising calendar. It’s challenging to know how many to order every year, and this year we may have slightly overestimated everyone’s willingness to buy a calendar or two. They are available at The Cat House on the Kings as well as at our Fresno Adoption Center, but the simplest way to order is just by going online: cathouseonthekings.com/calendar.
“Where are all your small kittens?” is a question that our Adoption Coordinators hear over and over, especially this time of year. People frequently don’t realize that Spring is when most unspayed female cats go into season, so the kittens are born two months later. But those newborn kittens will take another 10 weeks or so before they are large enough, old enough, and healthy enough to be spayed/neutered and ready to be adopted. Kittens conceived in March are born in May and will be ready to be adopted in July. Of course, the weather in central California is mild enough that some unspayed cats will have kittens in other months, which is why we always have some kittens, even in January, February, March, and April! One nice result of our seasonal “kitten shortage” is that it gives our teenage kittens, adults, and senior cats a better opportunity to be noticed and adopted. Hundreds of kittens are coming, and we always need foster homes. If you’ve got a spare room (or bathroom) and lots of love, we can use all the help we can get. Please fill out our online foster application if you think you may be able to assist us this Spring and Summer.
In other Cat House on the Kings news, thank you to the Koontz Family Trust for donating a $1,000 grant that we will use to spay and neuter cats and kittens. We appreciate others who share our vision about spaying and neutering. Thank you, also, to Professor Nancy Van Leuven, Ph.D. of Fresno State’s Department of Media, Communication and Journalism and to six of her students who are helping us this semester as Public Relations Interns: Delaney Anthony, Tia Lewis, Amanda Ramirez, Samantha Domingo, Taylor Logue, and Nathalie Gutierrez. They will be taking photographs, promoting us on social media, and helping with our special events and fundraising. Also, be sure to mark your calendars for Saturday, May 4, 2019 for our SPRING OPEN HOUSE that will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Cat House on the Kings’ 12-acre sanctuary along the beautiful Kings River. Volunteers and Silent Auction Donations are needed for this event. Please contact tTammy@cCathouseonthekings[dot]com if you can help with this fun fundraiser!
Isn’t it amazing that one small act on your part can add up to thousands of dollars for The Cat House on the Kings? In 2018, we received more than $25,000 in donations from the AmazonSmile Foundation because of Amazon shoppers like you! (I think I was personally responsible for a sizable portion of that.) For those of you who shop on Amazon either to purchase things for us from our Amazon Wishlist or for yourself, when you choose us as your AmazonSmile Charity at smile.amazon.com/ch/27-0015288, Amazon will make a donation to The Cat House on the Kings. For those of you shopping from our Wishlist, Kitten Quarters Supervisor Karla Cortez has asked me to ask you for kitten food, kitten food, and more kitten food! Of course, kitten food can always be dropped off at The Cat House on the Kings or our Fresno Adoption Center, too.
Spring is around the corner, and that means peacocks and peahens are swarming our 12-acre sanctuary making friends with each other and…making baby peacocks. For years, we’ve had a flock of wild peacocks that have called our property home and who can be found peacefully coexisting with our staff, our cats, our volunteers, and our visitors. Once the peahens lay their eggs and the chicks start hatching, staff scurries around to carefully relocate moms and chicks to safety until the chicks are big enough to fend for themselves. But, right now, mating season is just starting and it’s really a sight to see so many beautiful birds, along with our beautiful cats.
Check out more animal rescue & pet related articles, including more Cat House columns, in our Pet Perspective section and remember that if you buy an ad in KRL you can designate 10% of the ad price to go to the Cat House. Join our Pets Facebook group to keep up with all of our pet articles.
Happy Birthday to Lynea! It’s always great to read about the wonderful work she and her staff are doing in our area!