Get ready, set your traps and go turn off some faucets!
Attend Saturday’s Long Beach Community Cat Coalition meeting to learn about trapping and fixing homeless cats.
About a year and a half ago, retired federal agent Kris Beardsley identified a problem within the TNVR (trap/neuter-spay/vaccinate/release) community: interpersonal communication. Dedicated, hardworking cat trappers needed help getting stray and homeless cats spayed and neutered to prevent the birth of unwanted kittens who’d grow up and increase the birth rate exponentially or else die in a street or the jaws of a predator. Still others wanted to volunteer to trap but didn’t have a whisker’s width of know-how. Some had a colony of strays growing in their yards or under their houses and they didn’t know what to do for them other than feed them and feel sorry for them.
Beardsley touched bases with trappers from the community and brought everyone together for a brainstorming session. Experienced trappers and community members who wanted to help asked and answered questions, shared experiences and resources, and watched a demonstration about how to set a trap. The Long Beach Community Cat Coalition, TNVR came out of this grassroots event.
Shortly after, Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) installed Animal Control Officer Lindsie Merrick in the position of community cat coordinator. The connection with LBACS gave the new organization a place to meet and an invaluable link to the shelter. Now trappers could find out where the “hot spots” in Long Beach that needed attention were and find out when their spay/neuter vouchers would tumble down the pipeline.
Meetings were held quarterly, and resources and presentations helped the trappers. Kelly McHugh Lopes, who chairs most of the meetings, and digital designer Daria Wilczynska-Pham put together a website for the coalition that offers advice on what to do if you find a cat, spay/neuter and medical resources, traps and trapping, and why we’re doing all this in the first place.
Shortly after the coalition formed, two well-known rescues, the Little Lion Foundation and Helen Sanders CatPAWS, got funding for clinics for community cat spay/neuter procedures. The clinics initially used LBACS vouchers but now offer the procedures free to trapped cats. Trapping volunteers are thus relieved of the burden on their bank accounts and the scramble for scarce appointments with veterinarians who’ll accept community cats, who often frightened and fractious and may urinate copiously.
This Saturday, June 13, from noon until 2 p.m., the Coalition will hold its first meeting since launching the new website. It will take place in the LBACS Education Room as usual (See Tail-Waggin’ and nose-boopin’ events for de tails).
“This meeting is open to the public, and you don't have to RSVP,” McHugh Lopes said. “You can just show up if you are looking for information on how to help neighborhood cats or if you've found kittens or an injured cat — or dog. There are always lots of knowledgeable people there with valuable experience to meet and network with.”
Officer Lindsie Merrick will talk about the current status of cats at the shelter, voucher processing and the types of community support that can be expected from LBACS. Representatives from Helen Sanders CatPAWS and The Little Lion Foundation will give updates about the resources they’re providing for Long Beach and surrounding cities. For those who’ve never set a trap before or need a refresher course, an up-close-and-personal demonstration will show attendees how to use regular and drop traps.
The community cat spay/neuter clinics are probably the resources that the trappers need the most. Little Lion’s community cat clinic takes in cats by appointment, as does CatPAWS. Shelter vouchers may be applied to owned cats, but procedures for trapped homeless cats are free. Cats receive vaccinations, ear tips for future identification as a fixed cat, and medical attention for simple procedures such as abscesses and fevers.
“There’s a cat overpopulation problem — too many cats on the street,” TippedEars cofounder Renae Woith said. “They die on the street, they die in shelters. The only way to stop cats from dying unnecessarily is to spay/neuter.”
“FixNation and CatPAWS joined forces to be sure that we can spay and neuter more Compton cats because appointments have become a little scarce, and so FixNation is subsidizing, CatPAWS is directing it, and we bring the cats!” TippedEars cofounder Vita Mauro Pagano said. “And so, we bring Compton into the equation. We’re very grateful for this partnership.”
Long Beach is lucky to have a vibrant trapping community, and that community is lucky to have the resources to make it happen. To be part of the effort to save lives and help prevent feline overpopulation, come to Saturday’s meeting. Check out the organization’s website to see the details of the big picture.
“Anybody can do it,” Mauro Pagano said. “If more people would join the crowd and do it themselves, that would really help curb the overall issue.”
