There's a place in Valley Center where the unwanted cats of the world have a safe refuge and tender, loving care. It's called Rancho Lotsa Cats Feline Rescue.

This non-profit group, which consists mainly of Valley Center residents Donna Bettencourt and Annette Seeley, rescues and takes care of homeless, unwanted cats. They work with the Feral Cat Coalition, a group that goes over all over San Diego trapping cats and taking them to clinics to be fixed and to get their shots. Then they are taken back where they were captured and released.

"So we don't have more unwanted births but we have cats out there taking care of mice and rats," says Bettencourt, who roused into this work when she saw someone throw three little kittens in a bag over a fence. The child throwing the bag aimed for the swimming pool but hit the cement instead. "I decided something had to be done," she recalls.

When it is impossible to return the feral cats to where they were found and they are too wild to be house cats, there used to be only one option: putting the cat to sleep. Now the option is for them to live at Rancho Lotsa Cats. They have two acres all fenced in with a huge house and several smaller houses that are actually reconditioned dog houses.

There is a twenty five pound feeder full of dry food and fresh running water. Once a day the ladies take out cat food mixed with medication (where it's needed) and vitamins and give it to the cats. Each cat has its own special place to eat. In this way they can give them medicine for a specific problem if they need to.

Most of the cats become tame over time and they do adopt them out to people who have fenced areas safe from coyotes and owls. That's necessary because most of these cats are from big cities and don't know about such country predators.

Cat adoptions are placed through Denise at the Escondido Humane Society: 760-839-0293.

It's a lot of work for just the two women, and they say they can always use volunteer help. They also need dry and canned food. .

"We can always use people to come out and rake and tame the kitties."