Scratch This | Clear The Shelters gives pets their shot at stardom
Also, if you attend Benny the Cat's birthday party, then you can meet a few more stars and starlets.
Not every dog might have its day, but Enzo sure had his. Enzo is a 2-year-old white husky who until a few days ago had been one of the kennel residents with the longest stay — eight months — at Long Beach Animal Care Services. An NBC4 TV appearance gave him the celebrity cachet he needed to go home, which he did the day after airing.
Clear The Shelters, NBCUniversal Local’s nationwide pet adoption and donation campaign, was responsible for Enzo’s good luck.
“NBC/Telemundo has contacted various shelters throughout LA County to participate in short news segments,” said Alma Vera-Lima, superintendent at LBACS. Lucky for Enzo, LBACS was among them.
Clear The Shelters, now in its 10th year, is a national campaign that encourages people to adopt from local shelters, many of which are overcrowded with pets. The organization partners with Greater Good Charities and Hill’s pet foods. WeRescue, an aggregate for locating adoptable shelter and rescue pets, is also a partner — the app gives the animals visibility. Adoptions are further boosted by national news stories, events, and filming in shelters across the country.
Clear The Shelters gets around 100,000 pets into homes each year. Last year, the organization teamed up with more than 1,400 shelters and rescues — over 70 in California — and surpassed a sum total of 1 million pets adopted since 2015.
LBACS volunteer Robert Fusco was volunteering at the shelter on the day of filming when Vera-Lima and shelter manager Dr. Melanie Wagner asked him to bring Enzo out for his star appearance.
“The interviewer asked if I would be OK for me to be interviewed,” Fusco said. “I said, ‘Of course, anything for Enzo!’ The goal was to get him adopted.”
Fusco had Enzo sit, shake hands, enjoy a brushing session, chase his squeaky toys, and generally show what a goo’ boi he was.
“I commented how he likes to play in water,” Fusco said. “Alma quickly brought in a kiddie pool, I filled it up, and of course, he would not go in. I found his favorite squeaky Christmas toy, and threw it in the pool. It worked — he jumped right in. Everyone cheered!”
Melody Sabokroo watched the video when it was aired and figured that she and Enzo would be perfect for each other. She came to LBACS the next day and took him home.
Watch Enzo frolic in the kiddie pool. He was lucky, but as Dr. Melanie Wagner said, he’s one of many who need homes. When you’re ready to adopt, please visit your municipal shelter first.
During Clear The Shelters month, some shelters and rescues host adoption events and offer special adoption rates during the 30-day campaign. LBACS, currently way over capacity with dogs, is offering $25 adoption fees for their pets, and they’ll waive fees for animals like Enzo who have been at the shelter for more than 30 days. The standard application procedure will still apply.
Fusco is grateful to Clear The Shelters for spotlighting shelter pets and the shelters themselves. He’s been championing Enzo for months, walking him, socializing him, and getting him ready for a home. Apparently, media stardom is arguably the best way for longtime kennel residents to strut their stuff and find homes.
“Enzo is a great dog!” Fusco said. “He was ready for a forever home, and I believed in my heart he would get adopted one day. I am extremely appreciative that NBC came to us to highlight Enzo and all our animals in need!”
Visit Clear The Shelters website for events, appearances and adoption information. Use their interactive map to find a participating shelter in your area.
Yours drooly
Helen Sanders CatPAWS is one of the nonprofit rescues that Clear the Shelters supports. They also made network news when NBC4’s Hetty Chang came down to Seal Beach and videotaped CatPAWS founder Deborah Felin-Magaldi and übervolunteer Lance Smith cobbling together a few DIY Kitten Care Kits. Watch them in action here!
The kits contain warming elements, formula, bottles and nipples, a warm blanket, an English/Spanish guide for care — everything a caring human needs to care for the orphaned newborn kittens turned in to the shelter during kitten season, which is now most of the year. CatPAWS provides kits free of charge to shelters, which in turn give them to kitty caregivers.
If you come to Benny’s birthday party on Saturday, Aug. 24 (see Tail waggin’ and nose boopin’ events) — and please do, or Benny’s felines will be hurt — you’ll meet some of these kittens. They’re now independent, playful and ready to go home. But kittens have their own natural PR and get adopted more easily than do adults. If you want a kitty with a little less Sturm und Drang attached (no guarantees though), check out these wonderful, mature felines. To adopt, fill out an application here.
Light, fluffy, sweet—that describes both Mimosa and the biscuits she’s kneading. She’s funny, smart and spirited and would do best as an only kitty. She’s been in foster for about two years and deserves a home with a cat-savvy adopter who “gets” her. Video courtesy of Helen Sanders CatPAWS
Here’s Jerry Garcia, whose tail competes with his namesake’s neckties. Jerry is super-sweet and has the energy of a kitten — he loves to play! He also loves petting, food, and sharing his foster’s bed. He can be scared when new people come over and will run to another room, but when he’s determined that all’s safe, he’ll come out, wagging his tail behind him.
