What is the first thing you think of when you envision a person with a lot of cats? If you are somebody who thinks of an individual with some sort of issues, you may be wrong.
Not all of these cat ladies are somebody who is driven by their own obsession. In many cases, they just want to do what they can to give some loving cats an opportunity at a better life.
Such was the case with Lynea Lattanzio. When she first started out, she had only opened her home to a few cats but these days, she has over 1000 cats. How is this even possible?
She had gone through a divorce in 1981 and ended up in a five-bedroom home with a pool all to herself. She was comfortable but she also wanted to help out some felines at the same time. Considering she also had 6 acres and a river view, it was really an interesting place to live.
Having no children, she wasn’t quite sure what to do in life. That is when her father asked her to assist him in finding new cats after his had died. She went to an animal shelter but instead of only bringing back a cat or two for her dad, she brought back 15 abandoned kittens.
It wasn’t long before the number started to grow and they grew very quickly. By 1993, she worked with a local veterinarian as a surgical veterinary technician. It afforded her the ability to pay for the cats and her medical knowledge assisted because she had 150 cats at the time.
Although she did what she could to care for the felines, she ended up having to sell her Mercedes and a 2 carat diamond wedding ring. She decided that she loved the cats more than she loved those possessions and in 1997, she got official permission to use her property as a shelter.
In 2002, the organization ended up with nonprofit status and now, they are referred to as The Cat House on the Kings. She is caring for more than 800 adult cats and 300 kittens but she isn’t alone in doing so. There is a team of volunteers that assists and they also have a veterinary clinic and quarantine facilities.
She also received a donation that allowed her to annex a neighboring property and she turned her cat property into a no cage zone so that the felines could roam about safely and freely.
Although she has that many cats, it really wasn’t her goal to keep them all for herself. She is interested in making sure they all have loving families but even if they don’t, she will provide that love for them.