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.

Just after Valentine’s Day, an adorable, fluffy kitten was brought to The Cat House on the Kings with a badly broken leg. We’re not sure how that happened, but we expect she may have been struck by a car. The veterinarian was unable to save her leg, so she’s now had it amputated and has been spayed. Though she’s now a tripod kitten, this doesn’t slow her down one little bit and she is still just as adorable as ever. Isn’t it amazing how resilient cats and kittens can be?

Since she’s been such a loving and special kitten, Lynea (who watched over this precious girl) has nicknamed her “Special D” since non-stop purring is her specialty. This fluffy girl is a Maine Coon mix and has fluff for days; it’s expected that she will grow into a big cat with lots and lots of delightful fluffitude. We really appreciate the generous donations that we received for her which allowed us to cover the cost of her amputation surgery and other veterinary expenses.

Many of the cats and kittens we’re rescuing this year need extra vet care and attention, and your donations for them are much-needed and warmly received.

By the time this column goes to press, she should be listed online for adoption!

Earlier this Spring, The Cat House on the Kings staff received a phone call from Kings County Animal Services asking if we could rescue an older Siamese kitten with a broken pelvis and a broken tail. Despite her serious injuries (once again, we suspect she was hit by a car), she has proven herself so over-the-top sweet that she has been nicknamed Sugar. This spunky girl is on the petite side that makes her look a bit younger than her seven months, and she doesn’t seem to mind (or notice) that her tail had to be amputated. Like many Siamese cats, she is very vocal and will chirp and meow for attention and petting and will let you know when you may stop. This beautiful, special needs sweetheart will need just the right home where she can be cherished, pampered and treated like a princess! Online applications are required for all our cats and kittens.

Recently, The Cat House on the Kings founder/director Lynea Lattanzio rescued a very BIG, very special cat named Lindy. Lindy is a Savannah Cat (Serval cross) who spent 14 years in a cage, producing about 20 litters. This beautiful girl received no socialization, little human interaction, and when she stopped breeding she was sold to someone who also kept her in a 3 x 5 cage. She is now safe at The Cat House on the Kings in Lynea’s house; she has been spayed and she’s learning about love, affection, and how to be a (very large) cat. Lynea is covered with her scratches but just takes those in stride; she is quite angry about the breeder who “stole” Lindy’s life for years. “She is a beautiful girl whose life has been destroyed by humans looking to make a few bucks,” said Lynea. Lynea’s dream is to create a small sanctuary-within-a-sanctuary for Lindy where she has space to really roam and live life fully if she doesn’t socialize well enough to be released on our 12 acres.

Sometimes in rescue, there’s good news mixed with sad news. Not long ago, The Cat House on the Kings rescued a beautiful white older kitten with a nasty wound on her flank that required a lot of care and treatment. Our staff spent hours with her and eventually were able to heal this blue-and-green-eyed beauty who received the nickname Honey for her sweetness. When she went in to get spayed, we discovered that she has Feline Leukemia, which means she isn’t adoptable and will instead need to live out her life under the watchful care of our staff in our FeLlV ward. This is a bittersweet victory since we saved her life from her wound, but we’d hoped that she would be adoptable and would have a very long life in the future. But there are sad endings as well as happy endings in rescue, and our staff has learned to just keep fighting for the next rescued cat. In the meantime, Honey is doing just fine.

The Cat House on the Kings would like to thank those who donate to us through the PayPal Giving Fund! We have just received a $585.30 grant from PayPal Giving Fund from donors who recommended grants to our charity through charitable giving programs on PayPal, eBay, Humble Bundle and other leading internet businesses.

We just received a check for $1,588.18 thanks to Beatrice who donated her car to help our cat rescuing efforts. We’ve partnered with a car donating organization and they make this process simple for you and simple for us! For more information on how to donate a car to The Cat House on the Kings: cardonatingiseasy.org/donate/?CharityID=3650

Our Poker for Paws Fundraiser Poker Tournament at Club One Casino in Fresno was a “purrfect” success and raised about $6,500 for our cats and kittens. Did you know that our relationship with Club One Casino started a few years ago when we assisted them with doing some TNR (trap/neuter/return) near their Downtown Fresno Casino? At that time, we rescued some adorable kittens who were given cute gambling-themed names like Chip and Roulette and Blackjack! The lucky people who adopted those kittens sure hit it big (they were really, really great kittens.) Thank you to Club One for the Poker Tournament and for providing support for our Open Houses, too!

Speaking of Open Houses, Saturday May 4 is the day for our Spring Open House which will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Cat House on the Kings in Parlier. We’re desperately short on donations for our Silent Auction and we’re really hoping that we can get more donations dropped off (if you’re local) or shipped to us (if you’re not local.) Gift certificates, collectibles, home or garden décor, purses, and artwork are all the type of things we can use, but we’re open to all sorts of items, really! Please send an email to Tammy@cCathouseonthekings[dot]com so she can give you the dropping off or mailing details for these donations.

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.

We have also just set up a new email mailing list for KRL’s new pets newsletter. We probably won’t be sending anything out until May, but wanted to start getting subscribers-click this link to subscribe. It will only go out once a month and will keep you up to date on all of our pet articles, including the Cat House column, and hopefully some extra content each month.