Speaking of amazing tails, read the tale of Spider-Man, a superhero among cats. He looks like two cats at first glance, so at least one part of him could be Peter Parker. Spider-Man is always on the move, constantly chasing that sneaky red dot from the laser toy, only for it to vanish like it's got superpowers of its own. He’ll sprawl on his back, demanding belly rubs and gravely supervises your sweeping — he calls it quality control. His superpower is opening cupboard doors — he might even find your snacks before you do. With a heart as big as his tail and his purr just as loud, he's a good-natured charmer who gets along with all the cats in his foster home.
This sweet mama is Mary Poppins, and she is still — still! — waiting for a home of her own. She was a doting mom to her own babies, all of whom have gone off to college — and helped out with some other motherless rescued kittens as. Yet Mary waits. She’s dear and gentle and quiet. All she wants is a home of her own where she’ll be loved.
Tail-waggin’ and nose-boopin’ events
Benny the Cat’s seventh birthday party fundraiser
You are invited to a party to celebrate the good life of a good kitty! Benny might not have had any life at all if he hadn’t been rescued — he was horribly abused as a kitten and nearly died from injuries that his owners left him with. Today, he’s living the life that any cat would envy. Nonprofit cat rescue Helen Sanders CatPaws is once more putting on a family-friendly fundraiser in Benny’s honor.
The party will help give every cat a happy-ever-after and also raise awareness of domestic abuse. Attendees can enjoy a vendor fair, games and prizes, arts and crafts, face painting, a raffle, and of course, birthday cake! Lunch is included, too! You’ll meet adorable, adoptable kittens, who, like Benny, are hoping to find their own loving families. The shelter at Long Beach Animal Care Services will bring their Adoption Waggin’, and partygoers can tour CatPAWS’ spay/neuter mobile clinic, which the party will also help fund. All funds will go to CatPAWS. Of course, Benny will be there! Hope you will be, too!
Benny’s Birthday Party takes place Saturday, Aug. 24, 11 p.m.–3 p.m. at Marina Community Center, 151 Marina Drive, Seal Beach. Tickets are $20, free for kids 10 and under. Buy tickets here or at the door.
Totes for Tails fundraiser event
Need a place to stash your keys, cards, phone and a few treats for your furriest friend? Pick up a tote bag from Lakewood resident Judy Wang, who’ll donate all her proceeds to the nonprofit Zazzy Cats Kitty Rescue, where all cats are the zazziest!
Totes and Tails takes place Saturday, Aug. 24, noon–5:30 p.m. at Sender One Climbing, 4949 Lakewood Blvd., Lakewood.
SoCal Bulldog Rescue needs foster homes
SoCal Bulldog Rescue is asking responsible humans to give temporary, loving homes to their overflow of dogs whose previous owners couldn’t, for one reason or another. Fosters need to separate the bulldog from any other pets or have none in the home — many of the dogs been tested with other pets, but they will be as time allows over the following weeks. Most of dogs also haven’t been around small children, so homes with very young children may not be selected to foster.
Foster homes will need to keep veterinary appointments in some cases and meet with possible adopters, so “foster parents” should either live near the selected veterinary clinics or be willing to drive long distances. Southern California Bulldog Rescue covers all medical care and finds the approved adoptive homes. Access this link for foster information. Oh, and yes, if you fall in love with one of these droopy, drooly darlings, you can apply to make it permanent!
Helen Sanders CatPAWS annual Show Us Your Kitties calendar contest
Time to submit your favorite photos of your favorite pointy-eared people so that they can live on in purr-petuity, or at least through 2025! Helen Sanders CatPAWS’ annual contest raises funds for medical bills and food for CatPAWS rescues, and it also helps power the rescue’s spay/neuter mobile van. This year, the goal is to reach $10,000, which will be used to continue the lifesaving work they do in our community and beyond. Follow the instructions on the link to enter your cat.
The top three submissions will be offered a personal sketch of their photo! Because every dollar counts and to encourage people to share their beloved kitty photos, CatPAWS has waived the entry fee this year. The organization will strive to put every photo on the calendar, whether they’re top 12 or not. You can even reserve a special day for a thumbnail on your calendar: a birthday, a “gotcha” day, or a memorial to a beloved cat for $15 a space. So go ahead — show us those kitties! We know you want to!
Follow this link for instructions to enter the Show Us Your Kitties calendar contest. Entries may be submitted until 11:59 p.m. PDT on Monday, Sept. 30. Voting ends Tuesday, Oct. 1 at 9 p.m. PDT.
Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer — anything pet related? Follow this link for resources. Please add your own ideas in the Comments section.
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