Frequently Asked Questions

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This is on a case-by-case basis. We prefer to try to assist in solving the individual situation or suggest ways you can find a new home for your cat on your own. If this is not an option, you must contact Lynea for approval at (559) 638-8696 before filling out our online surrender form.

For individuals the total charge to surrender a cat is $5000. As a courtesy, we will accept monthly payments toward this total, provided that you have first paid a non-refundable deposit of $500 (for cats under 8 years old) and $1000 for senior cats (8 years and older). The minimum monthly payment for non-senior cats is $60 per month until the entire balance is paid (up to 83 months) and $75 per month for senior cats (up to 67 months). If the cat is unvaccinated or unaltered, there is an $80 fee in addition to the deposit.

Note: The full surrender fee is due and payable to The Cat House on the Kings even if the cat dies before full payment has been made. If the cat is adopted before all payments have been made, The Cat House on the Kings will consider the remaining debt to be paid in full and no further payments will be required.

Payment in full discount: If you pay the entire surrender fee at the time the cat is surrendered, the surrender fee will be discounted 10%. e.g. For a non-senior cat the discounted fee would then be $4500.

No. The reason is that in exchange for the surrender fee we provide the service of lifetime care for the surrendered cat(s). Consequently, the surrender fee does not qualify as a tax-deductible donation.

Yes! If you submitted your surrender form online, simply click here and enter your e-mail address to look up your surrendered cat(s). Then you will get a convenient link to set up recurring payments through PayPal.

Changing your payment method with PayPal is straightforward:

1. First, note when the last payment was made and calculate when the next payment is due to be taken by PayPal.
2. Before the next payment is charged to the credit card by PayPal, cancel your "subscription", which is PayPal's term for the regular payments.
3. Click here to set up a new PayPal payment schedule for surrenders. For a new sponsorship payment schedule, click here instead.

We do have an exchange program for qualified rescue groups. Please read the terms and conditions.

The cat's 4-in-1 (FVRCP&C), Rabies and Leukemia vaccinations are brought up to date. The cat is also wormed and treated with flea preventative. Watching Lynea do all this at lightning speed on a very unhappy feral cat is something to behold! (See "" below.)

Newcomers are initially quarantined while they get acclimated to their new environment. (See next question.)

Yes. The Cat House on the Kings is a qualified 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charity. Our EIN is 27-0015288. Please note, however, that although donations are tax-exempt, in particular are not tax exempt.

Our recent financial statements are available here.

We have quarantine areas to keep new animals closely supervised in the event of stress induced illness. Some interact after a few days, some take months, some never adjust. Take a tour to see for yourself where they will live.

Please read our adoption process.

We are open 7 days a week, except major holidays, by appointment only. For tours, adoptions or spay/neuter appointments, call (559) 638-0490. (For all other matters, please see our contact page.) If you plan to stay overnight in the area, several local hotels offer special rates for our visitors. You may also visit our off-site adoption center at Petco, 4144 N. Blackstone Ave at Ashlan in Fresno. Call (559) 222-0228 for more information. We also hold adoption fairs at various other off-site locations.

The Humane Society of the United states has an online guide to introducing a new cat to your other pets. Please take a look and let us know if you still have questions.

When you cannot routinely touch cats to apply Advantage or FrontLine, for example, you can feed them the using the following recipe: 1 part granulated garlic and 1 part brewer's yeast to ½ part L Lysine plus ½ part food grade Diatomaceous Earth (not pool grade!). We heat about 4 cups of water in a microwave (8 mins) and then add a heaping spoonful of Better than Bouillon (available at Costco, Smart & Final and Target, among others). Then we stir in ⅓ cup of the ingredient mixture, mixing it all thoroughly. Then we add it to a bowl with 2 13oz cans of cat food and around six cups of dry food (we use Halo) which are also well-mixed together and served on large trays. Since we feed hundreds of cats, this prepation is used a lot! The yeast and garlic are for fleas. The L Lysine boosts their immunity and the food-grade Diatomaceous Earth kills internal parasites.

