The O litter at Sparky and the Gang is ready for new homes.

Sparky and the Gang dog rescue has made multiple appearances in The Scratching Post because its founder, Sherri Stankewitz, does a lot of stuff and continually thinks up more stuff to do. She has been pulling dogs from crummy situations for over 25 years and is well known—sometimes notorious—for plunging forward with projects and wild events, often at the last minute.

Stankewitz and her team of volunteers have jumped into a truck to help out with horses pulled into the Orange County Fairgrounds during the 2017 Canyon Fire; handled hoarding situations; recently housed, bathed, medicated and otherwise cared for 100 dogs from meat markets in China before driving them to the Long Beach Airport for transport to rescues; and driven to Mexico numerous times to bring starving dogs waiting for homes.

She said that she’s rescued over 10,000 dogs since she began pulling them from bad and often dangerous situations. On Aug. 13, Sparky and the Fix Long Beach staff will be swapping out your dog’s cherry eye for a cherry pie (see Help wanted, help given for details). Her latest effort in partnership with Fix Long Beach, which you’ll read about soon, is Paw Street Outreach, which will assist people experiencing homelessness to get spay/neuter procedures and other assistance to keep their own pets safe.

Every one of her rescued dogs has found a home. Her latest bunch, the O Litter, had a miserable beginning, surrendered by a family that didn’t want them and suffering mange, intestinal disorders and undernourishment. The Sparky gang worked its usual magic, and now, they’re healthy pups waiting for a home. We’ll let Sherri Stankewitz tell you about them.

https://youtu.be/Kj0BEPVZp4Y

Virtually Pets

These are a few of the puppies up for adoption.

Two bedraggled puppies sit up on a beige blanket. A third with barely any fur is lying down. The word "Before" is printed in big, red letters
This is what three of the O litter looked like when the Sparky volunteers rescued them. One poor little guy has barely any fur. Photo courtesy of Sparky and the Gang.

Vive la différence!

little brown dog with floppy ears stares at camera
Ozzy has fur now!
a brown puppy stands and looks in the camera. A fluffy one with tan fur and a beige muzzle and legs cocks his head and looks at the camera. The name Oakley, for the brown dog, is printed in green letters.
That’s Oakley on the left; Okie’s name didn’t make the credits, but that’s OK! If the names are confusing, take them both home and give them new ones!

Two others didn’t make the photo shoot, but you can see them all in the video. For adoption information, email Sparky and the Gang at [email protected]. Access this link to donate via PayPal.

Just fur fun and fur-ther education

Jackson Galaxy’s Cat Camp Summer Sessions: 10–11:30 a.m.; Saturday, Aug. 7 Aug. 14 and Aug. 21; Zoom channel; $20 for litter-box session and Kitten Poopinar, $10 for grief session

Summer’s here, and Jackson Galaxy, a great slate of pet people (including the meme-worthy Kitten Lady Hannah Shaw), and Petco Love, which is providing the marshmallows and chew sticks for the s’meowrs, have teamed up as camp counselors for three sessions of cat camp. Get the scoop on the poop, quite literally, in the Aug. 7 session about living happily or otherwise with a litter box and another on Aug. 21 about divining the significance of the caboodle that comes out of a kitten’s caboose. For anyone who’s suffered the loss of a cherished furry housemate whether during the pandemic or before, the Aug. 14 session on compounded grief, a term for how the universal COVID-19 losses amplify personal loss, will guide you and the rest of the participants through dealing with your losses. Read further descriptions and purchase tickets at this link.

Best Friends’ Strut Your Mutt fundraising event: details and events here

Ready to start building a team or just strut your stuff solo? Best Friends, a nationwide organization whose intent is to save every animal life possible, has started its registration for its Oct. 23 Strut Your Mutt Day virtual walk. The goal is to raise $2 million for both the organization and animal shelters and rescues nationwide. Access this link for instructions on how to build your team or register yourself, and participate in virtual events such as pig yoga and meeting the animals at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary as you move along the time line. Mutts and all manner of mammals will thank you!

Calendars: 365 days of furry love

Helen Sanders CatPAWS Show Us Your Kitties 2022 calendar contest: entries accepted up to 5 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 18

Calling all stage cat mommies and cat daddies! Now’s the chance for you to buy the way of your ridiculously adorable ridiculous feline into the spotlight! Helen Sanders CatPAWS cat rescue is again holding its annual photo contest in which you can enter your own cat and get your friends to donate funds to vote for a cover or month photo position on the calendar! It’s a lot less fattening than asking them to buy your kids’ fundraising chocolate, and the money taken in will pay more medical bills for cats, put together more DIY newborn-kitten-care kits, and fund all the good things CatPAWS does—the goal is $10,000, but they’ll settle for more. You can also reserve a special day for a kitty whose memory you want to honor. CatPAWS will attempt to place every photo received somewhere on the calendar. Grab all the details here!

Stray Cat Alliance’s Ravishing Rescues Calendar: entries accepted from 12:01 a.m., Tuesday, Aug. 10 until 8 p.m., Monday, Aug. 3

Show your ear tips, kitties! The champion of cats stray and homeless are looking for your picture-purrfect cat to show off in the cutest photo you can find. All felines invited, no matter where they entered your home from. Each vote costs only $1, and 100% of the proceeds will be used to help homeless cats and kittens at Stray Cat Alliance. If your feline gets the most votes, they will win a top spot in the coveted 2022 Stray Cat Alliance Ravishing Rescues Calendar! Details available here.

