Newborn Feline Rescue (NFR) is a neonatal kitten rescue that focuses exclusively on saving orphaned newborn kittens and growing them up until someone good comes to take them home.

“We chose this type of rescuing due to the number of kittens being born, abandoned or euthanized in the shelters,” said NFR’s founder, Lety Chavez. “Newborn motherless kittens are the most vulnerable and need lots of care and around-the-clock feedings in order to thrive and become happy, healthy cats.”

To wangle the nonprofit’s mission into the holiday-season theme, The Scratching Post hadn’t yet featured Newborn Feline Rescue, so I made a resolution to do that. And really, Chavez and her team coddle hundreds of new year’s babies, but all year long.

As for gift-giving, the Dec. 10 Scratching Post included a coupon for an adoption fee payment as a holiday gift. It works like so: Instead of surprising someone you’re fond of with a pet with whom they might not bond, despite what those cozy commercials show us, you accompany the lucky recipient to a shelter or a rescue. A surfeit of cats, dogs, rabbits and other would-be pets are waiting in those places to go to a home where they won’t be bred, overbred, sold for large sums as “purebreds” to whomever on social media, tossed in a trash bin, or given a boot out the door. Everyone gets a gift: the new human, the animal itself and you, with that warm, glowing feeling you’ll get as a godparent. The coupon’s here again, and at the very end of the article is a list of links to local shelters and rescues.

Coupon for a pet adoption, with silhouettes of a dog, a cat and a rabbit, offering to pay adoption fee
Art by Michelle Manion

 

“The best Christmas gift for us, and especially our amazing kitties, would be for them to be in their very best forever homes for the holidays,” Chavez said. “They would bring so much holiday joy to any home/families.”

Virtually pets

You can fill out an adoption application or a foster application (every rescue and shelter can use fosters) by accessing the links. Here are a few former newborns, growing up healthy and needing a forever place to purr.

adorable light-orange medium-fur kitten stares right of the camera and sits on a light-blue carpet.
Oy, could you plotz from the cuteness? This is Davey, 4 months old. He was rescued from SEAACA (Southeast Area Animal Control Authority) in Downey at only 1 week old—a fragile fellow who needed bottle feeding and other special care. Now, Davey is a fluffy, gorgeous, light-orange kitten. He is an affectionate kitten that loves to be cuddled like a baby. He is very loving and fearless, too. His favorite thing to do is playing with another kitten, showing off his wrestling skills. He gets along with all cats and dogs and loves kids of any age.

 

beautiful brown tabby sits up on tan floor and looks soulfully toward the left.
It’s May in December! May is 8 months old. She was found abandoned in a box along with her siblings at just hours old! She, too, received newborn care, and now, she’s very playful and especially loves dogs! She also loves to jump up, sit on your chest, and give you many kisses. She’s a little shy at first but opens up to you quickly. She’s good with other cats, kids and, of course, dogs.

 

Little calico kitten with a black blotch under her eye and a white chest and paws sits on a carpet base, with other cats in the background.
She’s as lovely as her name. Savannah, 5 months old, was rescued from SEAACA at only 2 weeks old. She is a very calm, well-mannered and sweet kitten. Savannah loves all other cats but is also very independent and not too needy . She loves to cuddle up next to you for a nap. As you can see from her companions in the photo, she’s great with all other cats as well as dogs and humans.

 

tiny tabby-patch kitten with white mask, chest and legs sits on tan tile floor and stares out the camera. His nose is bright pink1
This is Jarvis, 6 months old. He was rescued from the Downey shelter at 3 weeks old. He is a very affectionate cat and craves human attention. He purrs all day long! He will wait at every door for you to come out! He is good with other cats, dogs and kids. He’ll surely grow into his name!

 

Deck the bowls with bones and tuna: Festivities featuring fur friends

Santa Claws at Petco: noon–2:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18, Petco Marina Shores, 6500 Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, donations welcome.

You and your pet are enthusiastically invited to sit next to the big guy himself and pose for a photo. No charge for the pix, but any donations you wish to make will go to Helen Sanders CatPAWS, which will have adoptable kitties at the event (bring the coupon in the main part of the article along with a cat-desiring loved one and pay the adoption fee!). Remember, no beard clawing or jumping on the jelly belly—Santa’s watching.

Checkered Cat holiday adoption event: noon–5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18, Petco Towne Center, 7575 Carson St., Long Beach, adoption fees apply.

The Checkered Cat rescues cats and kittens that otherwise might be euthanized from SEACCA in Downey. Some of them will be at this special event along with some holiday fun! Another place for a loved one to use the above coupon!

Graphic by Feline Good Social Club

 

Tinsel is for wrapping trees and gifts, and not intestines

The staff and volunteers at Feline Good Social Club—the best playroom and event space ever for people who need a kitty fix—sent out the above Christmas cat caveat. Know that this applies to dogs as well, who probably won’t climb the tree but sure as sugarplums chew on everything.

Speaking of the Feline Good Social Club, they’re selling gift cards, which would be a great gift for someone who loves to interact with cats, even if they have their own at home (you can never have enough. Fur-thermore, many of the kitties are adoptable, so again, shlep a deserving human who wants a cat forever along with the aforementioned coupon. Way to celebrate!

Help wanted, help given

four photos each showing a woman holding or playing with dogs
Sparky and the Gang’s Sherri Stankewitz, upper left, and three volunteers cuddling the reasons they work so dang hard at rescue. Photo courtesy of Sparky and the Gang.

 

Volunteers of many stripes needed at Helen Sanders CatPAWS

Want to spend a few hours playing with cats? How about brightening the day of a bunch of senior citizens with kitten visits? Fostering cats because you aren’t sure you want to keep one but wish you could have one ever so briefly in your life (and yes, you could change your mind and keep them forever). Delivering pet food to needy shelters? Assembling do-it-yourself newborn-kitten-care kits, and maybe bottle-feeding a few? Kennel cleaning (whee!)? Lend a paw to CatPAWS—fill out the volunteer application at this link.

Volunteer walkers needed for senior citizens’ dogs

Ida’s Walkers is a program of The Heart of Ida, a 501c3 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 is still in bloom, and shelters and rescues are scrambling to save little 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 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) offers 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

In-furson 

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
Hopeful kitty resides at Pet Food Express’ adoption center.

 

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 centers: viewable daily during store hours, playtime Saturdays and Sundays between noon and 3 p.m., PetSmart, 12341 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach; Petco Marina Shores, 6500 Pacific Coast Highway, third Saturday of every month between 1 and 3 p.m., Long 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. Visitors to Petco Marina Shores every third Saturday of the month can see them running around their playpens and cuddle them, too. 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.

Nota bon-e—fosters are needed everywhere!

two dogs and a cat on one border, two cats and two dogs on other. Caption says, "May we couch-surf at your place?"
May we couch-surf at your place?

 

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.