For more information on Diatomacous Earth, see diatomaceousearth.net, Amazon.com or saferbrand.com, among others. Food-grade Diatomacous Earth may also be applied directly to cats to control fleas.

Absolutely! Any animal entering our sanctuary is spayed/neutered (and vaccinated) promptly as needed upon arrival.

There are various estimates around the Internet for how many kittens can theoretically be produced by one unaltered pair of cats. The usual gestation period for kittens is just 59 days and a female can have several litters a year. In fact in the Fresno area there are reports of some cats having four(!) litters a year because of the warm climate. So to estimate the number of kittens who could be produced by one unaltered pair of cats, a number of assumptions must be made. There is no general agreement on the numbers chosen for the assumptions, so we let you choose your own and see the how they play out. Just use our handy calculator and try changing the numbers to what you believe to be most likely!

We are able to board cats. Our basic rate is $8/day. Discounts may be available depending on the number of cats or length of their stay with us. Please contact us for further information.

CatChannel.com has an extensive collection of articles, many written by Marilyn Krieger, a nationally known certified cat behavior consult.

The San Francisco SPCA also has a number of cat behavior resources.

If you think you cat has been poisoned, call the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center at (888) 426-4435.

There is a $55 consultation fee for this service.

Be ready with the following information:

• the species, breed, age, sex, weight and number of animals involved
• the animal's symptoms
• information regarding the exposure, including the agent (if known), the amount of the agent involved and the time elapsed since the time of exposure.

Have the product container/packaging available for reference.

Please note: If your animal is having seizures, losing consciousness, is unconscious or is having difficulty breathing, telephone ahead and bring your pet immediately to your local veterinarian or emergency veterinary clinic. If necessary, he or she may call the APCC.

See below for a list of .

The ASPCA has compiled an extensive list of plants which are either toxic or non-toxic to cats, dogs or horses. They also have pictures to help you identify the plants. For your convenience we provide some easy-to-use lists which have been derived from the ASPCA information. Always double-check that you are looking at the right list!

The Cat Fancier's Association has a list of plants poisonous to cats.

CPR for cats and dogs is similar to CPR for humans. The procedure is described below or you can view a video demonstration. These directions assume the animal is unconscious and the risk of being bitten by the animal is not present.

1. Remove any obstruction. Open animals mouth and make sure the air passage is clear. If not remove the object obstructing the air passage.
2. Extend the head and give several artificial respirations:
   1. For large dogs: close the animal's jaw tightly and breathe into the nose. The animal's chest should rise. Give 2 breaths.
   2. For small dogs and cats you may be able to cover the nose and mouth with your mouth as you breathe. The animal's chest should rise. Give 2 breaths.
3. Next perform chest compressions
   1. For large dogs you may be able to position the dogs on its back and compress the chest just like for humans.
   2. For small dogs and cats as well as large dogs with funnel chests, you may need to lie the animal on its side and compress the side of the rib cage. Alternatively you can position the animal on its back and press on both sides of the rib cage.
4. The rate of chest compressions varies with the size of the animal
   1. Dogs over 60 lbs: 60 compressions per minute
   2. Animals 11 to 60 lbs: 80-100 compressions per minute
   3. Animals 10 lbs or less: 120 compressions per minute
5. Alternate breaths with compressions The ratio of compressions to breaths should be approximately the same as for humans - 30:2 Continue doing this until the animal responds or begins to breathe on its own.

We can always use and appreciate volunteers. There is a wide range of options from kennel maintenance to fostering to fundraising. Please fill out our online volunteer form to tell us about yourself and what areas you would like to help with. Even if you do not live in the Fresno area, you may still be able to help us with fundraising, our newsletters, web site and so on.

