Our People

Our Founder

Lynea Lattanzio

Over 30 years ago, Lynea Lattanzio dedicated her home, her property, her finances and her entire life to create The Cat House on the Kings. CHOTK is a no-kill, nonprofit sanctuary, rescue and adoption center for cats.
Lynea has rescued tens of thousands of animals from shelters, abusive homes, and abandonment. She has also teamed up with programs to help spay/neuter the cat population and prevent overpopulation.

Our Staff

It takes lots of (wo)manpower and time to take care of The Cat House.

Tammy Barker

Assistant Shelter Director/Petco Adoption Mgr/Board of Directors

One of our most valuable and multi-tasking staff members is Tammy Barker, who currently serves as the Assistant Shelter Director, the Petco Adoption Facility Manager  (and she's also President of the Board of Directors!).  She does off-site adoptions at our Fresno Petco adoption center, facilitates hundreds of spays/neuters for the community, coordinates TNR efforts, fosters a multitude of kittens, transports to other rescues out of town, co-chairs the Fundraising Committee, and leaps tall buildings in a single bound! (Not really, but she IS the force behind our twice-a-year Open House fundraisers!)

Lisa Boyajian

Accountant & Spoiler of Cats

Lisa Boyajian is The Cat House on the Kings Accountant, and Official Spoiler of our office cats. She's been known to bring in a buffet of treats and cat food from home (yes, even tuna) to "make friends" with the multiple office cats who (of course) think she's the cats meow.  Lisa is also a devoted and diligent Cat House foster mom and is quite active in the community with various TNR (Trap/Neuter/Release) projects around her neighborhood.

Karla Cortez

Kitten Quarters Supervisor

Karla Cortez has been with the Cat House since 2004. Karla is the supervisor of our Kitten Quarters 1 and 2. Kitten Quarters 2 is where the kittens with medical issues go. Karla’s duties include, but are not limited to, answering the always-ringing phones, setting up appointments for spaying, neutering, potential adoptions and assisting with cat surrenders. Karla gives visitor tours, manages the online adoptable cats, as well as tending to the daily tasks of cleaning up after, feeding and caring for our many residents. If that isn’t enough work, Karla also takes home foster kittens. Karla runs the Kitten Quarters with a calm, efficient hand.

Christine Cordova

RVT

Christine Cordova has loved cats since childhood, and she especially loves feral cats, as they really are just misunderstood. As a child she would bring them home and try to tame them. "It is heartwarming when a feral cat trusts you and allows you to pet it."

Christine loves helping to make a difference, along with her co-workers,  in medical supportive care for the cats. "I love working for Lynea,  who has devoted her all to the rescue of cats, kittens, & even dogs, she is truly an inspiration."

Christine achieved a major goal when she became an RVT. She would like to take her career further by specializing in veterinary dentistry. She also hopes forensics in veterinary medicine will be in her future, as well.

Herlinda Gutierrez

Housekeeping Supervisor

Herlinda has been with The Cat House on the Kings for over 14 years doing double-duty as the Housekeeping Supervisor (managing 10+ employees) and also as the CareTaker/Cleaner in our super Senior Center. How does she get it all done? Her days start at 4am with feedings in the Main House and moving on to FIV ward and elsewhere! We're not sure, but we suspect she may be superwoman! Needless to say, the cats recognize and follow her EVERYWHERE!

Harvie Schreiber

Facebook & Fundraising Coordinator

A lifelong cat lover, Harvie has been formally involved in animal rescue for nearly two decades ~ and has fostered more than 50 dogs and 150 cats for various local animal rescues. She joined The Cat House on the Kings full-time in 2011 after being with us part-time since 2010.  Harvie is an experienced Vet Tech/Adoption Coordinator who has fostered multiple litters of kittens, administers our Facebook page and related Facebook groups, serves as our Fundraising Coordinator, as a member of our Board of Directors, and has written monthly column about The Cat House on the Kings in Kings River Life Magazine.  In addition, Harvie assists with special events and writing projects, supervises numerous volunteers and college interns, assists with Open House planning and helps staff our offsite Petco Adoption Center as an Adoption Counselor for more than 8 years.  During her years with us, she has grown The Cat House on the Kings Facebook page from 2,000 fans to almost 1.3 MILLION fans and has created ancillary Facebook groups with over 100,000 members.

Beth Caffrey

Donor Relations

Beth has admired The Cat House on the Kings since she learned about our organization while working for an animal control shelter. She is thrilled to share all of the hard work that everyone does here to make the Central Valley (and the world) a better place for all animals. Her goal is to network The Cat House on the Kings Mission, through media, public speaking/presentations, education, social media outreach, volunteers, donor support, adoption promotion, and any means possible! "It has always been all about children and animals for me, they give us all that is truly meaningful in life, we should give back more in return! I feel that after being in the animal welfare profession for more than 20 years, this is the place that I can do the most good."

Chris Oviedo

Maintenance Supervisor

Chris started with us 17 years ago. Along with his late father, Homer, Chris helped to build the Cat House on the Kings and many of our structures. With their incredible help we have been able to grow exponentially. During his time at CHOTK’s he has grown to not only love the cats but also the amazing people that support our nonprofit.

Kari Macumba

Office Assistant

Kari, our office assistant extraordinaire, lover of all the cats, especially the senior cats has been with us for almost 3 years! Along with her two personal cats, Kari is a lover of all the animals. Kari is always willing to lend a hand to the team. Kari loves working at CHOTK because of “the great team” and how rewarding and great it feels to help the kitties. 

Meaghan Hahn

Social Media Content Creator, for Instagram, Tiktok, & other Content Creator

Meaghan is a dedicated mother of three children and six "fur babies" 3 cats and 3 dogs. She is passionate about educating the next generation to help animals in need and supporting nonprofit organizations. She loves to create content that spreads awareness, love and knowledge, educates others about our mission, and raises funds to save as many cats as possible. Join her on the journey to create content that is fun, hilarious, adorable, educational and meaningful to our passion.

Lisa Baker

Adoption Coordinator Satellite Adoption Center

From a young age Lisa has always loved cats. After graduating from SJVC in 2019, with her Associates Degree and completing the Vet Tech program, Lisa began working at Cat House on the Kings. Since she adopted one of her three cats from the Cat House, in 2013, Lisa knew this organization really cared for the cats and their best interest. Lisa loves how, even on a rough day, seeing the kitties get adopted and find their 'furever' homes always makes her day better. 

Tara Boyd

Adoption Coordinator Satellite Adoption Center

Tara Boyd has loved animals for as long as she can remember. When she's not playing mom to a toddler, 2 dogs and 4 cats, she helps staff our Petco Adoption Center as an Adoption Coordinator. She initially came to work at The Cat House on the Kings soon after she completed her vet tech training and externship in 2016, and recently returned on a part time basis where she loves to organize, clean, and enjoy the cats at our Petco Adoption Center. Her interests include caring for animals, enjoying time with her son, aromatherapy and cooking.

Destiny Cisneros

Adoption Coordinator

Destiny blessed The Cat House not too long ago with her knowledge of fostering, bottle babies, and special needs pets. Destiny enjoys fostering kittens, especially bottle babies, and she has fallen in love with her job here at The Cat House on the Kings. In her personal time she enjoys caring for her ‘furbabies’ at home. She especially has a heart for her pets with special needs. 

