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.
Life hasn’t changed for the hundreds of cats at The Cat House on the Kings. They still wander our 12-acre sanctuary along the Kings River, enjoying the sunshine, the breezes, and the fresh air. They sleep curled in warm beds near our pellet stove in the Big House, and in the dozens of smaller buildings scattered around the property. Every morning, they wait for the arrival of staff for their breakfast of canned food mixed with supplements, as well as for some petting, companionship, and activity. The sameness of their daily routine is comforting to them because they know what each day will bring. The same cannot be said for the staff and volunteers of The Cat House on the Kings, or for the rest of the world.
What started as a bewildering and fast-spreading respiratory virus in one small part of China has now swept around the world, disrupting the lives of millions of people and causing concern, panic-shopping, event cancellations, and “social distancing” (a phrase we’d never heard before this year). For The Cat House on the Kings, we’ve followed the recommendations of federal, state, and local authorities and have canceled our April 18 Spring Open House. As you know, this decision wasn’t easy as this is a major fundraiser for us every year and we’d hoped to raise $30,000 from the event. Our budget depends on it. Our cats depend on it. Because this event has been canceled (and is not going to be rescheduled this year), we’re asking people to please make a special donation to us to offset the loss of this income. You can mail a check to us at CHOTK, 7120 S. Kings River Road, Parlier CA 93648, call (559) 638-0030 to make a credit card donation over the phone, or donate online at our website, www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate.
Even though the Open House is canceled, our Spring Quilt Raffle is still going to take place with the drawing on Monday, April 20, 2020. (We’re trying not to giggle about the fact that we’re raffling off a “Psychedelic Cats” quilt on 4/20, but it’s good to find humor where you can, right?) These dreary times just scream out for color, and our beautiful 62″ x 53″ cotton throw/lap quilt called “Psychedelic Cats” is filled with vibrant, eye-catching colors! Raffle tickets are just $1 each. To enter, send a check/money order payable to The Cat House on the Kings with “RAFFLE TICKETS” in the memo section. Our address: 7120 S. Kings River Rd., Parlier, CA 93648-9720. Or you may call our office at (559) 638-0030 to purchase tickets with a credit card ($20 minimum). You need not be present to win as we will ship the quilt to you.
This little love is Kevin. He was found crying and alone in some bushes not far from the Fresno Airport. We discovered that he had a badly injured and dislocated front leg that had to be amputated because of nerve damage. Sweet little Kevin is a purring lovebug who is doing well in foster care and who is getting around remarkably well for a tripod kitten. So many of the kittens we rescue come to us with medical issues and special needs, but we do our very best to get them healed and healthy so that they can find wonderful new homes. Kevin has recovered enough from his surgery that he’s now ready for a wonderful new home. Check out cathouseonthekings.com/adoption/cat.php?id=19568
Kevin
We’ve always known that Cat House on the Kings founder/director Lynea Lattanzio was a remarkable woman, and now she was just recognized by Nexstar Media in our local broadcast area as the winner of their “Remarkable Women” initiative. “Remarkable Women” is a nationwide Nexstar program celebrating International Women’s Month to honor the influence that women have had on public policy, social progress, the quality of life, and to acknowledge the great contributions that women, like Lynea, have made to our nation and local communities. Lynea was honored at a local luncheon and was supposed to fly to New York City for national recognition and to compete against other regional winners, but due to the COVID-19 crisis, this event has been postponed indefinitely.
Lynea and her award
Kitten season has begun and we’re rapidly filling up with kittens and receiving non-stop telephone calls. It’s becoming more and more of a challenge to keep these kittens fed and fostered, and that’s where you can help us out. First, after money donations, the next best way to help us out is to shop for items for us from our Amazon Wishlist at www.cathouseonthekings.com/wishlist. We expect that many people will be turning to Amazon for their shopping, and wanted to remind you that when you shop at smile.amazon.com/ch/27-0015288, AmazonSmile donates to Cat House on the Kings. Please be sure to bookmark this link on your computer. Does using the AmazonSmile bookmark really make a difference for us? It most certainly does! We recently received a $8,486.87 donation from the AmazonSmile Foundation as a result of AmazonSmile program activity between Oct 1 and Dec 31, 2019, because people like you chose us as their AmazonSmile charity of choice!
We have other ways that you can help us out as we move forward. If you’re local to us and have an empty bathroom or bedroom, we are always looking for people to help us foster cats and kittens (especially kittens). It is important to have a place separate from your own cats while these precious little ones grow big enough to be fully vaccinated. If you’re interested in learning more or helping us out, fill out an online foster application and one of our foster coordinators will contact you. You will need to be willing to transport the kittens every few weeks to us for vaccinations and examinations. https://www.cathouseonthekings.com/docs/forms/fosterapplication.phpfoster
Our orange cat reusable fabric tote bags were so popular, we’ve added a second design featuring a turquoise cat. These bags are great for groceries, using as an oversized purse, or just toting things from place to place in your home. While we struggle to raise funds to offset our canceled Open House, please consider purchasing a Cat House on the Kings tote bag, magnet, t-shirt, or other Cat House on the Kings merchandise from our website.
For nearly three decades, The Cat House on the Kings office staff has been working in Lynea’s old garage without a nearby restroom, proper insulation, or very much space. They were THRILLED to move into a refurbished mobile home on the Cat House property that will now serve as their new office and which includes a restroom, a meeting room, as well as a kitchen. This will allow us to free up the garage office space to use for storage and other things. We know a new building doesn’t sound exciting to most people, but it really improves the working conditions for our hardworking staff.
Karla’s new office
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.
BLESS you ALL!
I love all of the hard work that you do. The dedication and compassion shown at the Cat House is very much appreciated. Stay safe and healthy. Love and best wishes to you
This is a major nightmare for you all. I am sharing this post on FB and Twitter because you need so much help.
I just made a donation. I wish it was more but this virus thing has frozen the process for getting to my UK money. I joined the mailing list so I can donate more when this all blows over.