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Virtually Pets
The Nigerian proverb “It takes a whole village to raise a child,” and cat rescuer and advocate Kelly McHugh Lopes’s Wrigley Kittens—and so many of them are—public Facebook group embodies it literally and figuratively.
Wrigley Kittens is a networking group set up mainly for Wrigley neighbors, but since its appearance about a year and a half ago, it’s attracted other cat people (note well that there are crazy cat men, too) who need help or want to help with trap/neuter/return (TNR), feeding, fostering and adopting. McHugh Lopes, a lifelong cat lady, started the group as a networking tool in 2014, a few months after a successful summer of neighborhood TNR.
“A photo of a tiny baby kitten, abandoned, was posted on the Wrigley Neighborhood Group page, and there were a lot of cats that the homeowners were going to call ACS on,” McHugh Lopes said.
McHugh Lopes took the bait, and used some herself, likely sardines. She posted a desperate plea for help on the Wrigley Neighborhood page and was put in contact with the Long Beach Spay and Neuter Foundation (LBSN). With the guidance of LBSN’s Antje Hunt, she purchased a trap, learned to use it, and subsequently performed hands-on midwifery and postnatal care. She obtained spay/neuter vouchers through LBSN and Long Beach Animal Care Services, and then trapped and fixed 13 adults and adopted out about five kittens that summer. McHugh Lopes is an on-the-job learner.
A year later, another Wrigley neighbor asked for her help in trapping, and this time, she was successful in getting seven out of eight cats spayed and neutered. One, she said, still eludes her and, like the fisherman who’s frustrated by a legendary catfish that’s smart enough to dodge him every season, McHugh Lopes is not giving up.
During the second summer, with kitten season in full bloom, McHugh Lopes took in three litters “because when you trap cats, you get kittens.” And kittens need shots, medication if they’re sick, and fosters and adopters until they’re old enough to get fixed. McHugh Lopes drives the extra mile for the procedures, using the inexpensive resources of SNP/LA’s San Pedro location along with vouchers from Long Beach Animal Care Services, and a combination of Primary Care Veterinary Hospital and Golden State Humane Society in Long Beach for veterinary care.
McHugh Lopes soon realized that she’d inadvertently committed herself to more than a summer job and that she’d need buy-in from the rest of the village. She created the Wrigley Kittens Facebook page during the summer of 2015 to both network and fund-raise. As a solo trapper and rescuer, McHugh Lopes had spent over $2,000 on needs, most of it on veterinary care and a smaller amount on the voucher copay.
“Sick kittens are expensive, McHugh Lopes said. “Community cats [strays, abandoned and homeless animals] tend to be ill—they’re out in the elements and are more susceptible to disease.”
Wrigley Kittens’ cover photo honors the first litter of kittens that McHugh Lopes took in. There had been five of them when she was contacted. One had died before she reached their location, and another died in her hands. They’d been ill with upper-respiratory infections and eye conditions, but they’re fine now. One made it out to an adoptive home in Kentucky; the other two now live with McHugh Lopes. This is affectionately called foster failure. Photo courtesy of Wrigley Kittens.
The Wrigley Kittens page features adoptive cats and kittens and requests for fosters, funding help and trapping assistance in the Wrigley neighborhood. It’s also a go-to place for very funny and irreverent cat videos, photos and cartoons.
“I’m very happy with the tenor of the group,” McHugh Lopes said. “I don’t want any naysayers or people who are getting in the way of what we’re trying to accomplish—fixing cats and finding homes for them.”
Nothing has ever gotten in McHugh Lopes’s own way of these efforts. She was brought up in an apartment whose landlord didn’t allow animals. She’d always desperately wanted a cat, so the first thing she did when going out on her own at age 20 was to get a cat; the second was to get a job at the Animal Hospital of Riverside.
“[Dr. Hyo Park, the vet at the clinic] really instilled in me an understanding of the scope of the problem of unwanted animals and that the only solution was spay and neuter,” McHugh Lopes said.
She went global with her practical philosophy when she accompanied her former husband to Italy and wound up volunteering at Torre Argentina, a cat sanctuary and tourist attraction in historic Roman ruins. McHugh Lopes admits to a barely working knowledge of Italian, but she did learn that gattara means “cat lady” (pazza is “crazy,” by the way). She took one of the sanctuary’s cats home with her and named her Agata, which means “Agatha” and “agate,” and is a pun on another level. Agata, now 17, lives la dolce vita with McHugh Lopes, who now is an English and comparative literature instructor at CSULB.
Long Beach bibliophiles will be interested to know that McHugh Lopes is responsible for having found Penny her position as bookstore cat at the late and much-lamented Acres of Books. Penny, along with her three kittens, was another McHugh Lopes rescue, and she had connections at the bookstore and recommended Penny for the job of resident cat. The three kittens—named Calvin, Hobbes and Jenny—all found homes, Hobbes with McHugh Lopes until his recent passing at age 20.