Tiffanie Thornton

Adoption Coordinator Satellite Adoption Center

Tiffanie has been one of our purrtastic adoption coordinators for nearly 5 years. She has always loved cats and it shows in her enthusiasm for her job and love for her own kitty. Tiffanie's responsibilities include feeding, cleaning, caring for, and helping with the adoption process at our satellite adoption center in Fresno.

Martha Vidales

Adoption Coordinator at the Cat House

Martha, Martha, Martha! Kitten care comes so easy to her. Martha has been working at the Cat House for 6 years now as adoption coordinator. Her responsibilities are to help people with surrenders, intaking saved kittens and furever families adopting.
Her favorite part of working at Cat House on the Kings is being able to save a life, and be with the cats and  kittens, plus being able to be apart of finding them a forever home. Not to mention, getting to spend time with my office Princess Squirrel, pictured. 

Our Volunteers

Volunteers are critical to our survival. We cherish our group, and would love to have you join us!

Girl Scout Troop # 2579

Special Events Volunteers

Girl Scout Troop has been in existence since 2010 … and for all of those years … Troop 2579 has volunteered. Girl Scouts, troop leaders, and troop parents often volunteer for over a thousand hours every year! Our Girl Scouts especially love animals, and we have always had a special place in our hearts for The Cat House On the Kings. We help out with the biannual Cat House On the Kings Open House, donate supplies, and try to drive over for a day of picnicking and cuddling kitties whenever our schedules permit. Girl Scout Troop # 2579 was also a Nominee for the 2018 Hands Across the Valley Service Club / Organization of the Year. Our Scouts Shine, We’re the Girls of Troop 2579!

Dave Ayers

Transporter

There are aspects of doing animal rescue, re-homing and welfare that don't come to mind until you are in the thick of it and realize that you have a certain need like animal transportation. Until the cats or kittens are adopted into a family that will take them where they need to go, we rely on a special volunteer, Dave Ayers, for transport. This too involves more than one might think especially in the heat of the valley! Dave may have to make many stops during his transport trek and he always keeps the well-being of those in his care as the top priority. Dave helps with the adoption juggling production by taking a last minute transport request to get a cat from one location to another so that it can go home with their new family. Dave does the kitty change out tour at least every two weeks so that the cats and kittens can make the rounds in an increased effort of exposure for their adoption potential. Dave assists in supply transportation, event support, special project support and many other areas that we need volunteer help in. Dave also sets up the cats and kittens in their locations making sure that they have fresh food, clean cool water, fresh bedding and of course fresh litter. There is a lot that Dave does for the animals and we are grateful for his ability to pounce on so many last minute, "could you go now" requests!

Christine Bagetakos-

Foster Care, Adoption Center Volunteer, Special Events Volunteer

Being compassionate about animals should be an easy thing to feel, it can certainly be said with ease, but it is difficult to actually DO! People like Christine Bagetakos make animal welfare very attractive by their incredible ability to continue to do more to help with the emergency vortex of animal rescue all while staying calm, collected, and considerate. Volunteers can suffer from compassion fatigue the more that they become involved in saving lives, causing them to become undependable, causing them to do things that are not so beneficial, causing them to leave, so when a long term volunteer not only stays dependable, takes on more, gives more, solves more, and does all of this while treating everyone in a manner that makes them walk away smiling...that is volunteer royalty! Christine is one of our long term royals, she wears a crown of love that whomever works with her can see and feel but she is the kindest of people that wouldn't accept a crown(unless she could sell it to raise money for the cats)! Christine volunteers her days off of her full time job to do adoptions at our Fresno Adoption Center, because she thinks that every companion animal should have a safe and happy home. She covers many aspects of our Spring and Autumn Open Houses, including being there all day for each one, working our script table that is incredibly busy, and keeping communications flowing! Immediately following our Spring Open House, Christine is the hostess with the mostess for our Annual Yard Sale, which if you have ever done a yard sale you know how much work that is.  
Santa couldn't have a better assistant, photographer, companion and human juggler for each year's Santa photos that we do at our Fresno Petco Adoption Center. This being a short list of the many things, activities, aspects of help, support, involvement and hard work that Christine volunteers. "The smallest act of kindness is worth more than the grandest intention" ~ Oscar Wilde, thank you Christine for being a cheer evoking volunteer of so very much ACTION!

Evan Baker

All Around Awesome Volunteer

Meet Evan Baker, one of our most dedicated volunteers, in his own words:
I volunteered at my first open house in 2019 when my mom started working at The Cat House on the Kings. However I visited the sanctuary when I was about 10 years old and fell in love with all the cats. When I volunteered at the open house for first time I was able to meet the Savannahs I really enjoyed being able to pet them they are really cool. I would really like to work with animals when I get older I would love to be a tech like my mom because I love animals especially cats. I currently have 3 cats and 2 dogs and help my mom give them there medicine. Our Assistant Director,Tammy Barker, has high praise for Evan and all of his hard work. She said he is super helpful at events and also volunteers at the Fresno Adoption Center in Petco, even doing the “dirty” work of cleaning and scooping. Thank you Evan, we appreciate all that you do!

Amanda Barker

Open House Vendor Coordinator

Amanda's first word was “kitty” and she's loved cats since before she could walk! What else would you expect from someone who has grown up in an animal-loving family like hers. For more than a decade, Amanda has been volunteering for The Cat House on the Kings, helping with everything from kitten fostering to helping to care for injured cats to assisting with adoptions and at our Fresno Adoption Center as well as volunteering at Cat House on the Kings Open Houses. What's even more impressive is her energy and enthusiasm ... on occasion she has cycled from her home in Clovis to the Cat House in Parlier for the Open House and THEN volunteered a full shift!  Amanda is not only great at giving tours of the Cat House on the Kings, for the last two years she's served as our Vendor Coordinator for our Open Houses, freeing up time for Tammy Barker (her mom), to focus on other aspects of the huge event. Thanks to her efforts as Vendor Coordinator, Amanda has single-handedly increased Open House vendor attendance, satisfaction and revenue through her outreach, organization and efforts. A registered nurse who works long hours at a local hospital, Amanda is a competitive cyclist, a vegan chef, and she loves to do agility with her standard poodle, Jet.

Jackie Berton

Foster Extrodinare

Lifesaving takes caring hands that give loving care, meet immediate needs, deliver medications, provide core necessities, and of course cuddle with compassion the very beings that our organization was created for. Our foster homes and foster humans carry the tiniest and neediest lives through their crucial formative days and we are grateful to introduce you to Jackie Berton, a furbulous fosterer. She fosters special needs kittens, litters of kittens and emergency situation kittens. Finding foster homes that can provide the kind of lifesaving care that Jackie provides can be hard and they are "priceless" and certainly precious to rescue organization's. Our hearts are calmed when we place lives in the care of those we know we can trust with them. Jackie also goes all in by also volunteering at our Adoption Center to help with home finding and placement of not only her fosters but all the foster families babies.
It's understandable why Jackie's easy going and steady caring personality keep everyone joyfully moving forward whether it is with her ongoing help to Collie rescue or before when she was a pet sitter. Jackie doesn't get rattled which is a gift and a superhero asset when it come to animal rescue, fostering and going the extra mile by doing emergency transportation. We adore you Jackie and we appreciate all that you bring, give, take, embrace and foster!

