Kristy Neubo

Cassady Jeremias

The house is full of feral cats, a dog, and three kids.

But, despite the picture that paints, Kristy Neubo’s house in

Newport Beach is not a mess. But here, cats are treated like family

despite their rough backgrounds, and it feels more like a cozy museum

for animal lovers than a halfway house for wild cats.

Neubo and her family work with the Community Animal Network, a

volunteer run organization that rescues wild cats and trains them to

be house pets.

“We are a pro-life organization, others are pro-humane. They

practice triage and choose the animals who live and those who die,”

she said.

No cat rescued by the Community Animal Network is euthanized. The

cats that arrive at the household have been trapped by volunteers,

sometimes on a tip from concerned citizens. The cats are dispersed

into volunteer’s homes to be tamed and made “adoption quality.”

Kristy and her husband, Craig, daughters Kristina and Ashley and

son Kristopher are the only volunteers in the organization to take in

cats that were born wild and never touched by humans, said DiAnna

Pfaff-Martin, the founder and director of the organization.

“She has been a godsend to the organization. She has helped some

of the most untouchable cats,” she said.

Once in the home, the cats start getting ready for their new

families. The first step is a cage; Kristy has three set up in the

living room near the fireplace.

“They are not usually kept in cages, but otherwise they’d hide the

whole time, and they have to get integrated so they can feel safe

here. We handle them daily, and feed them whatever we are eating,”

Neubo said.

After about a month, most cats are deemed pet quality, and are

taken to Fashion Island to await a loving adoptive family. So far all

of Neubo’s cats have found a home.

The family had a history helping animals, but it was daughter

Kristina Horning, almost 13, who got the family started at the Animal

Network by doing community service through her school.

Since then the family has endured scratched furniture, marred

skin, bites and the normal adjustments one makes when cohabitating

with almost a dozen cats.

But in spite of that they love it.

“It is rewarding because you see how much they change. I believe

there is no such thing as a cat that is unchangeable,” Craig Neubo

said.