Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA), Long Beach’s most venerable animal-welfare organization, was happy to receive a whole lotta love on Tuesday, April 27, when Timmons Subaru presented them with a check for $37,447.40.

Woman with long blonde hair wearing a blue T-shirt and jeans hands a plaque to woman in white mask with black hair and wearning jeans. Person in brown dog costume stands between them.
Gift exchange! FOLBA board president Lauren Campbell hands a plaque thanking Timmons Subaru to Natalie Tiimmons, human resources manager for the dealership as Rocky Ghahary holds the check in readiness. FOLBA’s mascot chews the scenery, which beats chewing the interior of an SUV. Photo by Kate Karp.

Subaru of America’s Share the Love events are designed to pay it forward to local and national communities. Over the past 13 years, the dealership has given more than $200 million to national charitable organizations such as Meals on Wheels America  and the National Parks Foundation and to local ones. Timmons Share the Love efforts have included distribution of personal protective equipment to local small businesses, providing toys for children at MemorialCare Miller Children’s Hospital Long Beach, and giving funds to local charities. In the space of two months—November through December 2020—the recent Share the Love event collected enough money to make the ride a lot smoother for FOLBA and Honoring Our Fallen, a program celebrating war heroes who died in combat and offering support to their families.

“A part of every purchase goes to the customer’s choice of charities,” said Timmons general sales manager Rocky Ghahary. “We try to keep it local.”

Man in black mask, blue shirt and tan pants holds small brown dog who's high-fiving a human in a dog suit.
Sanzu and roommate Tom Hanberg seem delighted to make the acquaintance of FOLBA’S new mascot. The quirky canine will make an appearance at the one-year anniversary of the Los Altos Pet Supplies Plus on Saturday, May 1 (see May bouquet for mutts and moggies) where attendees can suggest names for the mascot. Photo by Kate Karp

FOLBA board president Lauren Campbell expressed gratitude on the part of the organization and said that the money would be put to good use. The organization has a notable history of working with the community, beginning in 1998 when their Spay/Neuter Incentive Program (SNIP) was launched, up to the present, when they collected a literal ton of pet food for people having trouble feeding their animals during the pandemic, matched $10,000 in Long Beach Gives donations for the Long Beach Little Paws Project and refurbished and furnished the surgery room and other areas of Fix Long Beach’s newly acquired clinic. FOLBA board member Tom Hanberg said that Timmons’ donation will help introduce new projects like kindergarten and first-grade humane education through the school district, assistance for emergency pet care, and funding for the Bonnie & Dooley program,which helps community members pay adoption fees for selected rescues.

“During COVID time, it’s tough for people, so we do one rescue a month,“ Hanberg said. “So far, we’ve done Long Beach Animal Care Services, Live Love and Little Lion (The Little Lion Foundation). This month, we’re doing Sparky and the Gang.”

Virtually Pets

Sparky and the Gang animal rescue is May’s FOLBA Bonnie & Dooley Adoption Program beneficiary. The program helps more than community members with fees—it encourages adoption and thereby helps the animals.

The Sparky team has worked many a fairy-godparent miracle on dogs and puppies who seem like lost causes, and this month, if you adopt any of those critters, your adoption fee will be either considerably reduced or paid in full.

Sparky’s administrative team shares space and heart with Fix Long Beach spay-and-neuter clinic. Fix employee Becky Ramos will tell you about a few of the little Cinderellas and fellas that you can take home with you. To apply to adopt any of them, email Sparky and the Gang at [email protected] or phone them at (310) 809-6374. If you want to volunteer to walk anyone, use the same contacts.

Puppehs!

https://youtu.be/nb8VCr1VBEY

Suzie Q and Karaoke—two adult dogs left behind by their owner. They seem mighty optimistic!

https://youtu.be/J8Uh4UBBMdQ

Don’t think that you’re going to get a break from cats during kitten season. Long Beach Animal Care Services’ übervolunteer Susan loves this special cat. Her name’s Ginsberg, of all things. I howled when I heard that.

