by Jackie Dale

Jackie is a part of Cat House On The Kings in Parlier and does a monthly column on the Cat House here at KRL.

Auctions Donations Needed
The Open House is fast approaching and will be here before you know it. Please, please, please think of something you could donate to our silent auction. The auction is the big money maker for The Cat House and we really need your donations. With the number of abandoned, rescued, and injured animals coming in, we need your help more than ever. I challenge everyone to find something they can donate to our auction. Use your imagination and know that each and every effort you make will benefit the cats and kittens that find themselves depending on The Cat House for their very existence. If you have a donation question or you wish to volunteer at The Open House, please send an email to tammy@cathouseonthekings[dot]com (Please use an all caps subject line so Tammy can spot your email.)

We are also pre-selling our 25th Anniversary t-shirts so order yours now because there is a limited supply. The shirts are also available in tank top style. Orders will be shipped out by April 7.

Tickets are still available for the quilt raffle. Ashley Cash crafted a beautiful Spring-themed quilt from 100% cotton quilt shop quality fabric. The quilt measures 54″ X 54″ and is covered with adorable kitty faces. Ashley’s rescue cat, Geronimo, closely supervised the construction. The drawing will be held May 6, 2017, at our Spring Open House.

Raffle tickets are only $1 each! (For each 20 tickets you purchase, you get one free!)
You need not be present to win. We will ship the quilt anywhere in the world. To enter the raffle: send a check or money order payable in U.S. funds to The Cat House on the Kings and marked “RAFFLE TICKETS” in the memo section. Mailing address: The Cat House on the Kings, 7120 S. Kings River Rd., Parlier, CA 93648. (Please include a phone number in case you win!) To use a credit card, call our (California) office at (559) 638-0030. ($20 min.) Your ticket numbers will be recorded for the drawing, but we are saving on postage and not mailing ticket stubs. Sorry, we are not permitted to accept raffle ticket payments online. Raffle questions? Send an email to info@cathouseonthekings[dot]com.

We have hundreds of hungry mouths to feed so we are always grateful and appreciative when people choose to shop for us from our Amazon Wish List. Amazon ships your order directly to The Cat House on the Kings. In addition, there are a lot of non-food items on our list as well.

Humphrey has taken over foster mom’s Tammy’s home and even the dog bed

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The Good
I was asked by a woman in my yoga class to help with five community cats. The neighbors decided to pay the expense themselves, so I made appointments and showed up in Selma (Selma, big surprise there, eh?) with five traps. I finished setting up the traps and within five minutes two cats entered one trap, and I had the rare “two-fer.” I took the two and left. The rest of the kittens were caught by morning. All five of them were….girls. The one cat had to have her tail amputated. I told the people that they really dodged a bullet by taking action before all five became pregnant and there were 15-20 more cats running around. I returned the cats and in addition to paying for the spays, they gave me $50 for my efforts!

The Bad (neighbor)
I got a call from a lady in Kingsburg. Her neighbor had disowned her cat and quit feeding her claiming that she was SO tired of the cat having kittens. In fact, mom cat had just had litter #6. The lady had fixed two females but ran out of money, so I agreed to help with the four boys. In addition she had one unfixed girl living in a crate in her house. I removed that cat, got her fixed, and will re-home her. The males will be fixed and returned as I work on finding homes for them.

Newborn

The Ugly
I received a call from a woman in a nearby town about feral cats in the alley behind her home. She said a neighbor fed them but didn’t get any of them fixed. She wanted to know if I trapped them, would The Cat House kill them, and I assured her that would never happen. She repeatedly stated “they aren’t my cats,” and I told her that I heard that so much it was going to be the title of my book. She wasn’t amused. I explained the options while she continued to whine and moan over and over about how this was so unfair. She absolutely would not pay. She wanted them gone. Period. I sighed and gave my “I have no magical land where I keep endless numbers of wild/unwanted cats” speech. I told her we could at least keep the problem from getting worse by raising some money and trapping and fixing the cats. “No, not good enough” she says. My reply? “So you want me, a volunteer and a total stranger to assume your problem and pay for it too?” We went around and around like this for about 30 minutes. Finally, she asked if once I had them trapped, would The Cat House just euthanize them? With horror I realized her previous inquiry about The Cat House killing the cats was not an assurance that nothing would happen to them, but a request for the cats to be killed. I told her that if that was her only solution to the problem then our conversation was over because I would NEVER agree to trap and kill cats. She told me to “Have a Nice Day” and hung up. I don’t think she really meant it.

And In Other News
The first ever wedding at The Cat House apparently generated some interest because there are already two more weddings scheduled to take place this year.

Our Poker for Paws fundraiser raised $5,800 and that included a generous donation from Club One of Fresno. We are so grateful for their amazing generosity!

Take a virtual stroll through our online store to see our new shirts. With summer coming you will need one of our new hats to keep the scorching summer sun off your face while letting people know you support The Cat House. We still have coloring books and those reusable shopping bags everyone needs these days.

Learn more about the Cat House on their website and you can donate here.

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.

Jackie Dale is a freelance writer who lives in Reedley with her husband of 25 years, Frank, and their 2 children. Jackie currently writes for The Cat House on the Kings Feline Rescue. A former ballerina, Jackie now teaches yoga and fitness classes privately and at local area gyms.