Kim Buck

Kitten Care Riverside Petco

My name is Kim Buck, I am a huge animal lover.  I have 6 cats and a Deer Chihuahua currently.  This was not really planned.
My old man is Dakota who I rescued from a local rescue 19 years ago, Bella my Chihuahua was turned into a local shelter as an adopt a buddy, I have had her almost 13 yrs.
The 3 grey girls I have I adopted from friends who moved to Kentucky, they are 12 and I have had them for 8 years.  The 2 youngest are 4 yrs old - were rescued from
a flip house in Visalia and I helped hand raise from about 2 weeks old.  I originally had no plans to keep them, but between turning 50, not having human children and getting
SO ATTACHED from bottle feeding, there was NO ONE WHO WOULD LOVE THEM LIKE ME.  

In 2014 I was feeling a bit depressed after losing my father suddenly in February.  A great friend recommended volunteering and told me about CHOTK.
I had never heard of the rescue and was intrigued.  It worked out wonderfully that they had a satellite adoption location at the Petco at Herndon - 99
near my home.   So I have been volunteering for about 6 years and I Love it.  It makes me feel needed and I like to serve and help save lives.
I also get my fix for playing and loving on kitties.  It is a WIN, WIN SITUATION!!

I highly recommend volunteering, especially for the things you love to love!!

Carla Caffrey

Spay/Neuter Resource Manager

Carla has "help others" written into her DNA but the best part about Carla is that she always puts it into practice! She started volunteering in her early youth by being a Junior Counselor at Science Camp for the Discovery Center, because she loved learning, science and sharing. Carla puts her interests, knowledge, and compassion into action for growing a movement, teaching others, and expanding goodness by getting other people involved. Carla's love for animals and her natural ability to calm them blossomed into a life of service for animal welfare that started in sheltering when she was just 12 years old.  She donated her work for ten years in the cattery of a shelter of which was no surprise as her claim upon learning to talk was that she is a cat! Carla went above and beyond to help cats, even working to find them safe places to go, like The Cat House on the Kings! Carla also supports her family by volunteering on the front lines of their animal welfare work or behind the scenes to make saving more lives possible. She made crazy sixteen hour days possible by volunteering as well as caring for her younger siblings, who had to be there whether they wanted to volunteer or not. Carla was thrilled to support all aspects, efforts and work to be done for The Cat House on the Kings Mission, it is after all the vision of a true rescuer in actual functioning reality! Carla has special skills like supreme organization, technical skills and a well deserved Masters Degree that she puts to work behind the scenes to do very important work like updating possibly the only national low cost Spay/Neuter database for The Cat House website. She also uses her creative side to help with great events like our Open Houses. Carla offers a special volunteer power that goes undermentioned, emotional support. Many animal welfare professionals, team members, and volunteers can suffer burnout and compassion fatigue, Carla understands this all too well and she volunteers her support to keep people moving forward, again to save more lives!

Carol Contreras

Kittie Care Clovis Petco

When you sign up to volunteer for something you are passionate about you are not always sure what lies ahead but you have high hopes to make a difference for those in your community. We share a lot about juggling because we all do so much of it, although it may come in different forms. Carol Contreras is a compassionate kitten and cat juggler, literally! When you volunteer at one of our remote Petco locations you have to handle cats and kittens in a small space which means while you care for them you may be actually juggling them. Not only do you deal with kitties wanting attention, you are also dealing with the daily care of feeding, cleaning, scooping, scrubbing, sweeping, linen fluff or change and watering! Carol goes above and beyond by helping us juggle supplies, messages, updates, changes, laundry, and all of the humans involved in the adoption process.  We cannot thank Carol enough for all of the deep breaths of relief when she steps in to fill in a day of kitten care for another volunteer as well.  There may be other needs that arise such as transport of kitties from one location to another, supply refills, wellness checks, and training of new volunteers, as you can see...juggling. Carol juggles all of this with kind and thoughtful dependability. The kitties come first with Carol and we are grateful that she keeps them at the top of the juggle pile and because she does, 100s of kitties have passed through her hands and on to loving adoptive families!

Janice Cox

Remote Petco Volunteer

Janice has loved cats for as long as she can remember! It started with a Siamese cat that became a part of her family when she was five years old and it continues to this day, where she is owned by several rescued cats. Janice became aware of The Cat House on the Kings while shopping for her "fuzzy children" at Petco and she immediately knew that we were a cause that she needed to support. The Cat House on the Kings provides a vital service to the community and she said it's been an honor to be a part of our wonderful organization for several years now. Janice not only juggles kittens carefully, for a long time she also juggled humans and supplies to keep things running smoothly at one of our remote Petco adoption locations. It takes a lot of coordination to make sure that kitten care is provided daily, that sufficient supplies are available, and that kittens are transported for adoption and wellness needs. Whether she is transporting, fostering, participating in TNR or simply cleaning cat habitats, she knows that together we are saving hundreds of cat lives every year! We are very grateful for the many areas that Janice volunteers in and for her ongoing enthusiastic support.

Candie Faith

Candie Faith and Daughter Kallie Foster Team

Candie started her rescue journey about 15 years ago. She loves animals and knew that she wanted to make a difference by changing the lives of rescue animals. For the first 3 years she volunteered for a large breed dog rescue. She fostered Great Danes and Mastiffs and did transports to get animals on to a better life. After her daughter Kallie was born, they decided that they would switch things up and foster kittens. Fortunately Candie had heard good things about The Cat House on the Kings and the work that we do so she reached out to us to see what she could do to help. Fostering is always a top priority when you are trying to save as many lives as possible. Candie has taken in and socialized hissing baby kittens that then learn they can love and trust people. Candie has fallen in love and although hard she knows that she has to let them go on to adoption so that she can make room for more. Fast forward nine years of fostering and she loves how much compassion it has taught her daughter, Kallie. Kallie has helped most of her life and is becoming quite a pro! Another part of their team is their English Mastiff that loves all the babies and is an excellent foster dog mom to all the kittens!  Candie and Kallie also work together as a team to make their community a better place by doing TNR and educating people on the importance of spaying and neutering. Kallie is thankful to be a part of The Cat House on the Kings too and Candie knows that she will continue on to help as many animals as she can even as she grows and that makes her a proud mom! Candie said "thank you to The Cat House on the Kings for all that you do and I am honored to be a part of it." We say, "thank you, Candie and Kallie for being such a dynamic foster duo and we are grateful for your impact for our community and the future. We love having you as a part of our team!"

Laurie Garvey

Adoption Center Window Genie

Noses, fingers even foreheads press against our Adoption Center windows to get a closer view of our kittens. Keeping a cat following your hand as you run it across the glass to keep their attention as you check out their beautiful markings, all apart of visiting and possibly adopting your next companion pet. Keeping all of our windows sparking, clean and shiny, meet Laurie Garvey! Volunteers bring sparkle when they help by helping their way, Laurie's way is fast, fancy and fabulous! Having clean windows and doors is something that supports our mission in a clear concise way but may not be what comes to mind when you think about helping animals. Making the windows seem invisible makes our cats and kittens more visible, so we are very grateful for Laurie's dedicated service. Laurie has been cleaning the windows and doors at the Adoption Center from it's opening and we can't imagine the cats and kittens looking out to the world through anything other than her lovely clean windows!