To adopt Ginsberg, follow the instructions on this link or email [email protected]. All adoptions are conducted through appointments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH7WpwqeXmQ

 

May bouquet for mutts and moggies

Pet Supplies Plus Long Beach one-year anniversary: May 1, Saturday, 10 a.m.–2p.m., Pet Supplies Plus, 2086 N. Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach, free event, adoption prices vary

Meet wonderful adoptables from our shelter, enter a prize drawing from Pet Supplies Plus, and romp with Friends of Long Beach Animals’ new mascot, whom you can name! See flyer for details.

‘Meatballs in May’ neuter discount: May 1–31, Wednesday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., 1749 Magnolia Ave., Long Beach, see flyer for prices of procedures

May will see prices for neuters (i.e., males only) even lower than Fix Long Beach’s usual prices, and on top of that, the first 100 appointments that month will get a free meatball dinner from Santa Fe Deli (mm-mm-MMM!). You and your cat or dog can go home after spending some uncomfortable hours in a clinic and go all Lady and the Tramp at home with the meatballs (just a nibble for your buddy—he’ll be a little worn out).

Fundraising raffle for The Little Lion Foundation: to May 31, see flyer for details

Five’ll get you 100 if you’re the lucky winner of this raffle! Follow the instructions on the flyer to enter the competition for a $100 Amazon gift card. Whether you win or do not, you’ll be helping newborn kittens and adult cats win a chance themselves—at living. All proceeds go to The Little Lion Foundation. Donations to the rescue are accepted on the link on the name.

Help wanted, help given

Fosters needed at Long Beach Animal Care Services

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. Long Beach Animal Care Services now has a foster program aimed at saving some little lives and socializing them. Who knows—maybe one of those lives will change your mind about the not-ready-for-roommate thing.

Feline Good Social Club needs willing subjects for its bewhiskered nobility

Feline Good Social Club has opened and is running and knocking things off shelves. The cat curators would love some volunteers for their furry residents. Want to be part of a kowtowing staff to cats because everyone knows that cats expect it? Email [email protected].

Fix Long Beach low-cost pet-services clinics: Wednesday–Saturday, 8 a.m.–5 p.m., 1749 Magnolia Ave, Long Beach, services available by appointment at www.fixlongbeachpets.com.

Fix Long Beach has reopened and is taking appointments for low-cost spay/neuter, dental, vaccines and other vet needs for cats and dogs. 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, located at 957 N. Gaffey St., will give shots every third Thursday between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. Call (310) 574–5555 to see if you qualify for services.

If you can see the bottom of the kibble bag

3 piles of large bags of pet food wrapped in plastic sit on pallet, with more behind them.
ASPCA’s 2020 donation of about a ton of food that was distributed to the community by FOLBA. Photo courtesy of Friends of Long Beach Animas.

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. 7th 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 at Beacon for Him Ministries, 1535 Gundry Ave. Long Beach, Mondays from 9:00 a.m. to noon and Saturdays from noon to 3 p.m.; and at Christian Outreach in Action, 515 E. 3rd St., Long Beach, Thursday from 9-11 a.m. Donations will be gratefully accepted at these locations as well.

Adopt, adopt, adopt

White cat with tabby-patch ears and back stares upward, sitting in bowling-pin position in a glassed-in kennel with store products in background
Chompers, whom the rescuers renamed Shompei for ease of pronunciation, is chilling at the Cat Adoption Center at the Long Beach Pet Food Express. Shompei is 10 years old and has no teeth but her fangs because of a horrible case of stomatitis that went untreated for heaven knows how long. Nonetheless, she’s playful as a kitten and loves to cuddle. She needs to be in a home with no other animals and no small children, but she thrives on having her chops rubbed. Can you give her the life she deserves?

Pet Food Express Cat Adoption Center: weekdays and Saturday 10 a.m.–8 p.m., and Sunday 10 a.m.–7 p.m., 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. Sadly, no ear scratching or chin rubs at this time, but volunteers can 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

The following pet-related businesses regularly feature cat, dog and rabbit adoptions, but as of now, adoptions are mainly by appointment. 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.

Editor’s note: this article was corrected to show Timmons Subaru has donated more than $200 million to national charitable organizations over the past 13 years.