We always need financial help, so direct financial assistance or indirect assistance through fundraising is critical to our ability to provide a lifetime home for as many cats as necessary.

Please consult your estate-planning attorney to include a bequest to The Cat House on the Kings in your will.

Please visit 2nd Chance 4 Pets for advice on making arrangements for your pets to be cared for after you are no longer able to do so. Their advice addresses both arranging for a caretaker to assume responsibility for your pets and the necessary financial planning to ensure your pets are well cared for.

Lynea Lattanzia began taking in cats in 1992 (21 years ago).

The sanctuary is home to an average of 700 adult cats. The number of kittens fluctuates according to the season.

We rescue cats from local animal shelters where they would otherwise be euthanized. Individuals and other rescue groups also surrender unadoptable or otherwise unwanted cats to us so that they may have a life even if they don't have their own home.

Our dogs were also abandoned. The only dogs we can keep here are puppies who learn to respect the cats and show no aggression.

We have a 12 acre cat-proof fenced property.

The property is enclosed by cat fencing: 6' chain link and 4' overhang with chicken wire netting. Chicken wire is also buried on both sides of the fence to prevent cats or dogs from digging out and predators from digging in.

The following sites offer cat fence or outdoor enclosure products and ideas:

• www.catfencein.com
• www.purrfectfence.com
• www.catsofaustralia.com shows enclosure alternatives.

Anywhere they want! There are at least 10 feeding and bedding facilities on the property. However, all are welcome in the 4,200 square-foot house.

No carpets! Floors are mopped daily with antibacterial detergent and bleach. Remember, if it smells like urine and feces, it is urine and feces. Enzymes are also used daily.

[We copied this from a photocopied piece of paper with no source attribution.]

For some gardeners, cats and other animals are uninvited guests. One method of keeping animal visitors away is to offend their sense of smell. When cats encounter this potent mixture, they will associate it with your garden and stay away.

• 3-4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3-4 chiles (Habaneras) chopped or pureed
• ½ teaspoon dishwater detergent
• 3 gallons water

Mix all the ingredients together and let it steep for 24 hours. Dribble the mixture around the garden every few days for two to three weeks. Soon your garden will be pet and pest free.

If we could afford it, we would use Scoop Away. Currently we use Scamp Scoop, which we purchase by the pallet.

We have about 50 inside litter pans and several outside litter boxes. We also we rake the yard (approx. 1½ acres) daily.

Like all other cats, ferals arrive either in carriers or traps. Lynea uses a small fishing net to capture the cat when the door of the carrier or trap is opened and they try to take off! This is enough to hold them still long enough to give the treatments. She then releases them back into the carrier or trap from the net to transfer them to the Pasture Project, our version of Ellis Island for newcomers.

Photos taken with a digital camera typically start out with several thousand pixels ('dots') in both width and height, so the whole picture consists of several million pixels. The corresponding data file for the picture can be several megabytes, even though the data has been compressed. The file size limit for a surrender photo is 100K bytes. To reduce the size of the file to meet this limit, you must reduce the number of pixels.

There are two steps to resizing a picture for the surrender form, both of which can be accomplished easily using a free online service called picresize.com if you don't have any photo editing tools on your computer:

1. The first step is to crop the picture to remove unneeded parts. This means trimming the picture from each of the four sides to leave only the parts you want. For example, a picture of a cat sitting on a couch in the living room should be cropped to show just the cat, not the rest of the couch, the pictures on the wall behind the couch, or the rest of the living room.
2. If the picture is still too large after cropping out the unneeded parts, a software tool can be used to scale the photo and reduce the number of pixels used to represent the image.

You want to end up with a picture which is about 400-600 pixels wide. The height of the picture will depend on the original width-to-height proportions of the picture after it has been cropped.

You can use our tool to create a flyer for your lost cat (lost dog) and post them around the area. [We're writing up more extensive advice. Please check back soon.]

You can use our tool to create a flyer for your found cat (found dog).