Tracie Goodwin

Kitten Care Clovis Petco

Meet Tracie one of our dedicated kitten caretakers at one of our remote Petco locations. Tracie has been volunteering for several years now and has also helped with special projects/events like our annual yard sale to raise funds for incoming kittens with multiple needs. She has always been an animal lover and always seems to be rescuing some animal.  She can’t tell you how many possums she has rescued! Tracie started volunteering for The Cat House on the Kings after she saw a sign up at the Friant Petco looking for kitten care volunteers. She really like the fact that our organization was a Best Friends partner, especially since her and her husband had visited their facility in Kanab a few years prior and they were very impressed. She also volunteers for several dog rescues by transporting rescue dogs from the southern states up to Northern California. Here's a bit more about Tracie in her own words, "I am particularly fond of cats and I have had cats as long as I can remember.  We currently have two cats – both of whom we rescued from Woodward Park when they were tiny kittens.  I have rescued many cats and kittens from Woodward Park and have always been fortunate to find homes for them. I also rescue rabbits and we currently have two rabbits." Tracie understands the importance of constant, consistent, and compassionate kitten care, how vital it is for their well-being and livelihood but also how it increases adoptions. Tracie enjoys volunteering for The Cat House on the Kings and always looked forward to seeing the cats and kittens and spending time with them. She would always be very excited when learning that one of them found a forever home. Due to the Covid 19 Pandemic, she has really missed her volunteering work this last year and she looks forward to starting up again soon. We are very grateful for Tracie's patience during all of the changes that we have worked through due to the Pandemic. Tracie also said, "I am so impressed by and thankful for the work that The Cat House does in saving cats. I think they do an amazing job, and I’m honored to be a part of it." Thank you Tracie, we are grateful to have your dedicated and patient help!

Patti and Roger Hann

Fabulous Fosters and Adoption Profile Support

Patricia's step-mama is our foster coordinator, Kathy Sheer, so that tells you how she came to being involved with The Cat House on the Kings. The first foster assignment for Patricia and Roger was in the summer of 2002 of a litter of kittens that were rescued from a dumpster behind a restaurant and they were a wild bunch that made the transition into adoption-hood. That was almost 20 years ago and over the years they have fostered dozens of kittens and a couple of Mama cats as well. They have had bottle babies, kittens with various medical needs, different socialization needs and sadly they have lost the lifesaving battle of a few along the way. However, the majority of their foster kittens have been healthy, sweet and fun to raise! They enjoy fostering as it gives them the opportunity to get kittens ready to be adopted by a loving family. They have a dedicated " kitten room" that they say is their Kitten School! They spend lots of time playing with the kittens, talking to the kittens and giving them so much love and attention. They want all of their foster kittens to be happy, playful, well adjusted, loving and with personalities that shine so that they will get adopted quickly. Recently Patricia has been helping to write the stories for the kitten's adoption profiles as they graduate to the adoption phase. This is the time of year where we can have dozens of kittens become ready for adoption all at the same time, so they each need their story told. Being volunteers for The Cat House has been very rewarding for both of them, and since Patricia retired 4 years ago, the volunteer activities really help give her that sense of purpose and a chance to be productive while doing good for their community. They have seen The Cat House on the Kings grow and evolve so much over the years, and they believe it just keeps getting better and better. They respect and appreciate all who are involved in the day to day operations as well as all of the other volunteers.

Caitlyn Hemman

Foster Care, Profile Support, Special Events

Often our volunteers wear many helping hats including writing bios for kitties or even themselves, we are thrilled to have such talent as a part of our team! Meet Caitlyn who is a part of a whole volunteering family that we hold dear!!

"I can’t remember a moment in my life that I didn’t live with a cat. I started volunteering for the Cat House in 2011 with a litter of 3 bottle babies. They were so much fun, I was hooked. Bottle babies are pretty time consuming, but I loved it. It didn’t take long for my parents, Charlie and Cheryl Krauter to jump on board and foster too. I’ve fostered more than 100 kittens and lost count long ago. I have two boys, Dylan and Ryan, and they love to help. They have taken over bottle prep and feeding when I have to be gone. Ryan also takes amazing pictures of our fosters. The boys will tell me it’s time to get more when we are between batches. Who doesn’t love always having fun kittens in the house! We also have two dogs and two grown cats that help make our kittens more “well rounded” I like to say. Kids, dogs, cats...our fosters tend to be pretty laid back when we’re done with them. Sometimes it can be a little hard to part with them, but I know they are going to great homes that will give them tons of love and attention and if we let them go, it frees us up to help save some more. We’re having to take a break right now because I’ve gone back to teaching and grad school full time. I’m still able to volunteer and help by uploading pictures of cats and kittens onto the website when current fosters or Cat House staff take them. There are volunteer opportunities for all types of people. Have a few minutes to spare? Great! Write a kitten’s bio story or crop and upload some pictures. Have a spare bathroom or bedroom and a little more time? Sign up to be a foster and save some lives. There are kittens waiting to be saved right now, they just need foster homes to become available.

Caitlyn

Ansel Hendrickson and Julieana

Foster Team

This father and daughter foster team have always had a heightened sense of compassion for animals. As a young boy, Ansel always had cats for pets and his daughter Julieana seems to have inherited that trait too. All too often people find animals on the street and feel sorry for them but don't act in the best interest for those animals. Life is busy an it takes special people who will interrupt not only their day but their lives by getting involved. It was in April this year that they happened to discover 5 stray kittens about 2 weeks old. Unfortunately 2 of the 5 had passed away. Ansel and his daughter rescued the remaining 3 kittens. Julieana was the main caregiver for them. She was up every 2-3 hours feeding them at first with an eye dropper then with a syringe as they started requiring more per feeding. She even took on all the chores necessary for those kittens, which if you have ever cared for kittens, is a lot of consistent work! They eventually adopted them to their close friends who are still enjoying their company still today. After that experience, Julieana wanted to continue to foster and have cats or kittens to take care of. So they starting searching around for shelters that they could get involved with. They found The Cat House on the Kings and were especially drawn to us because of our philosophy of "no cage no kill". Contacting The Cat House on the Kings led them to our fostering program. They say that best part and yet the hardest part, is when they get adopted. It's very easy to get attached to the cats that they foster and they certainly do, and they really love them too. We are honored that they feel that The Cat House on the Kings is an exemplary Shelter second to none. They have shared that they have nothing but praise to all those involved in the care of all the cats at The Cat House. We are grateful to share this dynamic foster team with everyone as they continue on their journey of saving lives with us and doing a wonderful job helping us not only increase the amount of lives saved but changing those lives to a course filled with love and good life!

Jessica Johnson

Special Events Volunteer

“Next to doing the right thing, the most important thing is to let people know you are doing the right thing.” – John D. Rockefeller
Jessica Johnson began volunteering as a PR student.  Public relations classes can bring a variety of volunteers to our organization because who wouldn't want to work with animals! Promoting animal welfare can happen through  many activities, events, outlets and opportunities. Jessica soaked up the information, education and daily workings of our organization so effectively that she could volunteer for many of our events. Engaging visitors to our booths, educating on our programs, listening to the needs of the public community to assist them in the best way possible, all compassionately done by Jessica.
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” – Albert Einstein
We have so much going on in our lives, it is understandable when some volunteers only give their class time requirement and then they move on. To have a volunteer really learn all about our organization so effectively that they can cover an event solo is rare. Jessica continues to promote the hard dedicated life saving work that our staff and volunteers do. She also helps us fill gaps like finding us newspaper,  sharing special rescue stories, promoting and covering planned or pop up events and she helps at our ongoing Spring and Autumn Open Houses. Versatility brings benefits above and beyond just coping and helps us shine on to do more good.
Jessica champions networking to save animal's lives all through out the Central Valley, thank goodness the voiceless have such a remarkable Public Relations Purrson on their side! Thank you Jessica for your dedicated donation of your time, talents, gifts, knowledge and education! We are saving more lives with more people knowing about it!

