Scratch This: 'Born to save'

This week, when I went to interview Sherri Stankewitz at Fix Long Beach, a low-cost veterinary clinic she owns with fellow animal advocate Diana Kliche, I saw something I can’t unsee. It hit me right in the gut what shelter medicine is about and what it does to the hearts and stomachs of the people who take it on.

Fix Long Beach recently took in a little dog in the worst condition I’ve seen up close. The dog’s name is Chiquis, and she’d been left in blistering heat, covered in fleas and infested with maggots. The dog’s owner couldn’t afford the enormous medical bill that the emergency vet had quoted, so the vet gave her Fix Long Beach’s number because of Stankewitz’s and Kliche’s refusal to call any case hopeless.

“We do the Hail Mary, we do the extremes, Stankewitz said to me. “When you see this dog, you’re going to freak out.” I braced myself.

She led me into the treatment area, where veterinarian Catherine White and veterinary assistant Jessica Aguilar were tending to Chiquis. The dog’s little body was covered with black, rotting skin that was peeling off to expose raw, red tissue and fat cells. Chiquis was standing patiently on the exam table, and her eyes showed no fear or discomfort.

It was clear that she trusted the vet team and seemed grateful to be in a clean, air-conditioned space instead of in a scorching hot dirt yard. That look on her face and the tender care from White and Aguilar is what kept me from screeching and running out of the room.

When Chiquis first came to Fix Long Beach, though, I know that I could not have handled it.

“We all had to put face masks on — the whole hospital — it smelled like a rat died,” Stankewitz said. “Half our staff walked out of the room. When we brought her into the exam room, maggots were falling off her. There was something like a Ping-Pong ball on her back, and it just burst, and maggots came out of it. They were eating her alive. Being left outside in 100 degree temperature with maggots is not in her favor.”

The staff gave Chiqui’s owner the clinic’s standard option to pay the bill or surrender the dog. Fix Long Beach’s charges would have been less than the emergency clinic’s price, but it would still be high, so the owner gave Chiquis up. Stankewitz said that it will be an eight-month commitment to save the dog’s life.

“You may think in the moment that you should put her down, but she gave me a kiss and wagged her tail,” Stankewitz said. “She’s standing there, wagging her tail — I can’t! Maybe she’ll pass in her sleep, but now, she’s getting up to finally eat. This morning, she threw up the biggest hairball I’ve ever seen — it looked like a mouse! She was probably chewing on herself and swallowing the fur.”

What gets Stankewitz’s hackles up aren’t only the people who don’t care for their pets but the opinions she gets about giving up and putting animals to sleep.

“You have people that make nasty comments — why do you save that one when you could save others?” Stankewitz said. “I’ll save what I want to save. Why shouldn’t I save this one? She came across my path. And obviously, if something crosses my path, I have to fix it. I get sick of that — the judgment, even from rescues, even from doctors. Sure, it’s about money because it’s very expensive to treat your animals, but also, it’s time, care and TLC. They know that you’re here to love them.”

Fix Long Beach is a low-cost clinic, but that’s only in comparison with other veterinary clinics. Costs for their services, while lower than an independent or a corporate clinic, can run into the hundreds for specialized procedures. Low-cost doesn’t mean free. Existing as an independent clinic, Fix Long Beach has always dog-paddled to keep afloat.

“When you compare us to other veterinarians, we’re extremely low cost,” Stankewitz said. “All the low-price clinics, we all charge the same, give or take $20, and we accept vouchers [documents from Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) that pay for partial spay/neuter services]. We’re very fair with our prices.”

Stankewitz recommends that people who want to care for their pets but cannot afford veterinary services should contact free clinics. The Sam Simon Foundation lists some resources, and CAMP sends its mobile free clinic to various locations in Los Angeles county, including LBACS.

“Even people who have money are shocked when bills are five, six, seven, eight thousand dollars,” Stankewitz said. “[Instead of] your Starbucks cup of coffee, you can pay for insurance, and if something happens, you can fix your animals. Quit getting animals and thinking that nothing’s going to happen — things happen all the time.”

Stankewitz has always been a badass animal advocate with the tenacity of a pit bull. She and Kliche hunt down donations and grants to pay the veterinarians and buy supplies for the hospital. Another challenge is finding the right doctors to work in the clinic.

The doctors must be competent with some specialization, of course, but they also have to be OK with a payment scale that’s below what they’d get at a clinic run by a corporation and with the habit of going overboard to save every life that comes in, even if that life seems unsalvageable.

“People are struggling to find good vets at prices that are fair, and finding the right doctors to work in our Fix project is complex,” Stankewitz said. “Once they come and work here, they see how shelter medicine works. Sometimes, they’re not right for shelter medicine. Sometimes they think, Sherri’s just a rescuer and she’s trying to save the world. I’m not trying to save the world — I’m trying to save across my path.”

Dr. White is a vet who gets the idea big time. You could see it in her interactions with Chiquis.

“I like the work that they do, the rescue work, helping pets that otherwise wouldn’t get any help,” White said. “I’ve never seen anything like this. I’m impressed by the level of care and things they can do to make pets survive, the resources, how knowledgeable they are. The parvo clinic — I wish we had more places like that. It’s such a game changer. People get [dogs with parvo], and they don’t usually have the resources to do anything for them.”

White was referring to Fix Long Beach’s innovative Parvo ICU Animal Hospital, which has saved lives of hundreds of dogs stricken with the deadly disease. Stankewitz opened the clinic in 2023 in the Fix Long Beach building, with a boost from Elanco, the company that developed the drug that fights parvo. It was the first clinic of its kind to open in the country.

