“Ultimate cat lady” lives with over 1000 cats and spends millions on their care
Lynea Lattanzio acknowledges that she’s “at the top of the list of eccentric, crazy cat ladies.”
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She runs Cat House On The Kings, California’s largest no-cage sanctuary for feral and abandoned cats.
But she also lives on the same property.
When a video of the sanctuary was uploaded to YouTube in 2016, she was currently housing around 800 cats and 300 kittens – that’s 1,100 cats to take care of!
In fact, their numbers got so large that they took over the main house and Lattanzio had to move out! Luckily, there was a smaller rental house on the same 6-acre property where she could get some time to herself.
Now, the cats have a 4,200 square foot home with 5 bedrooms, a pool, and a wet bar, and their caretaker has a 1,800-square-foot mobile home. From their perspective, we’re sure that sounds fair.
Lattanzio joked that her new digs would be a “cat-free zone,” but we can see how that worked out. We even see some dogs in there!
The chaos began in 1992 when her father asked her to help him find some cats and she came home from the shelter with 15 kittens that she felt unable to leave behind. By the end of that year, she had rescued and rehomed 96 cats in total.
The sense of accomplishment that act brought her made her realize she wanted to do it full time.
But it wasn’t a money-maker. She spent her retirement money and even sold her car and wedding ring to make her dreams of a cat sanctuary come true.
The next year, she became licensed as a vet technician so she could administer care to cats herself when possible to keep costs down.
Of course, we know where this ends up. It doesn’t look like Lattanzio has ever turned away a feline in need.
No one could take care of this many cats on their own, so she’s now taken ona staff as well as a team of volunteers to help care for those cats.
The first team shows up around 4 am to undertake the 30-60 minute task of laying out food for the cats.
Food, litter, maintenance, staffing, and vet bills run her a mind-boggling $1.6 MILLION a year! (And that was 4 years ago!)
The compound even has an ICU and kitten quarantine to make sure everyone stays as healthy as possible. A vet comes once a week, but Lattanzio employs 7 vet techs on her staff as well.
There are also daily runs to the vet for those who need critical care. After all, with over 1,000 cats on the property, there will always be at least one creature that requires extra help.
In 2004, Lattanzio received the gift of an estate from a generous donor. The income from selling that home allowed her to buy the neighboring 6-acre property so that everyone could spread out a bit.
Cat House On The Kings is now a 12-acre sanctuary.
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There’s even cat-proof fencing around the perimeter allowing the cats to roam the entire property at will.
What a life!
Lattanzio insists she’s just the middleman though. She’s merely keeping the cats safe until they find a home. The sanctuary’s website is set up to accept adoption requests.
Of course, not all of the cats make good pets, but they have identified the friendly, adoption-ready animals and in 2016 when the video was posted, around 500 of the 1,100 residents were available for those looking for a pet. (Occasionally, there are even dogs available!)
In fact, according to the website:
“Since its founding 28 years ago, The Cat House on the Kings has saved over 30,000 cats and 7,100 dogs (not counting the 56,000 animals we have spayed and neutered!) and currently cares for more than 700 cats and kittens, a dozen or so dogs and dozens of peacocks.”
Peacocks?!
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Yep.
If you’re not ready for a cat of your own, you can still support the endeavor by sponsoring a cat at the facility.
We’ve never seen anything quite like this, but it’s undeniable that it takes a special kind of person to give so much of themselves to animals in need.
Be sure to scroll down below to an interview with the woman who started it all.
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Source: truly via YouTube, Cat House on the Kings Official Website, @thecathouseonthekings via Instagram