by Harvie Schreiber

Harvie has been with the Cat House for nine 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.

We’re more than five months into 2020 and The Cat House on the Kings has already rescued more than 630 cats and kittens. Based on the seemingly endless calls we receive about pregnant cats and unexpected kittens, it’s clear to us that the cat population of the Central Valley isn’t social distancing nor are they sheltering in place. Fortunately for us, and for the cats and kittens that we’re rescuing, caring people are stepping forward to help us foster some of these rescues or we’d never be able to do what we do. Throughout this crisis, we’ve continued to offer adoptions on an “Appointment Only” basis after potential adopters apply online and are approved. They can then visit our sanctuary in Parlier or our Adoption Center in Fresno to meet and adopt a new furry family member while keeping our staff, fosters, and adopters safe. As of last count (mid-May), our adoption numbers were about 280 and we should hit the 300 mark in June. That’s also when kitten season begins in earnest and means our busiest months are ahead.

“What are you wearing?’ is a punchline from a State Farm commercial, but it’s also a great way for us to mention that we ordered a bunch of Spring 2020 Cat House t-shirts for our Open House, which was cancelled. This means that we’ve now got a nice selection of shirts that we’re selling online so that you can show your rescue style while supporting The Cat House on the Kings! Designed to showcase our expanded space for our senior cats, these shirts are comfortable, colorful, and provide much-needed revenue for our rescue! www.cathouseonthekings.com/clothing

This “Dinuba Darling” (the kitten, not the officer) was brought to The Cat House on the Kings by Dinuba Animal Control. This tiny torbie was a starving stray who was found rummaging for food anywhere she could and who was underweight when she arrived. She was so excited to get some snuggles and food that her non-stop purring brought a smile to all of us. Since kitten season has arrived, we seem to be going through supplies and food like nobody’s business. If you’d be interested in shopping for us online, here’s a link to our Amazon Wishlist: www.cathouseonthekings.com/wishlist. 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 shop.

Dinuba Police Officer with kitten

The Cat House on the Kings rescued a litter of kittens and instantly noticed that one of the kittens had a badly injured eye that needed to be surgically removed as soon as possible. Sadly, this happens sometimes when untreated eye infections don’t get proper treatment when they first develop. Many of the kittens we rescue come to us needing immediate vet care. This special kitten now has just one eye, so we’ve named him Uno! According to Cat House on the Kings Office Manager Jennifer Vidana (his foster mom), he’s a snuggly lover boy who loves to play, romp, explore and purr. As always, we need your donations to keep rescuing kittens like Uno! www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate.

One eyed kitten snuggling

Car kitten

Meet Kevin. He’s a fuzzy little black caterpillar kitten who had his front leg amputated after sustaining severe injuries. He’s currently in foster care with The Cat House on the Kings Foster Coordinator, Kathy Scheer, who is one of our most dedicated and experienced fosters. She reports that Kevin is purring and eating like a champ and will no doubt be a terrific tripod troublemaker once he’s healed up and ready for a loving family. We’ve found that special needs cats are awesome companion pets because they become very people-focused and accustomed to being cared for and cuddled more than many kittens.

Kevin

In an effort to get a better handle on our long-term electricity costs, we’re getting solar panels after years of preparation, planning and wishful thinking. It takes a lot of electricity to pump water for our well, as well as to power the dozen or so buildings that house our hundreds of cats as well as our intensive care units, our senior houses, the Kitten Quarters, the office, and the Big House. As part of the preparation, we’ve recently been cutting down some large eucalyptus trees which were blocking the sunshine. If you’ve ever had to wrangle one or two personal cats away from where you are working, imagine shooing dozens away. Fortunately, loud noises and chainsaws tend to discourage almost all of the cats…but they did return to climb on, explore, and scratch up the wood that was left. We understand that infrastructure like this isn’t as “sexy” or heart-wrenching as stories about kittens, but it’s these sorts of nuts-and-bolts basics that provide the foundation for the work that we do in this community. Solar is costing us thousands and thousands of dollars, and we’re hoping that some of you will consider a donation to help us cover the cost. 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.

Solar tree

Finally, The Cat House on the Kings would like to extend a special Thank You to many of you who have helped us out in various ways this Spring: to Lisa and Daphne who made cute face masks so our staff could be protected; to the anonymous donors who sent us paper towels and toilet paper, and to all of you who donated for #GivingTuesdayNow in early May. And, of course, all of you who are faithful monthly donors, who sponsor one or more of our sanctuary cats, those of you who like and share our Facebook posts, Twitter tweets, and Instagram photos, and those who share our newsletter and columns with your family and friends. You have all helped us and you have all helped these cats.

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.