Cheryl Krauter

Foster Mom, Transporter, Story Writer

Jess Lessard

Professional Photographer

Professional photographer Jess Lessard has been volunteering at The Cat House on the Kings for almost two years. She discovered The Cat House on the Kings when she was kayaking up the Kings River from her home in Reedley and saw all of the cats lounging about in the sunshine and knew it was a place she wanted to check out. As a faithful and dedicated volunteer, she spends time cleaning as well as socializing the cats and dogs. She typically works in the kitten quarters alongside staff members every Tuesday. She also spends a lot of time photographing new adoptables or things being built on the property. Many of the photos you see on our website, our Facebook page, and in our calendar were taken by Jess!

Jess Lessard is “owned” by three dogs (two rhodesian ridgebacks and one terrier mix ~ who is a rescue) and two cats, a lovely sweet calico and a crazy tuxedo cat with a mustache. Her photography page can be found (and LIKED!) on Facebook.

Posie Lieder Sutton

Silent Auction Piece/Gift Creator

"If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction." - Martin Kornfeld

Thank goodness that Posie's swift action of kindness put her on a path towards The Cat House on the Kings. Eleven years ago she came across a litter of ten day old kittens that had lost their mother to a coyote and she scooped them up and took them to her local veterinarian. The veterinarian that helped her with the five very young kittens told her about The Cat House on the Kings. Continuing to care and foster the surviving kittens that Posie rescued, further developed her understanding and affinity for the species. She made an appointment to come visit our Sanctuary and she said that the tour and the visit turned out to be the most amazing experience of her life. Posie was astounded by our Sanctuary, of Lynea's legacy, and all of our staff and volunteers dedicated work.  After learning about our organization, all that we do for our local community, the world-wide cat community and for animal welfare overall, Posie wanted to volunteer her time and many talents. She is an artist, a crafter, a painter, a seamstress, a gifted creator. Posie began making incredibly beautiful one of a kind items for our world renown silent auction at our annual Open Houses. She donated a vast array of clever unique items such as scroll saw pieces, paintings, pillows, quilts, kitchen sets, cat themed purses, in fact amazing items with cat themed fabric!  Posie continued to look for additional ways to help us and so she also signed up to sponsor many cats over their lifetime at the Sanctuary. It didn't stop there, when Posie released a CD, she donated her proceeds to The Cat House on the Kings as well, this is such a special gift when giving not only your own creation but the rewards from your creation! She adds additional support by using Amazon Smile to benefit us each time she shops so her everyday living supplies life too! Many people would CATegorize themselves as an animal lover, and Posie has always been animal person, raised with animals, raised animals and when her son wanted a cat, they did get him a cat that then went on to travel the US with them! We are ever so grateful that Posie puts her love of animals, especially cats after taking the time to realize what wonderful companions that they are, into making life saving actions with her donations and continued support. Action creates change, creates positive direction, and people like Posie take action daily to make a lasting loving difference. Set backs like not having our Open House don't stop incredible volunteers like Posie because they find a new way of helping, of supporting, of donating. Thank you Posie for sharing yourself, your gifts, your talents, your contributions with others to inspire them into action or multiple actions like yours! Posie and her three cat companions would like to let everyone know that they can make a donation for The Cat House to get a download of her album here posie-music.bandcamp.com or shop our wishlist www.cathouseonthekings.com/wishlist to help out during these extraordinary times!

Angelik Lopez

Kitten Care Friant Petco

Meet Angelik, one of our remote Petco kitten caretakers and an 8th grader at Alta Sierra. She has loved animals her whole life especially cats. Two days each week Angelik and her Mom go in to provide the daily care needed for the kittens awaiting adoption in a habitat at a local Petco. It is quite a talent needed to juggle feeding, cleaning, scooping and playing with our cute adoptable kittens. Kittens that cleverly learn how to get the most out of their care visits and they quickly try every avenue to get to you when the doors are open! This daily care is vital to the kittens well-being and to their ongoing journey towards adoption. Angelik has hopes of working in the field of animal health and wellness. She spends a lot of her time loving and caring for her 2 cats Simba and Persephone as well as other cats in the neighborhood. She believes in behaving humanely towards all animals especially cats! Her mom has no doubt she will continue to advocate and love animals ? Thank you Angelik for your compassion in action!

Denise Nemeroff

Foster

Meet Denise, one of our Foster Volunteers in her own words...

My experience with The Cat House on the Kings began in 2011 when CHOTK attended vendor fair at State Fund where I was working. I visited the booth but was not interested in a cat as I already had 2 male cats. However, my rescue dog, Codee who I had loved for 14 years, had recently passed.  Surprisingly, they said they had not only cats but puppies and dogs too! They showed me a picture of a recently dumped puppy. My heart was so touched that I adopted her shortly thereafter. Her name is Macey and I have had her for 9 years. She breaks in my foster kittens, making them more adoptable as dog friendly kittens!

I have fostered kittens for a couple of organizations and landed at CHOTK.  I am the foster who names the kittens with each successive letter of the alphabet. I am currently on “T”. People always ask me “how can you foster and then give them up?”.  I will admit the first one was very difficult. His name was Grayson (He just wasn’t an “A” name).
After he shipped out, I actually tried to track him down to bring him back home to me.
 It was then that I realized my role is to love them, socialize them, enjoy them and to nurture them to become the best possible pet for their forever human.

I love each and every foster. They give me WAY more than I give them.

Denise Nemeroff

Denise is also a member of CERT (California Emergency Response Team), a Chaplain with the Fresno Police RISE program, the Social Media Director and Volunteer Coordinator for CCADT (California Animal Disaster Team) and an Animal Transporter for the Kirkland Foundation. Thank you Denise for all that you do to help so many!

Amanda Noyes

Kitten Care at remote Petco locations

Seven years ago, Amanda, signed up to volunteer for The Cat House on the Kings. Amanda filled a vital need for daily kitten care at one of our remote Petco locations. Meet Amanda in her own words, "I am an avid lover of all things macabre and spooky; art and photography. I am unconventionally conventional...I was never picky about breeds or species, but my bias is cats."

Amanda started marching to the beat of her own drum at an early age. Her compassion for animals is an important part of her path and we are grateful that Amanda not only marches out on her scheduled days to cover kitten care, she also goes at a moments notice to fill in for kitten care. You need a special set of juggling skills to take care of the kittens in this situation since they like to climb out of their habitat, they like to get into everything you are doing, they make providing the daily care a challenge to say the least! Amanda gives the kittens not only the cleaning, changing, feeding, watering care that they need, she gives them the much desired attention that they need to help them succeed in finding a family to adopt them. Amanda says, "Animals speak volumes when it comes to self love and loyalty. The very first feline I fell in love with was, Prince Albert. A partially blind Rag doll who was of calm demeanor." She does such an incredible job understanding the cats personalities that it makes being in a different environment not so scary, she helps them adjust to their temporary housing and get used to being around people in a different location. Amanda helps the kitties have the confidence to share their personalities and she helps take great photos of them when needed too. We have had to do a lot of adjusting due to COVID-19 and Amanda has patiently stood with us through all of the changes and we are so grateful for that as well.
When this pandemic ends, her goal is to attend Veterinary Technician school, then the rest will be history with her on going knowledge for all creatures big and small.

