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.

Doesn’t your living room sofa need a splash of color and whimsy? We think so! This beautiful 62”x53” cotton throw/lap quilt called “Psychedelic Cats” is filled with vibrant, eye-catching colors. The drawing will take place at our Spring Open House on Saturday, April 18, 2020. Raffle tickets are just $1 each. For every 20 tickets you purchase in advance, you will get one free. To enter send a check/money order payable to: The Cat House on the Kings with “RAFFLE TICKETS” in the memo section. Our address is: 7120 S. Kings River Rd., Parlier, CA 93648-9720. Or you may also call our office at (559) 638-0030 to purchase tickets with a credit card ($20 minimum). You need not be present to win. Shipping is free to U.S. addresses. If you want to enter the drawing from outside the USA, you may do so as long as you are willing to pay shipping costs for the quilt!

The Cat House on the Kings Spring Open House is just around the corner (Saturday, April 18, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.), and already our staff and volunteers are working toward making this important fundraiser as successful as possible. Since we are only going to have ONE Open House per year (starting this year), we will really need local help when it comes to finding volunteers, vendors, and silent auction donations. If you can help with any of these things, please drop an email to Tammy@Cathouseonthekings[dot]com for more information and to sign up. Vendors interested in participating should email amandab@cathouseonthekings[dot]com for more information. Even if you’re not local, and you’re willing to ship a donated item to us, we’d love to have it. Please mark your calendars and make your plans to join us in April, especially if you haven’t recently visited our 12-acre sanctuary along the beautiful Kings River and had the chance to frolic with hundreds of fantastic felines. Check out the flyer.

What do you name a kitten that was rescued on Valentine’s Day? Valentino, of course! Sweet little Valentino was found on the grounds of Sierra High School and was scooped up by one of the teachers who noticed that he had some eye deformities. This adorable tabby fellow has entropion eyes, a condition in which a portion of a cat’s eyelid is turned inward against the eyeball rather than lying flush around it. This causes the eyes to water and be irritated, and if untreated surgically can result in permanent blindness in animals. Our plan is to have a veterinarian surgically treat Valentino’s eyes when he’s ready (and neuter him at the same time). These operations, like so many, will cost hundreds of dollars, but we want to do our best for Valentino and his future. We hope that you can help us pay for vet care for Valentino and so many others like him. You can mail a check to us at: CHOTK, 7120 S. Kings River Road, Parlier CA 93648, or call (559) 638-0030 to make a credit card donation over the phone, or donate online at our website, www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate.

At The Cat House on the Kings, some of our cats get adopted twice. When Lulu was a three-month-old kitten way back in 2011, she was adopted by a very nice lady who loved her dearly and who cared for her until recently, when she entered hospice. Lulu came back to us and was a bit frightened and bewildered at our Fresno Adoption Center. After recovering from some minor illnesses, she began venturing out into our Adult Cat Room and accepting pettings and cuddles from interested potential adopters. But was there a new home for this fluffy eight-year-old girl? Morgan Acree had been thinking about adopting a kitty for some time and had been looking at our website. Morgan spotted Lulu and told her friend and coworker Christine Bagetakos (who volunteers for The Cat House on the Kings), “I want her!” Christine recommended that they meet as soon as possible. As soon as Morgan met Lulu, she knew that this cat was the one for her. “I loved her the moment I saw her. She needed me, I needed her, and it was a perfect match.” We’re told Lulu is doing well and is settling in beautifully in her new home.

We recently heard from Vanessa Quinones who adopted Bella from The Cat House on the Kings almost two years ago. This once frail kitten went through the horrific experience of being shot with a BB gun and, according to Vanessa, “She is now thriving and living life to the fullest. She [is] very curious. Being the youngest of cats, she loves to play with, and sometimes bug, her older siblings. She is full of love and has brought so much joy to our lives. Thanks again for all the amazing work you all do!” Bella has now been renamed Olive, Vanessa added.

We also received a recent “Happy Tails” follow-up from Lauralee Huber, who adopted sweet little Phoebe. Phoebe was a tripod (three-legged) kitten who managed to steal the hearts of every Cat House staff member and volunteer who met her. And her new “mom” is equally smitten with this delightful kitten. “She’s the best! We love her so much. She sleeps under the blankets with me a lot and cuddles.”

The Cat House on the Kings has just received a $2,799.66 grant from the PayPal Giving Fund. PayPal Giving Fund receives donations from generous donors who recommended and donated to The Cat House on the Kings through charitable programs on PayPal, eBay, GoFundMe, CrowdRise, Airbnb, Humble Bundle, and other platforms. We also recently received a check for $50 from Martha J. who explained that her child hosted a lemonade stand to raise money for The Cat House on the Kings’ kitties. Isn’t that the sweetest gesture? As you know, cat rescue is expensive and every dollar counts and helps us. Kitten season never ends for us, which means that we hope that your donations keep flowing in to support our rescue efforts: www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate. You can also shop directly for us at The Cat House on the Kings from our Amazon Wishlist: www.cathouseonthekings.com/wishlist.

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 an email mailing list for KRL’s new pets newsletter. It is still a work in progress-click this link to subscribe. It will only go out once every couple of months or so 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.