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.

“Where do you get your cats from?” is probably one of the questions that gets asked the most often at The Cat House on the Kings. Truth be told, for the hundreds of cats that we rescue each month at our 12-acre sanctuary, there are a hundred different stories. The vast majority of the cats and kittens that we rescue come from the local area around Fresno County, and most of those from ordinary people who find abandoned, scared, hungry (and sometimes ill or injured) animals in their yard, on their doorsteps, in their garages, under their cars, along the side of the road, or at their workplaces. But when the calls come in, and if we have the space, the foster homes, and the financial resources to take in kittens, we love it when we’re able to say “yes” to the voices on the phones looking for our help. As you choose charities to support for your holiday and end-of-year giving, please keep The Cat House on the Kings and the hundreds of cats and kittens in our care on your giving list: www.cathouseonthekings.com/donate.

Meet “Stamps,” the unofficial nickname we’ve given to this cuddly Russian Blue boy who was found by a local postal carrier on her mail route! After asking around and looking for where he and his two brothers came from, she decided that making a “special delivery” to us with this very precious package of three was the best way to make sure that these kittens would find a wonderful home when they were big enough. Once they’ve spent a few weeks in foster care, and have been vaccinated and neutered, they will be ready for adoption. Just visit www.cathouseonthekings.com and click on the ADOPT tab to see our available cats and kittens.

These five adorable bottle baby kittens came to The Cat House on the Kings after we received a frantic call from a local animal control agency. It seems that the man who had these very young kittens had died, and an immediate foster to bottle feed them was needed. Thankfully for us, one of our most experienced and dedicated fosters (thank you, Janis Caldera!) stepped in and has been caring for these cutie pies around the clock. The smallest weighed just 6.9 ounces when they were rescued, but they are growing and thriving and should be ready for new homes in December. (We’re planning cute holiday-themed names for them, too!) As always, we are so grateful to our fosters and volunteers who support the hard-working efforts of our staff and Lynea to rescue and save as many local cats and kittens as we possibly can.

In addition to monetary donations (which help us the most), when you shop online for the holidays at smile.amazon.com/ch/27-0015288, AmazonSmile donates to The Cat House on the Kings! Last year, we received about $25,000 over the course of the year from Amazon all because people like you chose us as your charity of choice at AmazonSmile. If you’re an Amazon shopper (or you know someone who is), please consider selecting The Cat House on the Kings to be your AmazonSmile charity. And if your cats are like our cats, every Amazon box is greatly appreciated! You can also shop directly for us at The Cat House on the Kings from our Amazon Wishlist: www.cathouseonthekings.com/wishlist.

If you were one of the hundreds of people who attended our Autumn Open House on November 2, thank you! The weather was gorgeous, the cats were curious, and the silent auction bidding was fast and furious! It was also nice to see that we had a local winner for our cat quilt raffle! Without our vendors, our volunteers, our donors and all who attended, it wouldn’t have been nearly as successful (or as much fun!)

We were thrilled to discover that The Cat House on the Kings was the First Place Winner for the Animal Rescue Site’s “Spoil your Shelter Pets Challenge” contest, which means that we’ll be receiving $10,000 worth of cat supplies: carriers, traps, cat beds, flea medication, and more. We really appreciate our followers, fans, and supporters who support us by voting for us daily when we enter contests like this. We’ve also got more ways you can help us out; did you know that in addition to selling Cat House calendars, reusable tote bags, and magnets, we’ve also got some very cute clothing items available online? You can get your seasonal shopping done while supporting our shelter!

This has been a busy and kitten-filled Autumn at The Cat House on the Kings, and one of the many ways that we’ve found to save as many cats and kittens as possible is by partnering with out-of-state cat rescues in Oregon and elsewhere. When we’re able, The Cat House on the Kings will transfer and transport cats and kittens to safety in exchange for accepting feral and unadoptable cats from our rescue partners. As you might imagine, coordinating and orchestrating the movement of dozens of cats and kittens, along with all the paperwork and details, is a lot like, well, herding cats! We are ever so grateful to volunteers and staffers who spend hours making this rescue miracle happen, and our reward is knowing that every cat and kitten is getting a wonderful home all while opening up more room at The Cat House on the Kings for more local rescuing.

Finally, we’ve got a few dates that we’d love for you to add to your calendar that are just around the corner. Tuesday, December 3 is Giving Tuesday and, of course, The Cat House on the Kings will be participating and hoping for your support. Then in December, we will be hosting SANTA PHOTOS at our Fresno Adoption Center located inside the Petco store at 4144 N. Blackstone on several Saturdays: December 7, December 14, and Sunday, December 15. Bring your pets (or just your family and yourselves) and get a cute holiday photo while supporting The Cat House on the Kings!

Since our next time to bring you news of The Cat House on the Kings will be in December, we’d like to take this opportunity to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving from our extended two- and four-legged family to yours. Each year we give thanks for the opportunity to make a positive difference in the lives of the cats who find themselves in need of our help.

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.