Penny surveys her domain. Photo by Kate Karp.
Thanks to a combination of leadership and community, Wrigley Kittens is doing a fine job. McHugh Lopes thanks her “right hand,” fellow Wrigley resident Lisa Cone, and fellow foster Julie Garcia, for help in its success.
“Julie does a bunch of fostering—she’s fostering three kittens for me,” McHugh Lopes said. “And Lisa’s stepped up and been so generous with her time, her home, taking in kittens, helping me foster and trap, going to the vet, being moral support.
“I’ve met so many good people—so many have given over the past year. It’s my way of helping my community. And that’s why I started the Wrigley Kittens page.”
Readers can help by sharing the page, by donating through WrigleyKittens@gmail.com, and by helping to foster and adopt the cats. And anyone with McHugh Lopes’s energy and passion can do the same where they live.
McHugh Lopes only traps in the Wrigley neighborhood, but the foster cats and kittens may look beyond the horizon. Here are a couple of candidates—there are more! Send a PM on the Facebook page or email WrigleyKittens@gmail.com. Please contact the group if you’re interested in fostering or trapping—you don’t have to live in Wrigley neighborhood.
Mauna Kea looks awfully like a white volcano. She erupts with love. She’s 10 years old and had to be given up to foster. Her human, who’s had her since she was a kitten, has a serious bone illness, and her heart is breaking. Mauna Kea is sweet and playful as long as there aren’t any enthusiastic toddlers running around—she’d do best in a home without children. She gets along great with dogs. Find her story on the Wrigley Kittens page for more facts and photos.
The Basement Babies, aka Kittyland, consist of one female and one male tux, and one female and two male tabbies. They’re so named because they were recovered from under a neighbor’s house. They’d prefer to spend their long lives in sunnier spots. Momcat, a newly spayed female tux, would enjoy that herself, with no more motherly concerns.
Dre is a 3-month-old sleek gray silver streak. He was found in Compton with his siblings (hence the name) and has been vetted and treated. He’s presently in a foster; as soon as he’s neutered, he can go to a loving home.
Mark Your Calendars (the People Way)
Friends of Long Beach Animals ‘ (FOLBA) Student Essay/Poetry Contest
Entries accepted until June 1; email entries to deborah@folba.org
Free to enter
If you know a young person who has a passion for animal welfare, this competition is a great way to start him or her on the path to communicating the importance of it to others. This year’s theme, “Be Kind to Animals,” is open to students in two categories, and cash prizes of $100 for first place, $50 for second place and $25 for third place will be offered for each category. Each entry may be no more than 250 words and one page in length; only one entry per student will be accepted. Be sure to include the following: first and last names, home address, phone number, grade level and school name (indicate if homeschooled).
All winners will receive award certificates, and all participants will receive certificates of participation. Winners will be contacted by June 10 and will be invited to read their essay or poem at the FOLBA membership meeting on Thursday, June 16. Winning essays and poems will be published on the FOLBA website.
2016 Wienerscnitzel Wiener Nationals Call for Entrants
Entries accepted until June 6; entry info in text
Free to enter
We’re looking for the fastest dog in the West and it could be your furry (or smooth-coated) four-legged friend! The 21st annual event will be held on Saturday, July 16, and will benefit the Seal Beach Animal Care Center. Participants will be selected from among the entries received. To enter your doxie, tell us why he or she should be in the Wiener Nationals. Please make the letter as creative as possible—creativity rather than speed counts here—and if you’ve been to the races, you’ll know what we mean! You can send us a drawing, a poem, an essay or a funny photo, or send us a link to your wiener doggie’s social medium—Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, etc.–a video link or a DVD. Entries will be returned at your request. Make sure you include your phone number and a photograph of your prized pooch!
Contact us through email at LARace@LosAlamitos.com, through this website link, or by snail mail at 2016 Weiner Nationals, c/o Los Alamitos Race Course, 4961 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos 90720.
Friends of Long Beach Animals Sixth annual Hounds on the Hill Event
Saturday, May 28, 11:00AM–2:00PM, Signal Hill Park, 2175 Cherry Avenue, Long Beach
Free
Join Friends of Long Beach Animals for a terrific pet-friendly event that features contests, live music, demonstrations, children’s activities, pet adoptions, and vendors of pet supplies and accessories as well as a low-cost pet-vaccination and microchip clinic. At that hour, you won’t see the sun going down, but the eyes in your head will be delighted.
Animal Resource Team (ART) Fund-Raiser
Thursday, June 2, 6:00PM–9:00PM, Pawsitively Long Beach Pet Parlor, 254 Elm Avenue, Long Beach
Donations Requested
Pawsitively Long Beach Pet Parlor is celebrating its first anniversary, but they’re throwing their party for the benefit of the Animal Resource Team, a group of volunteers who dedicate themselves to providing information, counseling and financial support to people with pets, with the objective of keeping the families together. Enjoy an evening of celebration with door prizes, raffles, dog treats, a photo booth, a DJ, a silent auction and refreshments. All are welcome, whether two-legged, four-legged or the occasional tripod.