YOURS DROOLY
Paws in the Sand is another TNVR-based rescue, local to Long Beach. Janae Morgan, the rescue’s founder, encourages and supports fellow attendees the Community Cat Coalition. Morgan is a self-starter — she founded Paws in the Sand about two years ago after deciding to personally pitch in to the rescue effort that she’d supported with donations every year. Before the first year was up, she and a couple of fellow volunteers had TNVRd at least 200 cats and adopted out 250, most of them kittens. Read about Morgan and Paws in the Sand here.
Small, new rescues usually don’t have the visibility that larger, more established ones do, so this small journalism collective is giving this small rescue some eyeball. Here are three lucky fosters that Morgan will tell you about. Click here to adopt a Paws in the Sand cat or to see all the kitties waiting to lay their paws on your heart and clean laundry.
Meet Ivy, a brave little survivor with a spirit that refuses to be dimmed. At just 1 year old, Ivy has already endured more than most cats do in a lifetime — she was rescued from a heartbreaking hoarding situation of over 85 animals. When Ivy first sought help, she was a skeletal four pounds and literally starving to death — yet, in a remarkable act of trust, she followed a kind neighbor home as if she knew it was her only chance at survival. Today, Ivy is a testament to resilience; despite her difficult start, she is an absolute purr machine who lives for affection. She is incredibly loving and cuddly, always looking for the nearest lap to curl up on and show her gratitude. Ivy has spent her life fighting for a tiny bit of space, so she is now ready to be the center of someone's world, trading her hungry past for a lifetime of cozy naps and endless chin scratches.
Once reported as a stray caring for her newborn kittens, Mama Bonbon has proven to be an amazing mom and an even better companion. Here she is with one of her kittens, Marshy. Bonbon’s sweet and affectionate, and she loves to cuddle. She enjoys dogs more than she does other adult cats, and this smart girl also knows exactly how a doorknob works! Bonbon’s ready for a home of her own now that her kittens are growing up. Like many calicos, she has a little spice mixed in with her sweetness and can be a bit of a firecracker when it comes to things like brushing — but that’s part of her charm!
And here’s that Marshy! Marshy is 8 weeks old and a goofball. He’s super-loving, loves to nap on his back, and even though he’s still a mama’s boy, he’ll make the transition to a new home quite easily!
TAIL-WAGGIN' AND NOSE-BOOPIN' EVENTS
Long Beach TNVR Community Cat Coalition meeting
Learn the ABC’s of TNVR from community volunteers who have dealt with every trapping issue from A to Z! Learn from veteran trappers what’s involved in the practice and how to help, share resources if you’re a trapper, and help newby trappers learn about planning, setting traps, spay/neuter vouchers, releasing adult cats and what to do with kittens, and all things TNVR.
The Long Beach TNVR Community Cat Coalition meeting takes place Saturday, June 13, noon–2 p.m. at the Education Room at Long Beach Animal Care Center, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach, at the entrance to El Dorado Park. No parking fee for shelter visitors.
Foster the 4th Kickoff
It’s that time again. Bangs, pops and booms have been going off everywhere, and it’s not even the Fourth of July yet. When it is, it’ll once again be the busiest time of the year for animal shelters everywhere. In preparation for the need for kennel space to hold the dogs who have fled in fear from fireworks, Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) will hold their annual Foster the 4th event to get as many dogs as they can out of the kennels and into foster homes.
LBACS will extend their hours until 7 p.m. to welcome the public to meet the dogs that are available for foster care. That’s a win for a lost dog and one for a shelter dog who’ll get a well-deserved summer break! If that sounds like a celebration, scan the QR code on the graphic to fill out a foster application, and click this link for more information.
Foster the 4th Kickoff takes place Thursday, June 18, 10 a.m.–7 p.m. at Long Beach Animal Care Center, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach, at the entrance to El Dorado Park. No parking fee for shelter visitors.
Pet Loss and Illness Support Group
The worst day in the life you share with a pet is the day you have to say goodbye forever. Grief is personal on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have a lot of company who get what you’re going through. Helen Sanders CatPAWS rescue gets it, too, and offers a space for anyone who also gets it, who’ll never say to you, “But it was just a cat.” Or a dog, or a rabbit, or a horse, or a goldfish. The members of this group will listen, connect, and support you, and you’ll do the same for them.
The Pet Loss and Illness Support Group takes place Saturday, June 20 at 11 a.m. at the Bay Shore Church, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach. No cost for the meeting, but let the leads know that you’re coming here.
Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer, pet food, veterinary assistance, rescues and shelters to adopt from — anything pet related? Follow this link for resources. Please add your own ideas in the Comments section.
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