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Local
Feature
THE CAT HOUSE
ON THE KINGS RIVER
words
by Jackie Dale
images by Frankie Leal
The Cat House on the Kings
words by Jackie Dale :: images by Frankie Leal
When you hear about a woman who has 1,000 cats (give or take) what immediately comes to your mind? What comes to my mind is the crazy cat lady on The Simpsons, who pulls cats out her clothing. Perhaps you picture one of those misguided souls featured on shows about animal hoarding. When describing one local cat lady, nothing could be further from the truth. Lynea Lattanzio considers herself a teensy bit eccentric but she is in fact, quite sane. Some might not agree. After all, who in their right mind turns their million-dollar home into a cat sanctuary and lives in a mobile home next door to it? A woman with a passion for saving God’s creatures would be the answer.
“When I was a little girl, all I ever wanted was a kitten but my mom wouldn’t let me have one. ”Hearing Lynea say this, you can almost hear the plaintive little girl in her voice, pleading with her mother for a kitten.
The Cat House on the Kings sits on 12 acres bordering the Kings River. The 4,200 square foot, five-bedroom home with a sunken living room and a fishpond in the foyer serves as the main sanctuary. Completely enclosed with cat proof fencing, it is the largest no kill-no cage rescue/sanctuary in California. In spite of the name, 5,000+ dogs have been rescued as well.
I sat on the banks of the Kings River to talk with Lynea and Tammy Barker. Tammy has been with the Cat House for 10 years and now sits on the Board of Directors. Some of her many other duties include public relations, coordinating out of town transports and transporting local animals for spay and neuter. Tammy travels weekly to Fresno to pick up pets for spay and neuter. On her last trip there were 17 people waiting for her at PetCo with their cats.
How do you end up with nearly 1,000 cats?
“It was never my intention to do this. When I was growing up my mother did not allow cats. I moved to this house in 1983 and was living a normal life with 4 cats. One day my dad asked me to get him a couple of kittens. I went to the pound to get the kittens and I ended up fostering 5 others. Then it was 15 more and by the end of the year, 96. I found them all homes but was not spaying or neutering them. It took me a couple of years to figure out that wasn’t the way to do it. I got a job at a veterinarian’s office for 3 years to pay the bills and hone my skills in animal care.”
Where do all these cats come from?
“They are the result of a lot of people neglecting to spay and neuter their animals. We have rescued 975 from the SPCA so far this year. It will easily reach 1,000 by the end of the year. That’s a lot of free rescues. I get 30 calls a day from people wanting to surrender cats and kittens but there is just no room. I do try to assist them in other ways such as fixing their pets. We offer low-cost spays ($20) and neuters ($10). We accept some paid surrenders. We just received 3 cats from Saudi Arabia, 2 from Hong Kong and 14 from New York City. Their owners paid $3,000 a piece for them to come live here.”
It costs approximately $48,000 a month to run The Cat House. One very cold month last winter produced a $9,000 PG&E bill.
What compels you to rescue cats (and dogs)?
“To give life to animals that might otherwise be euthanized. They might not have a home but here they still have a life. It’s a good life too, a stimulating life. They also have peace and serenity.”
The Central Valley has the dubious distinction of having the 2nd highest shelter kill rate and more rescue groups than practically anywhere else in the country. The Cat House places about 500 cats in forever homes every year.
How do you take care of all this property and animals?
“In the beginning I did it all but eventually I had to hire an employee to help me. I paid for everything out of my own pocket. I got very few donations and I used hundreds of thousands of my own retirement money. Now I have 23 employees. Surrender payments and donations help pay the bills. Some months we are in the black and some months we are not. That can be scary when you have this many animals to care for.”
At the 2011 Halloween fundraiser longtime supporters Gayle A. Jorgensen and her husband Gilbert Hernandez made a donation of $5,000. Although suffering from terminal brain cancer Gayle was determined to visit The Cat House on the Kings and present the donation in person.
How did you manage to get on the Animal Planet show called ‘Must Love Cats’?
“They were very interested in our unique animal exchange program. We actually send more animals out of the area than we do local adoptions. There are places that have a shortage of pets because people actually spay and neuter their animals. We just sent 45 cats and kittens to Oregon and 30 kittens to Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe began free spay and neuter programs ten years ago and as a result their shelters are virtually empty. The exchange program with the Oregon rescues is a godsend. For every one unadoptable cat (i.e. feral) we accept from them they take five adult cats or 25 kittens. (or a combination of both) We also send a lot of cats to Canada.”
You were also recently featured on NatGeoLive. Is there a reality show in the works?
“We are holding our breath, crossing our fingers and saying prayers. That certainly would go along way towards our financial security. Just this year so far we have done $20,000 in free spays and neuters. We always hope the next year will be better and it never is. It never even makes a dent. The cats just keep coming.”
Left unaltered, one female cat and one male cat plus their offspring can result in 420,000 kittens in seven years.
Why is that?
“In the Central Valley too many people feel animals have no value. They are considered disposable property. A perfect example of this occurred while NatGeoWild was here filming. A man called and wanted to donate a litter of kittens. I told him we were full and I offered to spay the mother cat. ”No” he says, “I don’t want to fix her, my kids like kittens, but the ones we have now are too big.” So I asked him what he does with the kittens when they get too big. “I take them to the supermarket or Walmart and leave them in the parking lot. I asked if his kids knew what he did with the kittens. “Oh no, I don’t tell them” he said.” A special T-shirt was created, inspired by this man and those like him. It reads; “You can’t fix stupid, but you can fix stupid’s pets.”
The Cat House on the Kings is always in need of donations of cash and supplies like paper towels and bleach. They also need volunteers to do fun stuff like pet kitties, play with kittens and exercise the dogs. To see a list of on-going needs or to view an awesome youtube video, check out the website at www.cathouseonthekings.com. Lynea can be reached at 638-8732. Don’t forget to look them up and “like” them on Facebook too!
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