Pawsitively Long Beach is a premier grooming salon for dogs and cats located in the eclectic East Village Arts District. Parking is available in the rear of the salon. For more information on the first anniversary celebration, please contact Abigail Gibson at (562) 612-1215 or visit their website or Facebook page.
Pet Food Express Pet Adoptions
Saturday, June 4, 11:00AM–3:00PM, 4220 Long Beach Boulevard, Long Beach
Adoption fees apply
Find your latest BFF at this beautiful store with a heart for adoptive animals. You can also spoil him or her rotten there, with everything they can possibly need. Check out the Cat Adoption Center while you’re there!
10th Annual Seal Beach Animal Care Center Wine Event
Saturday, June 11 7:00PM–10:00PM, North Seal Beach Center, 3333 St. Cloud Drive, Seal Beach
$40 per person donation
Raise a cup of kindness for our delightful pets! There will be good food and auctions as well. Registration information is available here; all proceeds go to the all-volunteer Seal Beach Animal Care Center.
spcaLA’s Pet Adoption Day
Saturday, June 11, 10AM–4:00PM, Pitchford Companion Animal Village and Education Center, 7700 Spring Street, Long Beach
Free event; adoption fees apply
This is our biggest pet adoption event of the year! Enjoy a day of sunshine and pet adoptions, meet-and-greets with 95.5 KLOS’s Frank and Lisa May and KABC Drive Home’s Jillian Barberi and John Phillips, vendor booths, adoption specials, giveaways, food trucks and family fun. And very likely a meeting with your new best friend!
Friends of Long Beach Animals Meet and Greet
Thursday, June 16, 6:00PM–8:00PM, Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 East Anaheim Street, Long Beach
Free event
Long Beach’s most venerable animal advocacy organization invites all animal lovers to mingle with one another at a social at the Long Beach Playhouse. A wine/beer and taco bar will be available for your pleasure, and local vendors will provide free dog samples for the pleasure of your pets at home. Cast members from the upcoming musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying will give a sample performance. Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA) Board members will present their accomplishments to this year, including the installation of a soon-to-be-opened veterinary clinic on the shelter grounds, and will award prizes to students who won the Kindness Essay contest. Best of all, attendees can meet the reason for FOLBA’s activity—the shelter pets themselves! Parking is free and located next to the theater. Visit the FOLBA website for details.
Divas for Doggies (and Kitties, Too) Drag Show Fund-Raiser
Sunday, June 25, 3:00PM–6:00PM, Hamburger Mary’s Long Beach, 330 Pine Avenue, Long Beach
$5 donation
Glitter for the pets! Anderson Real Estate Group is putting on a drag-show fund-raiser at Hamburger Mary’s to benefit spcaLA hosted by the one and only Jewels. Proceeds from the donations and silent auction will benefit the spcaLA P. D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village & Education Center in Long Beach.
Ongoing
Long Beach Animal Care Services (ACS): Free Spay/Neuter and Wellness Clinics, once monthly; Low-Cost Vaccination Clinics, scheduled days Monthly. Locations vary.
See flyer on web page for pricing of services
Beginning this Sunday, February 21, the Society for California Veterinary and Vaccine Care (SCVVC) will offer free spay/neuter procedures and wellness services to residents of the cities served by ACS: Long Beach, Signal Hill, Cerritos, Los Alamitos and Seal Beach. During the remaining weeks of the month, Spay/Neuter Project Los Angeles will offer low-cost vaccines, nail trimmings and topical flea treatment for residents of the same areas. Click link for locations and times and click the links next to each event for vaccine pricing and other details.
Pet owners must be 18 years or older. All pets must be on leashes or in carriers. Only healthy and non-pregnant animals will be vaccinated. If you have a prior rabies vaccine certificate, license tag or license renewal notice for your pet, please bring it with you to the clinic. Vaccination and microchip services are provided for pets residing in any city. Licensing service is provided for residents within our jurisdiction. Microchips, flea treatment and nail trimmings also available.
Reserve a Humane Education Presentation for Your Classroom, Scout Troop or Anywhere That Pets and Kids Come Together
spcaLA Friends for Life Summer Camp
June through August, Monday through Friday; Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 E. Spring Street, Long Beach
Details on website
Paws down, it’s the best camp around! spcaLA Friends for Life Summer Camp™ is for kids 8 through 13 years old. At camp, kids learn the basics of pet care and responsibility, respect for all animals, and the beginnings of dog training, all while making new friends on a number of legs! There are several sessions still available, each running Monday through Friday. Registration details and session schedule are available here.