Rene Rogers

Foster

Meet Rene Rogers, one of our newer marvelous fosters! She has loved animals since she was born and has always had animals in her life. She says she was born with two labs in the family already. She has shared her life with dogs, cats, rats, snakes, hamsters, all kinds of pets. She has always tried to rescue stays or those abandoned on the side of the road, or find a way to get them to safety.

She adopted from The Cat House in the past, and after adopting her beloved Flea and getting in contact with his foster, Flea's foster helped her start fostering. Her first foster was a mom kitty who had babies in their planter the day before the Fourth of July of 2020. She reached out and got the contact number to ask if she could foster this little family for The Cat House on the Kings and she has continued to foster ever since.

Although Rene knows that she can't save every cat in the world, this way she can help save one or a few at a time, and she says it is such an honor to watch the babies grow into each different personality. "It's a great experience to help socialize and help cats and kittens become adoptable to find their furever home." We are grateful that one of our adopters became a foster through contact with the foster of her adopted kitten. The more foster homes we have, the more lives we can save!

Eileen and Michael Romero

Eileen started volunteering probably 15 years ago and also worked for The Cat House on the Kings. That led to Michael, her husband, and both of their sons helping out at our Open Houses. Then for the last 4 or 5 Open Houses, Eileen's niece Brandy and her family have come all the way from Victorville, which is a 4 hour drive, to help greet each and every visitor to our Open House. They take in all the donations given for the event, help volunteers sign in and get name tags, direct traffic and help people sign up for our newsletter.
Eileen loves The Cat House and all the great things we provide such as low-cost spay/neuter and vaccines for families, providing education to help the community keep pets safe and healthy, assistance with TNR and other assistance to help many communities provide more for animals and the people who love them.
With such a great need in our country for cat care and overpopulation, Eileen and her family feel it’s super important to support The Cat House in any way they can. It is so important that Eileen and Michael traveled all the way from Tennessee to volunteer for this special 30 Year Celebration Spring Open House!

Gilbert Romero

Foster Care, Transportation Specialist

You know that question, "are you a cat or a dog person?" well Gilbert Romero considered himself a dog person, until about 6 years ago. Two days after the adventure of climbing Mount Whitney, Gilbert found a tiny two day old kitten on the sidewalk. He immediately sought help for the kitten and this is how he found out that the kitten was only 2 days old, meaning she was born on the day that he had been climbing Mount Whitney. Whitney the kitten started a whole new path of adventure for Gilbert and thus changing his answer to the question, "are you a cat or a dog person?" to just YES! Anyone who has been in animal welfare/rescue for a bit knows that it draws you in deeper and deeper and can become overwhelming, it also seems to have a way of having animals in need "find" you! When a neighbor who was feeding feral cats suddenly stopped feeding them 4 years ago, Gilbert took over making sure that they were fed. This began the next journey of how quickly cats multiply when unaltered (not spayed or neutered) and Gilbert reached out for help. Gilbert continued learning through The Cat House on the Kings how extreme our overpopulation problem is here and he became a phenomenal Foster Papa! Finding a path to saving more lives faster is the goal for many volunteers once they become aware of how many lives need saving. Then came Gilbert's next adventure in animal welfare/rescue, transporting!! Many areas have more available homes, more foster families, and just more resources for the cats and dogs that they wouldn't have here so we need to get them there. Transport is very hard work all in a short period of time, for any of you who have children of any kind you know what it takes to load them up, now multiply that by 20, 30, even 50 lives! Gilbert has a rejuvenating spirit for everyone who comes in contact with him and he does this for all of us even after driving for ten plus hours. Having a Foster Papa do the transports makes a huge difference because he completely understands the needs of the animals in his care and provides that all throughout the trip. He also understands the pressure for traveling quickly back and forth since most transport vehicles are in high demand and are scheduled for trips back to back. Gilbert's actions of do the most good have translated into 350 animals being transported to other rescue groups in areas with more homes available, just this year alone. We are thrilled to look forward to next year with all the networking that he is doing for our animals in need here! We need special words for people like Gilbert and his supportive family because thank you doesn't always seem like enough! With a heart like his though we know he feels it when we say thank you and we will keep looking for those spectacular words that belong to Gilbert.

Theresa Rutherford

Foster Phenomenon

The Cat House on the Kings and Petco Foundation Celebrated All-Star Local Volunteer Theresa Rutherford. She was honored as one of 50 lifesaving foster volunteers in the nation back in 2018. Foster care takes a lot of consistent, dedicated, compassionate work. It can be highly rewarding sending your fosters to their forever homes and it makes all that you have done for the kittens in your care worth it. Medical appointments, alarms for needed feeding, reminders for medications, cleaning, cleaning, cleaning, handling with care making sure you check every inch and toe bean for health reasons, socializing, litter box training, more cleaning and sometimes heartbreak when you have done everything right but it turns out to be a short life lived. Theresa has fostered more than 500 animals for The Cat House on the Kings since 2014. “Theresa understands the lifesaving juggling act that fostering provides to save more lives and give those lives more opportunities.” Our All Star Foster recognized back in 2018, Theresa has only shone brighter since then, never having an empty foster room! Thank you, Theresa for being a shining example of a foster phenomenon!

Patty Sanchez

Foster Care and Adoption Center Volunteer

  Kittens are very cute and it is not surprising to us that cat videos are always number one on the internet! The hard and never ending work that goes into rescuing, fostering, adoption, and life saving is not always cute, can be heartbreaking, is endless however rewarding when it gets back to the awe of success. People like Patty Sanchez are surprisingly hard to find, especially when you consider how long she has been volunteering all while having an over full time job managing apartments! It is her very profession that puts her on the same path as so many animals needing rescue, services, help and compassion. Many people will just walk by an animal in need and do nothing, while Patty steps in and does everything that she can for that animal. She fosters kittens, she helps animals find their way home, she also helps animals get medical care, and then on top of all that she comes in every other week to help clean and set up the Adoption Center in Fresno so that families with loving homes can be found for the cats and kittens there. When you foster kittens or cats it is much more involved than many people realize too and Patty steps up to those challenges too. Being a kitten photographer, a kitten personality profiler and name giver,  a kitten coach, a kitten trainer, a kitten cuddler and all of the non-glamorous tasks, kitten cleaner, kitten maid, kitten transporter, kitten wellness provider, kitten cleaner (so much cleaning has to be mentioned twice) and Patty has done this for many years already! Continuing to be a dependable volunteer and foster for so many years is so greatly appreciated by the entire team here at The Cat House and we hope to express our gratitude for you Patty!

Chris Sanders and Richard

Kitten Care Riverside Petco

It takes a lot of person power to care for cats and kittens and it isn't as easy as it sounds when you put the job description down for kitten care at one of our remote adoption locations. We need a lot of volunteers to help us provide the daily constant kitten care needed so that kitties can basically go on tour to help them find their forever family that will adopt them. The phrase "be in two places at once" comes into play a lot when you are trying to juggle said kitten care because with only two hands you need to clean etc. all while the kitties typically want both of those hands on them! Meet one of our power teams that work together to be in two places at once, Chris Sanders and Richard! They do a great job caring for the kitties, giving them everything they need to be happy, healthy and in good moods to help them shine for potential adopters. Here's what Chris said about finding their way to volunteering for us two years ago, "We are a team, Richard and I. My mom, Mary Williams, who volunteers at Clovis Petco, got us started. She knew how much Richard loves cats and how much I love to help.....so here we are!!! Richard has several kitties residing in different households, that he and his family adore. He has a special place in his heart for each one. Our bundle of joys are Deckard, Apollo, and Alice who were the kittens of a Momma cat that was rescued from a parking lot. Richard takes on the responsibility of playtime with the kitties at Petco and I am the cleaner extraordinaire!!!"  We are grateful to have this awesome kitten care team that helps several days a week, helps to fill in when we have gaps in the schedule and that have loved all of the kitties that have come through The Cat House on the Kings! Thank you Chris and Richard!

