Scratch This: Your guide to vets, shelters and more

This week’s column includes local resources for people with pets and pets with people. No commercial businesses are suggested other than emergency veterinary clinics because, well, emergency.

The information is not by any means exhaustive, so please post any additional suggestions in the comments section, which will be reviewed. You can access this list through a link at the end of future articles.

As with anything else, Google what you need and then check each resource for authenticity and quality.

Local rescues and shelters for adoption, volunteering, and donating

Each of these rescues is a good resource for a new forever buddy and an opportunity to volunteer. Many of them also provide resources for and education about low-cost veterinary assistance, including spay/neuter; neonatal kitten resources, dog training and pet education. They could do with donations, too.

(Please don’t ask any of the rescues except for Long Beach Animal Care Services to accept an animal you’ve found or want to relinquish. Most of them are full up.)

• Bunny Bunch
• Cat Cove
• Friends of Long Beach Animals
• Feline Good Social Club
• German Shepherd Rescue of Orange County
• Helen Sanders CatPAWS
• House of Broken Cookies
• Jellicle Cats Foundation
• K-9 Kismet
• Little Lion Foundation
• Live Love Animal Rescue
• Long Beach Animal Care Services
• Long Beach Spay and Neuter Foundation
• Newborn Feline Rescue
• Pet Food Express Cat Adoption Center
• Pug Rescue of Korea
• SAFE Rescue Team
• Seal Beach Animal Care Center
• Southern California Bulldog Rescue
• Sparky and the Gang Animal Rescue
• spcaLA
• Stray Cat Alliance
• Wrigley Kittens
• Zazzy Cats

For humans and pets in crisis

• Call spcaLA’S Animal Safety Net at 323-733-0219 if you are about to enter a shelter and your pet needs a safe haven, too.
• Access RedRover’s Domestic Violence and Pets page for detailed descriptions of their programs to keep survivors' pets safe

Low-cost veterinary clinics and spay/neuter procedures

Remember that “low-cost” is comparative and doesn’t mean “cheap.” However, the prices are lower than those of other veterinarians.

Long Beach Animal Care Services has spay/neuter vouchers available that many locao clinics accept. The vouchers take a healthy nip out of the cost of a procedure. Access the link, and click the right button for your own pet or the left button for community and stray cats. Order them ASAP, as there may be a wait. Check LBACS’ website for health-focused events and programs.

Amazing Small Animal Practice focuses on spay/neuter and also offers dental, vaccines, diagnostics, and in-home euthanasia.

Golden State Humane offers low-cost spay/neuter and veterinary services, with locations in Long Beach and Garden Grove.

CAMP LA is a full-service community medicine clinic, which includes spay/neuter procedures. Their CAMP Mobile Clinic offers vaccines, flea and worm treatments, and other services. Access their calendar here.

Fix Long Beach offers low-cost spay/neuter, $50 wellness checks and full-service low-cost veterinary services.

Fix Long Beach also has the only parvovirus ICU for hundreds of miles. Prevention is the best bet through vaccinations, but if your puppy has parvo, this is the place to go.

Know someone who needs convincing to fix their pet? Read the info on Pet Spay and Neuter FAQs | Best Friends Animal Society and Spay/Neuter Your Pet | ASPCA, and pass it on to them.

Socialization

Blockhead Brigade centers around pit bulls and variations thereof, arguably the most misunderstood of breeds. Through Blockhead Brigade’s staff and volunteers, pitties and their humans learn socialization through inventive events, programs and techniques. Shelter pitties are among the beneficiaries as well — volunteers take them for walkies.

Long Beach has a plethora of parks for pups and one beach for Bowser to bum at. Dogs can run off-leash and meet other mutts. Caveats, though: the parks have rules, and people are expected to observe them for their dogs’ safety and the cleanliness of the park. Understand that, knowing both human and animal nature, this doesn’t always happen. If your dog is aggressive, don’t bring them.

Long Beach Animal Care Services also has a behavior-training page with a ton of resources to help you have a happy, forever life with your buddy.

Services for unhoused people’s pets

Contact Danae@projectstreetvet.org and mention that you want to be part of Diana Geosano’s Project Street Vet effort in Long Beach, particularly if you know of someone in need. Access this link to donate to Project Street Vet.

Emergency veterinarians

“Scratch This” doesn’t put our opposable thumbs up, down or sideways regarding these hospitals. They’re here for your convenience because we all know that stuff happens with our animals. Print the list out and stick it on your fridge.

• Fountain Valley Emergency Pet Hospital, 9475 Warner Ave., Suite D, Fountain Valley, Monday–Friday, 6 p.m.–8 a.m. (the following day), Saturday–Sunday—24 hours
• Long Beach Animal Emergency, 4720 PCH, Long Beach, 24 hours
• Long Beach Animal Urgent Care, 2540 E. Anaheim St., Long Beach, Monday–Friday, noon–10 p.m.
• VCA Lakewood, 10701 South St., Cerritos, 24 hours
• Bixby Animal Clinic Urgent Care, 3938 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, Monday toFriday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Newborn kittens

If you find a litter of newborns, please, please wait a couple of hours to see if Mom’s just out shopping at Rodents 4 Less to feed her little family. Then, leave them there until they’re weaned (see TNR).

