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.

If this were an ordinary year, I would be writing about The Cat House on the King’s Spring Open House which had been scheduled for April 18, before it was canceled due to the global pandemic. I would write about the beautiful weather, the myriad visitors, the dozens of vendors, our amazing silent auction, and how much money we raised to help us provide for the hundreds of senior cats, kittens, special needs cats, and injured cats in our care.

But this isn’t an ordinary year in many ways. In other ways, it is completely ordinary: we’re getting dozens of daily calls asking us to take in mom cats and kittens, orphaned bottle babies, injured cats, and cats with nowhere else to go. Only now the staff and volunteers of The Cat House on the Kings are being asked to perform “cat rescue miracles” with limited resources, fewer funds available, a greater need than ever, and a lot more on their plates. There’s an oft-quoted saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and in much the same way, it takes a village to rescue a cat. And you are our village.

We know that many people are facing economic hardship and have lost a sizable portion (or all) of their incomes. But for those who are blessed with greater financial stability, we are, once again, asking you to consider a special, extra donation to help The Cat House on the Kings offset the loss of our Open House revenue as well as to make up for the decline in giving we’ve seen in March and April. 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.

A mother and daughter were getting some exercise along local train tracks when the daughter spotted a couple of cat carriers off to the side. Her mom insisted that no one would leave anything in those carriers along the train tracks, but her daughter was curious and persistent…thank goodness! Inside one of the carriers was a mom cat and her nursing kittens, and inside the other carrier was a loose pile of dry cat kibble. They kept the mom and babies overnight before calling and driving them to The Cat House on the Kings where they are now safe in foster care. Sadly, so many people choose to dump or abandon cats even during the best of times, and we anticipate more of this happening as kitten season really gets going in this area. We are, of course, extremely grateful that this family chose to help rescue this feline family and that a generous foster home has chosen to partner with us to care for these kittens (and mom) until they can get adopted.

When The Cat House on the Kings founder/director Lynea makes her weekly Wednesday trip into Fresno to try to buy supplies (cat food, litter, cleaning supplies) at Costco and elsewhere, she’s been facing the same shortages and limitations that many of you have faced while attempting to shop. But the need to provide for hundreds of cats (as well as 45 employees) never ends. We’re especially grateful during this time that so many have been faithfully shopping from our Amazon Wishlist for desperately-needed items. We know that Amazon’s once-fast shipping has slowed considerably, but our motto is “better late than never,” and donated items from Amazon have continued to trickle in…small reminders of hope that our supporters haven’t forgotten us. If you haven’t selected us as your AmazonSmile charity of choice, now would be a great time to do so! Then just bookmark this link on your computer and use it when you start your Amazon shopping at www.smile.amazon.com!

Imagine being at work at Smart n’ Final, busily stocking shelves before the store opens, and hearing faint little kitten meows. Then investigating and finding the cutest dust bunny ever! We have absolutely no idea how this adorable little fluffball came to be hiding under a shelf at a local store, but she’s now been rescued by The Cat House on the Kings and is happily spending time at one of our most experienced foster homes, who has come out of fostering retirement to help us out during the COVID-19 crisis. According to foster mom Caitlyn, “She’s SO stinking cute!! I decided she needed a French name, and thought Cosette (from Les Miserables) was fitting. The boys shortened it to Coco. We’ll see which name sticks.” Once this little one has grown up and been spayed, vaccinated, tested, and is healthy, she will be placed for adoption. But we’ve got some amazing cats and kittens who are available NOW. You can see them online and apply for them right from our website: www.cathouseonthekings.com/adoption.

“You’re still doing adoptions during the COVID-19 crisis?” Yes, we are, on a limited and “by appointment only” basis. For people who are interested in adopting a cat or kitten, they can visit our website and peruse our list of available animals before filling out an online application. Once approved, they are sent an email inviting them to call to schedule a personal, private adoption appointment at either our Fresno Adoption Center (located inside the Blackstone/Ashlan Petco store) or at The Cat House on the Kings, depending on where the cat or kitten is located. We’re only allowing pre-approved adopters inside these two facilities right now, to help keep our staff, volunteers, and fosters safe and protected. And (like everyone), we’re cleaning everything, practicing social distancing, and encouraging the wise use of masks and other protections as appropriate.

We’re all in this together, and we wanted to share some other “villagers and villages” that have been helping us rescue cats. We recently received $777.72 from the PayPal Giving Fund, which came from generous donors who gave to us through donation buttons on PayPal, eBay, GoFundMe, CrowdRise, Airbnb, Humble Bundle, and other sites. We would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to The Timmy Trust for their recent donation, as well. The Timmy Trust donates 20% of their quarterly net profits to various non-profit animal rescues (like ours!). We were their first quarter recipient for 2020 and received a donation of $302.00. Another thank you goes to talented artist Cheri Sperl who has been painting some beautiful pieces of artwork and has donated them—as well as partial proceeds from her sales—to The Cat House on the Kings. She’s continued to amaze us with her talents as well as her generosity and we recommend her beautiful artwork.

Finally, we’d like to extend our appreciation and thanks to Colette Rodriguez of Coco Bee’s Accessories who has been a regular vendor at our Open Houses for years. This year, she held a special One Day Sale on April 18 (the day on which our Open House had been scheduled), offering free gifts with purchase, and donating 20% of her proceeds to The Cat House on the Kings. Without these people—and without you—we would not be able to rescue and care for as many cats as we do. THANK YOU!

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.