Getting in Touch With His Felines : Despite Allergies, Costa Mesa Retiree Works to Provide Homes, Care for Cats

Robert Achzehner has dedicated his retirement years to the service of cats.

It is a bit of a puzzlement, considering that his skin turns red, his eyes water and his nose runs whenever he’s around them. They make him cough too.

But never mind, says the 75-year-old Costa Mesa resident, it is a calling he must answer. As a vice president of the nonprofit National Cat Protection Society, Achzehner is knee-deep in cats and kittens on a daily basis. His office is tucked inside the organization’s Newport Beach cat shelter.

“I’ve been allergic to cats ever since I can remember. But I’ll put up with the allergies in order to be around them,” Achzehner said. “I love them that much. One of them kind of bit on me today when I was holding him--it was a little love nip--and I said, ‘Thank you.’ ”

October marks the end of the kitten season, Achzehner noted with relief.

“The kitten season runs from April through September. Earlier in the season when they’re all producing kittens, we have a waiting list for people who bring us their litters. We have about a three-week waiting list right now for adult cats, but we’ll take kittens because we usually have a great demand for them.”

The Newport Beach shelter is part adoption agency and part retirement home for cats whose owners can no longer care for them. More than 600 cats a year are adopted from the shelter, Achzehner estimates. They are euthanized only when hopelessly diseased, he said. The 28-year-old organization also runs a shelter in San Diego County.

About 50 cats currently reside in the retirement section of the Newport Beach shelter, where volunteers and former owners frequently come to visit. Those looking for retirement quarters for their pets pay the shelter a one-time fee, typically ranging from $1,200 to $1,500 depending on the age of the cat, Achzehner said. The owners’ circumstances range from divorce to death.

“Sometimes they’re willed to us, with an endowment. We have one lawyer who comes by once a month to make sure the cat he represents is still being taken care of.”

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Achzehner’s long association with cats began in earnest after his marriage.

“I really got acquainted with cats in 1964. My wife-to-be had four cats. We decided that after we got married, we’d reduce the number to two, but it went up to eight. At one time, we had 26 of them. She just loved all cats and wanted to bring them all into the family. She was the world protector of all cats. She thought more of them than she did of me.”

He does not blame the cats for his divorce.

“I got along better with the cats than I did with her. They don’t ask questions, and they don’t nag at you when you don’t show up. But they’re there for you when you do come home. They’re a better companion a lot of times than a spouse.”

Surrounded by cats during his working day, Achzehner has chosen to remain catless at home for the time being. But he keeps in touch.

“I think there’s some psychic connection between cats. With some of the cats I used to have, I’d think about them and all of a sudden they’d show up. I don’t know whether they were picking up my thoughts or I was picking up their thoughts. They are mysterious creatures.”

But not enough cat owners are sensitive to the well-being of their pets, said Achzehner, who has spent the last 12 years with the National Cat Protection Society trying to keeps cats from homelessness.

“It’s gotten a little better, but not much,” he said. “People are inconsiderate. They bring in the dog and put out the cat, not knowing that they’re doing a disservice to the cat. Cats seem to be the most abused of all pet animals--abused by neglect.

“Over the course of seven years, one cat and her kittens can produce more than 400,000 kittens if they’re not spayed or neutered. It’s an exponential type thing. There are generations of wild cats out there, especially down around San Clemente.”

Cats are not self-sufficient, Achzehner said. They need human care and communication.

“They are oblivious to our civilized ways. But they’re not dumb. Most people don’t know that cats only meow to human beings, they don’t meow to other cats. They’ll growl, spit and hiss to other cats, but they’ll only meow to humans.

“We have a cat named Arthur in the retirement section and I’ll go out there and say, ‘Hi Arthur.’ And he’ll run up to the gate and ‘meow’ at me a couple times, but he won’t let me hold him. We’re on a speaking relationship. He likes to see me and he likes to talk to me. I wish I knew what he was saying.”

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Profile: Robert Achzehner

Age: 75

Hometown: Newport, Ky.

Residence: Costa Mesa

Family: Four grown children, four grandchildren, one great-grandchild

Education: Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Chicago

Background: Left home to work one year with a carnival, repairing neon lighting for the attractions; spent 30 years at Motorola Co., rising to the position of national service manager; joined National Cat Protection Society in 1984, where he is one of two vice presidents

A cat’s life: “People are inconsiderate. They bring in the dog and put out the cat, not knowing that they’re doing a disservice to the cat. Cats seem to be the most abused of all pet animals--abused by neglect.”

Source: Robert Achzehner; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times