If the mother doesn’t show up after a few hours, bring them to Long Beach Animal Care Service. LBACS and The Little Lion Foundation have a program called the Bottle Baby Brigade in which fosters will help feed the kittens. There simply isn’t enough staff to do it all.

Helen Sanders CatPAWS has put together free DIY bottle-baby-feeding kits that LBACS will give you if you want to nurse the kittens.

Access these links on The Little Lion Foundation and Helen Sanders CatPAWS’ websites for further advice on kittens. And, of course, to donate to their efforts.

TNR

That stands for “trap/neuter-spay-vaccinate-microchip/release.” The other side of saving the lives of those adorable newborns is turning off the faucets. If cats are giving birth on your doorstep or under your house, there is help. Remember, however, that you’ll be expected to be active in the process.

Retired FBI agent Kris Beardsley has organized the TNR Action, Education, and Awareness Group, a coalition of trappers, feeders, transporters, fosters and others who want to share resources and continue to bring down the number of free-roaming, unaltered cats who are contributing to the great numbers of kittens born to the street and the resultant shelter overcrowding and euthanasia. To attend the next meeting and be a part of the solution to save little lives, contact Kris at kbfeeler@gmail.com.

Stray Cat Alliance and Alley Cat Allies are two LA nonprofits who’ll give you the basics about trapping.

All the low-cost clinics mentioned above will spay and neuter community and stray cats — you need to bring them in the traps you nabbed them in. LBACS’ voucher program offers a maximum of five Community Cat Vouchers, and Golden State Humane has free Feral Fridays.

Hive mind

Friends of Long Beach Animals, our city’s most venerable animal-welfare organization, has been helping Long Beach’s shelter, rescues and pets at large since 1989. Check them out — it’s a must for the city.

If you’re on Facebook, check out and like the Wrigley Kittens page. Animal advocate and organizer-in-chief Kelly Lopes cobbled this group together a few years ago. If no one on this page can give you sound advice about TNR, food, veterinary help et alia, no one anywhere can.

Thanks to all the animal heroes who gave input on this column, particularly Brandy Gaunt, Deborah Felin-Magaldi of Helen Sanders CatPAWS, and LBACS volunteer Susan Peszat.

Yours drooly

The Feline Good Social Club has grown into its name. The cat-hangout-cum-rescue opened in August 2019, starting out as a brightly decorated lounge in which you could get your kitty fix and maybe take home one of the well-socialized cats. Over five years, it’s become an actual cat community center, offering all kinds of activities: yoga with and without rock music, sound baths, crocheting (how the heck is that going to work?!), all with cats wandering around and over you and interrupting stuff in the best way. On May 5, a Cinco de Meow party offers complimentary margaritas and cats dressed to the nine lives, and the Mother’s Day Special on May 12 gives a $10 break on two entry fees if you bring Mom.

Get up to scratch on the sessions and events here. If you’re ready to be a pet parent yourself, here’s the info on that. Meet a few friendly candidates now!

Evie (left) and Belle are 1 ½ years old. They learned to be house cats in a foster home, and they’re doing just dandy in that role, as you can see. From foster to Lounge lap to your house? Yes!

Tail-wagging and nose-booping things to do

TNR Community Cat Action Group’s third meeting

Thanks to the enthusiasm and a huge need for meowtual support, the first two meetings of the newly organized coalition of TNR trappers were well attended. The next TNR Action, Education, and Awareness Group meeting will focus on finalizing volunteer lists, updating the group on the TNR process in Long Beach, sharing resources and best practices, and answering questions. “Of all the meetings we have had, this one you will not want to miss,” said Kris Beardsley, retired FBI agent and the group’s organizer. “This one promises to add the ‘action piece’ to this group as well as education. We must work together with our amazing rescues to reduce the number of homeless cats and prevent more kittens from being born on the streets!”

The meeting takes place Saturday, May 4, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., followed by TNR training from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., at the education center at Long Beach Animal Care Services, 7700 E Spring St, Long Beach.To sign up, email Kris Beardsley at kbfeeler@gmail.com.

Pizza for the Pups

Grab a slice, and District 4 Pizza will add a topping of love for the well-being and health of the dogs at the Parvo ICU and Sparky and the Gang. When ordering, mention Sparky and the Gang!

The fundraiser runs May 8 from noon to 9 p.m. at District 4 Pizza, 2123 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach. Menu prices apply. A percentage of the tab goes to the clinic and rescue.

Inaugural Fetch Gala 2024, to benefit K9 Kismet dog rescue

K9 Kismet is a local rescue that partners with Long Beach Animal Care Services to help ease the burden of overcrowding by taking in dogs in danger of euthanasia because of health or behavior issues. This year, Kimberly Mangan, a volunteer at both K9 Kismet and LBACS, has partnered with Modica’s Deli for an evening of fun and fundraising. The “small but mighty” K9 Kismet, in Mangan’s words, will be the beneficiary of the gala. You’ll have more fun than chasing squirrels as you play bingo for prizes with Long Beach’s much-honored drag queen Sabreena, laugh at comedy by Felize Gee, and meet actor and animal advocate Tom Kiesche (remember Clovis from “Breaking Bad”?) Your participation will support the most vulnerable dogs at LBACS by providing a landing for their four — and sometimes three — paws.

The Fetch Gala will take place May 10, 6 p.m.–9 p.m. at Modica’s Deli, 455 East Ocean Blvd, Long Beach., tickets $40 at ticketleap.com.