It is our pleasure to introduce you to The Cat House On The Kings (CHOTK). This 12 acre property is the largest no-cage, no-kill, lifetime cat sanctuary and adoption center in California for feral, abandoned and rescued cats. In the past 26 years The Cat House on the Kings as rescued over 28,000 cats!
Founder & owner Lynea Lattanzio is the AMEOWZING woman who gave up her 4,200 square foot, 5 bedroom home when she realized that the cat to human ratio was favoring the felines. She moved out and dedicated her home, property, finances and her entire life to creating the sanctuary and assisting in adopting out as many kittens/cats as humanly possible. They also focus on education and advice at the location and online to spread as much knowledge to all needy cat owners.
The staff and volunteers do a great job keeping the property and residents in purrfect shape and I was lucky enough to visit in early 2016 to see firsthand this truly an amazing sanctuary that saves so many lives 🙂
Here’s what the 50 staff members, 7 vet techs and approximately 100 volunteers do for the 700+ feline residents EACH day! This also allows them to constantly observe all the animals for any medical issues, safety precautions and other property maintenance that is needed for immediate resolutions.
The day began at around 4:30am with morning food preparations. The majority of the cats are fed a wet/dry mix of food and an overwhelming 1000 cans of wet food and 1400 pounds of dry food are used each week! It takes six people two hours to prepare the food and each special room has a specific diet based on their needs and any restrictions.
While we wait for the sun to rise, the cleaning begins! Every litter box on the property is cleaned on the inside and outside and 600 pounds of litter is used every week. The entire house is swept, mopped and all the windows cleaned. In winter fireplaces are lit to keep the inhabitants nice and toasty. Another team works on the mountains of bedding that are washed daily as well.
With a bit more daylight illuminating the property, the workers can now move onto the outdoor tasks. These primarily outdoor felines are given breakfast and the entire sanctuary is walked to check on all other individual shelters scattered over the vast property. Each shelter is fully insulated and has it’s own A/C and heater for any weather that may hit. Large outdoor litter boxes are available to the cats however many choose to use nature as their “depository”. The volunteers and workers also pick this up during their walk to keep the sanctuary clean and sanitary.
It is about this time that the public begin to arrive. CHOTK offers low cost spay and neuter services and has helped over 40,000 cats in the local community. Over the last few years they’ve spent over $200,000 of their own funding on spaying and neutering!!!
While the cats are being dropped off by members of the public and transported to a nearby vet clinic, other workers are focusing on the resident cats and nail trimming, flea treatments and anything else that is required to keep happy, healthy cats.
On our continued tour, we then moved onto the office and kitten rooms…this was slow going as I had to stop and pet as many cats as possible! =)
When kitten season hits, unfortunately 100’s of more needy kittens are taken in by the sanctuary that will all require spaying/neutering, vaccines, micro-chipping, treatments for fleas, worms & ear mites and then litter box training.
In 2003, with received funding and dedicated volunteers they were able to build a dedicated area to provide a safe home for all the FIV+ cats. This is primarily to keep THEM safe from others due to their compromised immune systems.
There are separate rooms available for skittish cats that may not feel as comfortable in the open yard with the others, as the cats well being is the main priority. Another entire house has been dedicated to the senior cats that may have more special needs, and also where I was lucky enough to spend the night! Check out this video for just how welcome these residents made me feel <3
As a bonus, not only has CHOTK done the outstanding work for cats for the last 26 years, during that time they’ve also helped rescue over 8,000 dogs too!
The Cat House is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation, receives no government or public funding, and relies entirely on donations from the public to carry out its mission. It costs approximately $100,000 A MONTH to keep the sanctuary running in tip top shape! They have merchandise you can purchase from their website or an Amazon wish list for the products they require for their daily operations.
I would highly recommend visiting the sanctuary and if you can purrlease help them continue their life saving work! – http://www.cathouseonthekings.com
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