Kathy Scheer

Adoption coordinator, foster mom, all-round volunteer

Kathy Scheer first became involved with The Cat House in 2002, when she retired from nursing, she began to dedicate a great deal of her spare time to the Cat House.  Tireless and deeply caring, Kathy has donated her time, energy, and financial resources to the plight of abandoned cats and kittens.

Kathy's work for The Cat House is far-reaching.She spends her time rescuing cats and kittens from the community, hosting off-site adoptions at local Petco stores, helping at fundraisers, fostering kittens at her home, and coordinating transportation from the Valley to other rescue organizations throughout California. Kathy’s level of commitment is incredible, and The Cat House is very fortunate to have her as a volunteer.

Marsha Steinhauer

Adoption Center Volunteer

Marsha's journey with The Cat House began 8 years ago when her neighbors moved and left many cats behind to fend for themselves. The cats found a way in to Marsha's garage and started having litters so knowing a bit about TNR, she reached out for help and found our foster coordinator Kathy Scheer through The Cat House on the Kings. Kathy set her up with traps and trained her to do everything needed for TNR including how to care for the cats and kittens with their many different needs. Diligently working with Kathy for 2 years of teamwork they were able to TNR all the cats with many of the kittens going through the adoption process and into loving homes. Marsha had limited resources and her way to give back for all of the help and support she received, she gave the greatest gift, her time and energy. She became a regular weekly dependable volunteer at our Fresno Adoption Center where she feeds, cleans, scoops, cleans, juggles and patiently resets the multiple kitten and cat rooms. Marsha says she loves to be around the cats of course and she especially enjoys being around other wonderful cat people. Marsha has always had a profound love for cats going as far back as she can remember. Having a neighbor abandon cats is traumatic for the lives that suffer that fate, however Marsha went to work on the problem and turned it into a life-saving journey that continues to give back to this day. She is grateful to be a part of The Cat House because she is in awe of Lynea, what she has done, she is extremely grateful to Kathy for her staunch help and she wants to continue to give her support through volunteering!

Patricia Stropko

Kitten Care Friant Petco

Meet Patti, one of our remote Petco kitty caretakers!
Hello! My name is Patti Stropko and I have loved animals for as long as I can remember. I live with my daughter, son-in-law, and 2 grandchildren. We have several cats at the moment, all but one of them is a rescue kitty. The first animal I tried to rescue was a very young baby bird that had fallen from a high tree. Unfortunately it didn't survive, but just the act of trying to save it made me feel that I was doing something worthwhile. It's funny - animals seem to know that I will help them because they just come to me, no matter how scared they are. Over the years I have personally gained a dog and four cats that way! I got started with The Cat House on the Kings because of my daughter Janet. She received an email one day about two and a half years ago after signing up for the newsletter from CHOTK, and in the email they were asking for people who could volunteer in the Petco stores. Janet shared that with me, knowing how much I love animals and that I had some extra time on my hands. After pondering it for a couple of days I decided that it would be the perfect way for me to help animals in some capacity. I've been volunteering for CHOTK ever since. I am constantly amazed at the work they do. Just knowing that every cat that comes their way will either be matched with an appropriate home or have a home at The Cat House is truly heartwarming. My granddaughter shares my love of animals and is always thrilled when she gets a chance to come with me to kitten care. She gives them lots of love, plays with them, and always wants to take them home with us! I am very proud to be able to pass on the importance of giving, no matter where or what form that takes place. I am deeply grateful to The Cat House on the Kings for all they do.

Jessica Velez

Foster

I’ve always had an interest in caring for animals. When I was growing up, my parents made an effort to support the local cat colony. They worked hard to get as many spayed and neutered as possible, and coordinated with local no-kill shelters to adopt out all the friendly ones. This made a lasting impression on me that all animals were worth my love and attention. It also imprinted that most animals just need an opportunity. Through volunteering at a local shelter in Pensacola, FL I learned about fostering and signed up for their program. Since then I’ve been thankful to foster 45 animals over the years; all them have brought joy into my life and the lives of their adopters, some of which are close friends. When I relocated to Fresno, I knew I wanted to continue fostering and The Cat House on the Kings was the best option. On top of being a no kill shelter, I felt like the animals were genuinely well cared for and the staff was committed to finding every pet a forever home. I appreciate the opportunity to be a part of this process. There’s a lot of stress in my line of work in the Navy, but fostering cats and kittens fills my off-time with happiness and meaning.

Debbie VonBerg

Fabulous Foster

Our fabulous fosters juggle a lot of life and lives, just like Debbie VonBerg! A teacher for 26 years with 2 adult children, Debbie, has a full life load but still constantly has foster kittens as a part of daily life. She has always loved kitties from as far back as her memories begin. Saving and helping lives in need has long been a part of Debbie's life so she was familiar with taking care of young kittens when she came across The Cat House on the Kings. A trip out for our Open House was the catalyst for Debbie to fall in love with our Sanctuary and our Mission that led to her applying to foster for us. Fostering takes a lot of hard work, way more cleaning than expected, intense emotions, dedicated diligence and unwavering care that can be difficult to maintain. Debbie has been delightfully dedicated to fostering for us since starting in 2015 and the math for all of these lives is impressive! Many people don't realize all of the extra efforts that go into fostering for adoption, like personality profiling, clever name giving, photography of a forever moving being, medical record keeping, appointment transport, potential family meet and greets among many others. That is why this math is so amazing when you consider all that goes into it, in the 5 years that Debbie has been fostering for The Cat House, she has fostered over 126 kittens with only 3 foster failures (a foster failure is when you adopt your own foster kitten/cat)!  Foster families fall in love with their fosters and then they lovingly release them to an adoptive family to live out the rest of their lives. It takes strong compassionate incredible humans to continually foster, not foster fail every time, and keep increasing the math of lives saved, we are grateful that Debbie and her family are these kinds of humans!

Lacey Wehner

Foster Felineominon

Lacey is a champion for foster care as she understands the power of connection, home family care, and giving the best possible start to living a good life. It is hard work caring for foster kittens while
also juggling family life, however Lacey always makes it look fun and effortless. Lacey radiates the joy of care-giving and it shines brightly in all of her furbulous foster photos. It was one of Lacey's awe inspiring photos was the model inspiration for our new "Purrito" shirts. Lacey is also growing junior humane heros as well by having her children help with fostering, socialization and  adoption promotion. Having kittens cared for, carefully handled and raised alongside children helps their chances of finding homes since they
will already be used to many different family members. Children are our future and Lacey involves her children in life-saving and all that that encompasses.

This is an adapted poem about fostering that is Lacey:

Although she is not their mother, she cares for them each day, she
cuddles, cleans and talks to them and watches them as they play.