Help wanted, help given

Cherry Pie for Cherry Eye clinic: Friday, Aug. 13,  Fix Long Beach, 1749 Magnolia Ave., Long Beach, by appointment only

Cherry eye is an inflammation of a tear gland on a dog’s third eyelid. Cherry pie is a delicious, gooey, juicy fruit pastry, usually round. Fix Long Beach and Sparky and the Gang dog rescue are eager to make a trade. Please contact the group for an appointment for a special price on the surgery by texting 310-809-7374. Little Jack Horner never had it so good!

Volunteer walkers needed for senior citizens’ dogs

Ida’s Walkers is a program of The Heart of Ida, a nonprofit organization serving the older-adult population in and around Long Beach. Ida’s Walkers offers dog-walking services to low-to-moderate-income seniors who are hospitalized, have limited mobility, or are at risk of falling. If you want to help senior citizens keep their beloved pets as long as they are able to live at home, call 562-370-3548.

Fix Long Beach low-cost pet-services clinics: selected days and times, 1749 Magnolia Ave., Long Beach, services available by appointment at www.fixlongbeachpets.com.

Fix Long Beach is taking appointments for low-cost spay/neuter, dental, vaccines and other vet needs for cats and dogs. Vaccination clinics take place on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. Visit their webpage or Facebook page for details.

DIY Kitten Care Kits available free at Long Beach Animal Care Services

Kitten season has begun, and soon, shelters and rescues will be scrambling to save their lives, get them fixed, get them adopted. It isn’t unusual to find nests of young, seemingly abandoned kittens during kitten season. It is a natural reaction to want to help, to save them. But before you jump in, consider these steps outlined here. If you are interested in obtaining a Kitten Care Kit made possible by Helen Sanders CatPAWS, please email [email protected].

Spay/neuter vouchers available at shelter

Long Beach Animal Care Services has spay/neuter vouchers available. They’ll take a healthy nip out of the cost of a procedure. Residents of any of the five cities served by the shelter (see above) can telephone the general number at 562-570–7387 to request a voucher.

Spay/neuter appointments available at SNP/LA

The Spay/Neuter Project of Los Angeles (SNP/LA) is back in business for free and low-cost spay/neuter services, and they’re extending the hours of their vaccination clinics. The San Pedro clinic will give shots between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. every third Thursday at 957 N. Gaffey St. Call 310-574–5555 to see if you qualify for services.

If you can see the bottom of the kibble bag

Pets of the Homeless’s home page gives a self-description as the only organization focusing only on providing food and care for pets belonging to homeless people. Businesses and other organizations across the country receive in-kind donations of food and other needs that the dogs and cats’ human families can pick up at outreach locations. The following Long Beach businesses will accept your donations:

Trendi Pawz, 3726 E. Seventh St., Long Beach

Belmont Heights Animal Hospital, 255 Redondo Ave., Long Beach

Paw Shoppe Pet Center, Inc., 6416 E. Spring St., Long Beach

Food and supplies are available Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon and Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. at Beacon for Him Ministries, 1535 Gundry Ave. Long Beach; and Thursdays from 9 to 11 a.m. at Christian Outreach in Action, 515 E. Third St., Long Beach, Donations will be gratefully accepted at these locations as well.

Adopt, adopt, adopt

Adoptees on display

Black German shepherd looks at camera with young woman in purple cap and a smiling face.

Pet Food Express Cat Adoption Center: 10 a.m.–8 p.m. weekdays and Saturdays, and 10 a.m.–7 p.m. .Sundays., Pet Food Express, 4220 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, adoption fees apply

This adoption center is a much-needed satellite operation of Long Beach Animal Care Services. Julie and her team pull adoptable cats—”adoptable,” to these guys, means any cat in a shelter kennel! The team socializes the kitties until they’re adopted, which takes less time than you could imagine!

Helen Sanders CatPAWS adoption center: viewable daily during store hours, PetSmart, 12341 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach, adoption fees apply

Window-shopping’s a neat pastime and likely has become more common during the pandemic. Helen Sanders CatPAWS has applied window-shopping to cat adoption; you can peer at several of the fine felines through the windows of the PetSmart adoption center in Seal Beach, and now, you can finally visit with them, scratch their little ears, and rub them under their chinny-chin-chins on Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m. Volunteers will answer questions and provide you with adoption information! Be sure to wear a mask. You can find adoption applications and all the kitties here.

Links to loveables

Nota bon-e—fosters are needed everywhere!

If you’ve always wanted a pet but aren’t sure if you’re ready for a lifetime (the animal’s) commitment, or if you’re past the pet-roommate days for any reason, fostering might be a great way to go, especially with one or more of the kittens popping up during kitten season. Every one of the organizations listed below is in desperate need of fosters who’ll social them and help save their little lives. Who knows—maybe one of those lives will change your mind about the not-ready-for-roommate thing!

These nonprofits also regularly feature cat, dog and rabbit adoptions. As of now, adoptions are mainly by appointment. Fosters are needed for kittens as well. Click on the links for each rescue in case of updates or changes. These organizations operate through donations and grants, and anything you can give would be welcome. Please suggest any Long Beach-area rescues to add to the list.