It's noteworthy when payment comes in the form of something other than money. Check out DJ’s reel. DJ, an unhoused resident, brought Baby, his dachshund, to the Parvo ICU. He had no funds to pay for Baby’s recovery, so Friends of Long Beach Animals joined forces with Fix’s Paws on the Street to cure her. DJ was so grateful that he cleaned and disinfected Fix’s parking lot so that no other dogs would contract it, and he educated his neighbors in the encampment about parvo its contagion.

Fix Long Beach has always popped up with projects to help pets and educate their humans, with enough sass to attract people. Some examples are Testicle Tuesday, which focuses on neutering male pets; Freedom (or Feral) Friday, which charges $100 for male community cats and $125 for females, before the voucher discount and with a nonrefundable deposit in case there are no-shows; and the item below.

This offer originated as a pun on the month of May, but since the title itself drummed up a lot of takers, it’s been extended through June. “If we can neuter the males, there will be less impregnated females,” Stankewitz said. “Some people may think it’s too crass of a poster, but we’ve done very well with it. All the people getting meatball dinners were happy.” Sherri, don’t ever change.

Now that Fix Long Beach has hired five veterinarians and can increase their efforts, they’re gearing up for their next goal: an urgent care clinic that will accept pets until 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Stankewitz said that they’d accommodate any veterinarian willing to come in after 11 p.m.

“So, here we are happy, because we’ve struggled through the pandemic, struggled through corporate buyouts of clinics, and strugge to get paid — we all have to make money,” Stankewitz said. “And we struggle really hard to keep good staff. But now, we feel that because we’ve hung in this long, we have five amazing vets, we have great staff, we’ve held up to what’s going on in the storm of the veterinary industry. This helps my goal on this. I was born to save, with whatever resources I have. Yeah, it’s case by case, but obviously, I want to save all of them.”

Help Fix Long Beach save all of them. Donate to their clinic here.

YOURS DROOLY

Sherri Stankewitz is also the founder of Sparky and the Gang, a rescue that scoops up dogs and the occasional cat, sometimes in horrid condition, and through hard work, expense and a lot of love, turns them into the animals they were born to be. Fix Long Beach’s development as a multiservice veterinary clinic makes treating animals immediate and personal.

Meet three of the luckiest pets in the world. Email sparkyandthegang@yahoo.com to adopt any of them, or call 562-337-8268 at Fix Long Beach.

“This cat was pretty much dead when we found her,” Stankewitz said of Mamas. “She was septic, her stomach was yellow — at one point, I didn’t think she was going to make it.” Boy, did she make it! Mamas was found moribund and pregnant with kittens who were dead in the womb. Stankewitz and the staff tube-fed her every hour on the hour, and with the medical care and love, Mamas slowly came out of limbo and is now a playful kitten.

Mamas is about 7 months old, making her still a kitten. Cats can become pregnant as young as 4 months old, which is why so many community cats are running loose around the country. No more mama for Mamas, though — she’s been spayed and is healthy. All she needs now is a forever place to play! She’s heading for Friends of Normie rescue soon, so if you want this little love in your life, contact Sparky and the Gang for particulars.

Bro and Sis were bought as “guard dogs” by an individual who was caught dumping them in the alley by Fix Long Beach. The owner told Fix Long Beach that she thought the pups had parvo, so she didn’t want them. Fix took them inn and found that they didn’t have parvo at all. And no — the dog dumper didn’t get them back. The lucky doggies now have a chance at a real home where their only job will be as companion and friend. They’re about 8 months old and should lead a full, happy life.

TAIL-WAGGIN' AND NOSE-BOOPIN' EVENTS

Foster the Fourth at Long Beach Animal Care Services

Keep your pointed little ears and bright eyes on alert for de-tails about Foster the Fourth, which will take place a few days before and after July 4. Shelter intake always increases during July 4 because of the terror and fright that animals, dogs especially, experience from fireworks noise. LBACS will need fosters, especially for the big dogs, for four to six weeks to clear kennel space for lost, frightened pets. The shelter will extend hours on specific days so that fosters can meet up with pets. Scratch This will publish a full article about meetups and other details for interested fosters.

Cake Swap Party — with kittens!

June 15 is Father’s Day, so what better way to get a kitten adopted than to ply Dad with cake and then, when he’s stuffed with goodies and his resistance is down, lead him to the kitten tent and see if you can cadge him into adopting a cat. Just like when you were a kid! Bring a cake, pay for cake, or just look at the cakes on the table (if you bring a cake, bring a cake server, which you can take with you when you leave). Get a snack at the taco bar and enjoy pop-up shopping, then check out the reason you’re there: adoptable kittens! You must register to attend; read the rules and register here.

The Cake Swap Party takes place Sunday, June 15, noon–3 p.m. at the Sports Basement, 2100 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach. Ticket prices are free to attend only or $23.18 for five slices of cake if you don’t bring a cake.

Cool Cat Collective’s Zine fest

Zines are DIY self-published booklets that can be about anything, and in this case, it’s cats. Cool Cat Collective, the Fourth Street boutique-cum-gallery-cum-kitty rescue, will present its first-ever Cat Zine Fest the weekend of June 27! The inaugural Cat Zine Fest will be a weekend long celebration of cats and the zine medium. Cool Cat Collective will donate $1 from every zine sold to their rescue partner @tippedears. The more zines that sell, the more kitties will be helped!

The Cat Zine Fest takes place on Fourth Friday, June 27, 6 p.m. at Cool Cat Collective, 2741 E. Fourth St., C, Long Beach

Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer, rescues and shelters to adopt from — anything pet related? Follow this link for resources. Please add your own ideas in the Comments section.