She sees each new accomplishment, she helps them grow and learn, she
tries to understand their meows, she listens with concern.

They go to her for comfort, and she strokes away their fears. They
proudly show their pounce to her, she gives the loudest cheers!

No, she's not their mother, but her role is just as strong, she nurtures
them and keeps them safe, though maybe not for long.

She knows someday the time will come when they will have to part, but
she knows each kitten she cared for is forever in her heart!

Thank you Lacey for your way of life-saving that makes us all smile and
helps us keep going all the while!

Daniel Shirey

Volunteer Satellite Adoption Center Fresno

Daniel has been volunteering at our Petco Adoption Center in Fresno for a few years now and he makes the day go much more smoothly by taking such great care of the kitties there. He came to volunteer at the Adoption Center when it was recommended by a foster parent family friend and now we can't imagine not having him there several days a week. The cats and kittens look forward to his gentle, consistent, and complete care. "I help out at the Petco Adoption Center because they need person power for cleaning and lifting supplies; I now have a rescued black cat named Lucky so I'm familiar with feeding routines and cleaning litter boxes. Thank you," Daniel says about volunteering. We know from his compassionate care that his cat is purrfectly named! We are very grateful to have Daniel, he certainly puts a smile on our staff's face as soon as he walks through the door. The kittens prance around when they see their friend Daniel because they look forward to his attention and care!

Valerie Woodward

Adoption Center Photographer

Val is a mother, wife, works as a School Psychologist and Rodan + Fields Skincare consultant and has always had a love for cats, dogs, and animals of all kinds! She has a passion for photography and has found a way to use her skills to give back by helping to capture the personalities of the adoptable kitties at the adoption center at Petco. It is her hope that someone will fall in love with a photo, come to the adoption center and give a forever home to a much deserving kitty.

Terry Noell

Volunteer

Terry Noell has been volunteering for The Cat House for a little over 13 years.  It all started when his wife Tammy got involved with The Cat House and she was always asking for his help.

Terry is never in the spotlight (until now), but always in the background supporting and helping Tammy and The Cat House however he can.  He has made several trips to the Bay area to transport kitties to other rescues and made a trip to Redding to deliver two fosters to their forever home.  Terry also helps with off site adoptions at Petco.

He built a special room in their home just so Tammy could foster kittens, enabling them to foster and adopt out several hundred felines in the past several years. He is always loading and unloading food, paperwork and kitties. It was through The Cat House that he learned of the overpopulation problem in Fresno, so he proceeded to trap, neuter and return over 18 cats at his worksite so they would not continue the cycle of unwanted kittens.  

Terry continues to help Tammy with TNR by transporting cats to The Cat House for spays and neuters, stops at the SPCA to pick up a cat that is on its last day and has learned how to help Tammy with blood testing and medicating their foster kittens. He always supports her in her efforts to foster, house and love as many kitties as their house and hearts can hold.

Terry is better known as the DJ at all of our open house events or the guy with the poodles.

Thank you Terry, for the time and energy you have devoted to our cause.  The Cat House on the Kings would not exist without loyal supporters like you!

Eileen Romero

Volunteer

Eileen used to work for us. During that time, she absolutely loved her job swearing it was the best job ever because it combines the 2 things she loves - helping and kitties! She was sad to leave us because she loves the Cat House so much, but took her office cat Lt. Fuzzy to live with her. She still volunteers doing what she can online and she (and her hubby too!) still come up twice a year for the open house and man the front gate. Eileen says, “There’s no place like The Cat House! This place is as close to heaven as I’ve found! If you haven’t ever come and visited, you’re sure missing a treat! The staff, volunteers, sponsors and supporters are the best. It takes a lot to run this place. It’s absolutely amazing!”

Charles Schaefer

Volunteer Carpenter

Meet our volunteer extraordinaire, Charles Schaeffer! Charles has been retired from teaching for 20 years but he has been anything but idle. Mr. Schaeffer has volunteered his time with CASA, (Court Appointed Special Advocates), Habitat For Humanity, and tutoring homeless children. He says he is most happy volunteering his time at The Cat House on the Kings. Charles doesn’t watch TV much, preferring to read and listen to classical music in his down time. He does like to build things though. He has a complete shop with all the equipment needed for an expert carpenter to do the amazing job he is doing for the Cat House.

Charles noticed that the kitchen in the main house was in need of some help. “I saw that while it is a favorite hangout for many of the cats, time and the cats had caused some serious deterioration of the cabinets and the linoleum floors”, said Charles. Charles also wanted potential adopters to enter into a bright, inviting adoption area.

Charles is about halfway through refinishing the kitchen cabinets. He removes the doors and drawers and refinishes them in his workshop. The cabinets are being double varnished to make them moisture resistant. He then reinstalls them complete with updated hardware. Charles has contributed countless hours towards this immense project.

Charles has said that he intends to be around for a while. We were truly blessed the day Charles Schaeffer decided to come to the Cat House on the Kings. The Cat House is eternally grateful to be graced with the time and talents of such an extraordinary man.

 

Volunteer Spotlight

Chris Bagley and Karen Rae

Silent Auction PHENOMENONS

Karen found The Cat House on the Kings through heartbreaking circumstances. She had two cats that had lived in harmony for years. She then brought a third cat into the house and it was a disaster from day one. She worked with 3 different cat behaviorists, the last was even a DVM who specialized in behavior issues...long story short when all (the 3 cats and Karen) were on meds of one sort or another and trying everything under the sun...the vet finally said "Sometimes re-homing is the only solution". Alfie was a gorgeous purebred Bengal and it would have been no trouble just handing him off to someone else, but she felt city life in a condo was not for him. Karen spent a lot of time researching sanctuaries. From her research, she knew, if we would have him, he could be happy here if no one with the proper home ever adopted him.  She said "I was SO lucky someone with The Cat House took him in and gave him a GREAT home."
This experience made her acutely aware of the plight of unwanted cats and she had to help. Then one of the 1st projects Karen donated to was the extension of the senior house. She dedicated it to Alfie...thus....Alfie's Annex. She always said "the reason Alfie came into my life was so that I could find The Cat House on the Kings!" This then led to Karen getting Chris involved.

Chris started her journey with The Cat House on the Kings 11 years ago. She had experience putting on Auctions for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Santa Barbara. Karen asked if she would come to an Auction to provide some ideas to improve or expand it to make more money. Next thing she knew 11 years and about 20 Epic Silent Auctions have gone by. Chris said "Fortunately Karen and I make a good team as she is the creative basket production person and I am the organizer".

The Silent Auction became the big draw for our Open Houses! Many people spread the word about how amazing our silent auctions were which in turn grew our event attendance. People were amazed by the expanse, the variety, the beauty, the creativity, and how fabulous our silent auctions grew to be. These epic silent auctions raised thousands and thousands of dollars to help us save many more lives!

We Need YOU!

Join Us!

It's easy! We need folks with all sorts of talents. A good deal of our work isn't glamorous; in fact, our greatest need is for people to help us scrub the facility and keep it in tip-top shape!

We also need people to foster kittens and cats, and help us medicate and tend to those cats and kittens that need extra TLC. To get started, just fill out a volunteer application, shoot us an email, or give us a call.

Lynea Through the Looking Glass

Beth Wilson of Bristol, UK, a self-confessed "Crazy Cat Lady" and artist, created this lovely drawing of Lynea, which she has kindly allowed us to show you here. You can click on the picture for a larger version.