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.

On a recent September evening, volunteers, kitten foster parents, and Cat House on the Kings staff gathered in the banquet room of Club One Casino in downtown Fresno to celebrate our first ever Volunteer & Foster Appreciation Night! Attendees received a special t-shirt proclaiming that “Cat Rescue Is My Superpower,” as well as a raffle ticket for all sorts of fun and unique cat-themed prizes and gifts. The event was designed to allow volunteers and fosters to interact with each other and to swap rescue stories, suggestions, and ideas, as well as to mingle with (and pick the brains of) staff members involved in adoptions and kitten fostering. The buffet-style dinner included barbecued chicken, fried shrimp, tri-tip, chicken fingers, and an impressive assortment of hot and cold vegetables and side dishes, followed by Superior Dairy Ice Cream for dessert. The evening culminated with staff introductions, Thank Yous, as well as watching a series of videos all about The Cat House on the Kings. We would like to extend a special thank you to Kyle Kirkland and Club One Casino for hosting this wonderful event and for providing the perfect venue.

Every cat owner knows that getting a cat or kitten into a carrier and then driving them across town to a vet appointment can be a noisy and challenging experience, unless you’re lucky enough to have the world’s mellowest cats! Earlier this month, Cat House on the Kings kitten foster dad and cat transporter extraordinaire Gilbert Romeo loaded up a van and transported 40 (yes, 40) kittens to one of our rescue partners in Medford, Oregon. That’s a 500-mile, seven-hour trip, each way, and was Gilbert’s THIRD Oregon transport of the year. (He’s also done a number of Bay Area kitten transports.) Gilbert has been fostering for two years for The Cat House on the Kings and estimates that he’s fostered somewhere between 60-75 kittens so far Gilbert, who believes he’s transported about 250 kittens this year, explained that he loves transporting kittens because “I figured I could save more lives that way!” Our hats are off, and our thanks go out to Gilbert and to all of our volunteers, transporters, and fosters!

On September 9, two more semi-feral cats rescued from China’s meat trade arrived safely at The Cat House on the Kings after being rescued and transported by TACN, a small UK-based charity. Because these cats needed a safe place to go, Cat House on the Kings founder/director Lynea Lattanzio agreed earlier this year to accept up to seven of these cats if they could be safely transported from Tianjin, China to Fresno. Last month, the first two cats arrived and are doing fine. They’ve now been joined by Jimmy and Xiaochei. (Interestingly, they arrived with their very own kitty passports.) Once they’ve been through quarantine, they will be released so they can freely roam our 12-acre grounds in safety.

The Cat House on the Kings has fans and supporters all over the world. We were contacted by a French woman, Gaelle Clarke, who is living in Saudi Arabia with her British husband. She’d won some yarn in a competition and decided to make 50 hand-knitted cat toys for The Cat House on the Kings. After she sends us the first batch of 50, she’s taking a break so they can move back to Britain, but then she’s promised us more cat toys! We’re touched and amazed that our cats—and what we do—resonates so strongly with wonderful, animal-loving cat people ALL over the world!

Dorian was just a tiny little ball of grey fluff when he first arrived at The Cat House on the Kings. He’d been found all by himself wandering along the river in Visalia before being scooped up and brought to Kitten Quarters Supervisor Karla Cortez. Along with Cat House on the Kings Adoption Coordinator Nikki Martinez, Karla has been bottle feeding and watching over this little guy on nights and weekends, as well as at The Cat House on the Kings during regular work hours. He’s just now hitting six weeks of age and is starting to eat wet food mixed with Kitten Milk Replacer. Karla confessed that she’s a “sucker for single, orphaned kittens,” and that the bathtub in her master bedroom has been surrendered to fosters. Her youngest son, Isaiah, loves her fosters and is so patient and caring with them. Karla often finds him IN the bathtub with the fosters she brings home! Dorian is just one of 1,100+ cats and kittens rescued by The Cat House on the Kings so far this year. Your donations help us to keep rescuing!www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate

There’s a new video out all about The Cat House on the Kings that we wanted to share with you. This nine-minute video was created for Beastly by videographer/director Elie Khadra.

The Cat House on the Kings’ Autumn/Holiday Open House is less than five weeks away: Saturday, November 2 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., and we’re currently selling raffle tickets. This beautiful 50″ x 84″ (twin/throw-sized) quilt called “Cats and Quilts” was made and donated by Judy Bibb who won First Prize for it at her local County Fair! You will love its warm hues and Autumn colors. The drawing for this quilt will take place at The Cat House on the Kings Autumn/Holiday Open House on November 2, 2019. Raffle tickets are just $1 each. For every 20 tickets you purchase in advance, you will get one free. So if you buy 60 you will actually get 63! To enter, send a check or money order payable to The Cat House on the Kings marked “RAFFLE TICKETS” in the memo section to: The Cat House on the Kings, 7120 S. Kings River Rd., Parlier, CA 93648-9720. Please include a phone number so we can call you if you win. If you prefer, 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. Shipping is free to U.S. addresses, but any international winner will need to help cover shipping costs. Please note: We are not permitted to accept raffle ticket payments online.

Speaking of our upcoming Open House, we’re still looking for donations for our Silent Auction. If you’re willing to donate an item and either drop it off or ship it to us, please send an email to Tammy@Cathouseonthekings[dot]com and she will get back to you with shipping or drop-off details. Tammy is also the person to contact if you’re interested in volunteering at our Autumn/Holiday Open House on November 2!

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 a new 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 a month 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.