A Visit to a Very Special Place

My human’s boyfriend was playing a show that was only an hour’s drive from a place that my human has been wanting to visit for years! So she decided to go up there. I agreed that this was a good idea since the place involves cat rescue and she was only going to be gone for a couple of days. I even offered to donate a bunch of my “gently used” toys (in other words, toys that weren’t totally drooled on by Boodie or ruined by Binga) — and I even paw-picked some of my favorites!

So I sent off the toys, and my human, with my blessings. Can you guess where she went?

If you guessed the Cat House on the Kings, you were right!

It was impossible for my human to really capture the scope of the sanctuary — it’s 12 acres, totally enclosed with a cat-proof fence! And there were many different buildings and enclosures for senior kitties, kittens, an FIV ward, an ICU and even places for long term and short term boarding!

This is the main house. It’s 4,200 square feet and totally belongs to the cats. The owner of the Cat House on the Kings, Lynea Lattanzio, used to live there, but she wanted some space away from the cats, so she moved to a mobile home a few yards away. Of course, lots of special needs cats live in the mobile home now!

It was dark in the main house so my human only took a few photos… and one of the first kitties she took a photo of was — yep, a tortie!

And then there was this Bengal hanging out! The Cat House on the Kings has several breed cats living there, including three Bengals.

There was even a Sphynx hanging out in the office! This girl was very friendly.

This kitty was a Pixie Bob!

My human doesn’t know how many cats were there. The website says 700 adult cats, and there were too many for my human to count. Plus it was very hot — over 100 degrees that afternoon! — so a lot of the cats were keeping cool in places my human couldn’t see. The humans at the Cat House on the Kings make sure the kitties are comfortable during the extreme summers they have — and the cold winters too.

But the cats seemed to be better prepared for the heat than my human. The tour was led by Lynea Lattanzio herself, and when she took the group of visitors down to the river, a number of cats followed them.

This kitty didn’t want pictures taken — he wanted to be petted.

This one didn’t mind posing for photos.

Behind the patio furniture and the trees is the Kings River. The area where the Cat House on the Kings is located is dry and harsh and green and beautiful, all at the same time! The kitties clearly enjoyed living there, but even so, in her heart my human knows that most of them wish they had a family of their very own.

The trip to the Cat House on the Kings, and seeing her boyfriend play an awesome show, were worth having to stay at a tacky casino hotel, where they made no secret of letting guests know they were constantly being watched.

The hotel was surreal in a lot of different ways. But when my human saw this, the only angels she could think of were the ones taking care of the kitties, just an hour’s drive away.