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.

It’s the time of the year when The Cat House on the Kings staff almost hate hearing the telephone ring. Some days are worse than others, but most days see as many as fifty people calling to ask if we can accept more cats and kittens. I took a moment to look through the intake notes for those kittens we have been able to take in, and they tell a sad story about the status of stray cats in the Central Valley. “Found at a Taco Bell. Found in a taped-up Amazon box on the side of the road. Found on a ranch. Found at a high school. Found in a shed. Found by a local firefighter. Found at a local news station.” One litter actually arrived by truck from Klamath Falls, Oregon, and is being fostered by the finder for The Cat House on the Kings. Please use this as a reminder about how important spaying and neutering your cats, stray cats, neighborhood cats, and community cats is. It’s the ONLY way to help stem the tide of cat overpopulation in this area.

According to Kitten Quarters Supervisor Karla Cortez, recent intakes include a box of eleven kittens found alongside the road in Selma, an injured mom cat who fell into an empty swimming pool and now cannot walk, and a number of other injured and ill kittens. “Right now at The Cat House, we have six litters of bottle babies, so we’re swamped! Those little kittens hear us coming and start crying for food. To provide care for these kittens, many staff members, including Karla, are taking little ones home at night for feedings. One kitten is an adorable black-and-white fluffball named Royce. “A kid called us and said he found two kittens in the road in Parlier. We took them in. One died three days after arriving, but I felt so sad for Royce I brought him home so he wouldn’t be all by himself. He is truly a joy; a lovebug who won’t leave my side!” If you can, please consider shopping for us from our Amazon Wishlist!

After filling out a 45+ page grant application and waiting for months with crossed paws and fingers, The Cat House on the Kings staff were thrilled to receive word that we’ve received a $70,000 lifesaving grant from the Petco Foundation that we will be used to help offset the costs for low-cost spays and neuters in our immediate area. With just a $10 copay for cats, there’s no excuse for not doing the right thing and getting them fixed to “Beat the Heat!”

“Off she goes, into the wild blue yonder …” Did you know that in twenty-seven years of running The Cat House on the Kings, founder/director Lynea Lattanzio has almost never taken a vacation? Well, she’s off now for some well-deserved, long-awaited time off in the form of an adventure-filled road trip to check in on friends and to explore the Pacific Northwest with her trusty Rottweiler, Shilo, by her side. Her little adventure isn’t all fun as she’s also transporting some kittens to a rescue partner in Northern California, and she’ll also be doing her best to share The Cat House on the Kings with people along the way. Watch our website for photos and updates about Lynea’s vacation adventure!

Cat lover Deena Ravicchio loves fostering kittens for The Cat House on the Kings. She’s just finishing up fostering a mom and kittens who were found hiding in a Visalia backyard. Though Deena was initially told that they might be a bit wild, they quickly proved otherwise. This litter was so easy to foster, Deena explained, that she claimed this was the easiest fostering experience she’s had. “My favorite kitten changes from day to day, but I’m partial of the tortie as she’s feisty, spirited, and always very playful.” Deena is excited that two of the kittens are being adopted by a friend, so she will continue to keep tabs on them as they grow up.

It was a beautiful dawn on the morning of May 4 when dozens of volunteers and staff arrived early at The Cat House on the Kings for the Spring Open House. By 10 a.m. when the front gates opened, everything was in place for a fun-filled day of cats, music, food, shopping, and fundraising! As usual, we had hundreds of visitors join us for this very special day, with many traveling from other states for their second, third, or even fourth visit to our twelve-acre sanctuary along the Kings River. We would like to thank the many volunteers and donors who helped make this day such a success; their donations of money, time, and items for our cats and the silent auction are the cornerstones of this biannual fundraising event. We would also like to thank the vendors who joined us (more shopping!) as well as the food trucks and other food vendors who kept us all well fed and happy as we enjoyed petting happy cats! According to Assistant Shelter Director Tammy Barker who is in charge of the Open Houses, the Spring Open House raised about $30,000 for the cats! Of course, this is still less than what it takes to run the Cat House for even one week, so donations are ALWAYS greatly needed and much appreciated. www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate

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 June, 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.