Two Moms, Eight Babies, One Call for Help
Last week, LA Animal Services and Women United for Animal Welfare called us about an urgent situation on Skid Row: two mother cats had given birth that very morning and had nowhere safe to go.
We brought Kate, a gray tabby, and Ally, a brown calico tortie, in right away along with their eight combined babies. After a full health check, we set the two families up together in a quiet, safe space to recover.
What’s happened since has been remarkable. Kate and Ally have started sharing mama duties – one resting while the other watches over all eight babies, then switching off. The kittens, eyes still closed, are already chubby, healthy, and thriving.
This is exactly what Stray Cat Alliance exists to do, and exactly why we need you. Kate and Ally’s litters still have weeks of bottle feeding, socializing, and vet visits ahead of them, and more cats and kittens like them are arriving every week. Right now, we need fosters, volunteers, and forever homes ready to say yes when the next call comes in.
Four Days, Four Opportunities for Low-Cost Cat Care
As promised, our Access to Care services are expanding, and this August, we’re proving it with four ways to keep your cat healthy.
We’re hosting three spay/neuter days – August 3, 10, and 24 – offering low-cost spay and neuter surgeries alongside wellness services like vaccines and exams, all in one visit. If your cat isn’t fixed yet, these dates are the most efficient way to check both boxes at once.
Already spayed or neutered? We’ve got you covered too. On August 30, we’re launching a brand-new Wellness Day, providing low-cost vaccines, wellness exams, and preventive care for cats who don’t need surgery. It’s one more way we’re growing our capacity to serve LA’s cats and the people who love them.
Here’s the simple way to choose:
- Need spay/neuter? Come August 3, 10, or 24 (wellness care included).
- Already fixed and just need a check-up? Join us August 30.
Spots are still open for our spay/neuter days, but don’t wait: appointments are first-come, first-served, and fill up fast!
Questions about which day is right for your cat? Reach out to our team, and we’ll help you find the best fit.
From a Quick Question at a Conference to 455 Cats Saved. Watch How.
On Monday, we hosted a Zoom conversation between our CEO, Christi Metropole, and Dr. Jennifer Scarlett, CEO of the San Francisco SPCA, to talk about the transport partnership between our two organizations – how it started, how it works, and why it’s become one of the most important tools we have for saving lives. If you missed it, here’s a taste of what was discussed.
It started with a question at the Cal Animals CEO Forum: Do you have any cats? Of course we did! Los Angeles always does. The SF SPCA had the opposite problem: an empty shelter and a winter with too few cats to meet adoption demand up north. Christi and Dr. Scarlett struck an informal deal on the spot: Stray Cat Alliance would send cats north when San Francisco’s shelter ran empty, and SF SPCA would take them in when Southern California’s shelters couldn’t keep up. What began as a favor between colleagues has become one of the more consequential partnerships in our organization’s history.
Since the partnership began, we’ve transported 455 cats to SF SPCA – 272 this year alone. Every cat who makes the trip north opens up space for us to go back into an overwhelmed shelter system and pull another cat who needs saving.
The numbers are impressive, but this partnership isn’t just about numbers. It’s about two cities looking at a shared crisis and deciding to actually do something about it together.
During the session, Christi and Dr. Scarlett also spoke candidly about what’s driving shelter intake nationwide, such as the continued and growing veterinary shortage, gaps in access for community cats, and infrastructure limitations. AB 2010, also covered in this newsletter, could help close that gap.
Want to hear the full conversation, including the Q&A? Click Here
AB 2010: A Bill That Could Change the Math on Kitten Season
If you watched our recent donor conversation with Christi and Dr. Jennifer Scarlett of SF SPCA, you heard a topic come up that’s worth paying attention to: AB 2010, the SNIP Act.
Here’s the problem it’s trying to solve: California’s pet overpopulation crisis isn’t just about too few homes; it’s about too few surgeries. Outdated rules require high-volume spay/neuter clinics to have a dedicated surgical suite, even when safer, more efficient models exist. That requirement is exactly what we ran up against with our own Access to Care program, and part of why we built our clinic and Suite Two at our Jefferson Park lifesaving center. Under current law, there’s no way around it. AB 2010 would remove that barrier statewide and open the door to Mobile Animal Sterilization Hospital (MASH) clinics, bringing sterilization directly to underserved and rural communities that currently have none.
Fewer barriers to surgery means fewer litters born into a shelter system that’s already stretched past capacity, which is exactly what we’ve faced this kitten season.
The bill is co-sponsored by the ASPCA, San Diego Humane Society, and SF SPCA, and it passed the Assembly 74-0. It’s now in the Senate, with a deadline to pass by August 31.
Want to help it across the finish line? Speak up while it still matters:
- Track the bill’s progress: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2010
- Find and contact your State Senator or Assemblymember. A short, genuine note from a constituent carries real weight with committee staff right now: https://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov
Cats Need Heroes Like You This Kitten Season
This kitten season is hitting Los Angeles harder than before, and we are feeling the crunch. From May through July, Stray Cat Alliance has taken in 408 cats and kittens – up 38.3% from last year, with 225 being saved in May alone. In local shelters, intake and euthanasia rates are up. Every day, our team is working to make sure more of these cats have somewhere to go.
Kate and Ally, who we featured earlier in this newsletter, are two examples of what that growing need looks like up close. Calls like theirs aren’t slowing down. They’re coming in every week, and each one depends on having room, staff, and care ready before the next mother cat and her litter arrive.
Kate and Ally’s story touches every part of what this campaign supports. Their eight kittens need food and formula through the weeks before they’re old enough for solid meals. Jefferson Park, our Lifesaving Center, is giving both families the quiet space to recover and grow together instead of being in overcrowded shelter cages. And each of these cats, moms and babies alike, will eventually need help getting from our doors to a forever home, either through adoption or transport.
Grammy-winning songwriter Diane Warren is still matching every gift to our Be a Hero for Cats campaign, up to $25,000. Every dollar has twice the lifesaving impact for as long as the match lasts for every mom and litter like Kate and Ally still waiting for a safe place to land.
We have just over one month to meet our $125,000 goal. Help get us there.
Meet Susie Aguilar, our new Director of Operations
We’re thrilled to welcome Susie to the Stray Cat Alliance team! With more than a decade in animal welfare, Susie has built her career around one mission: better outcomes for cats. She’s led Community Cat Programs throughout Southern California in areas such as Bakersfield, Riverside, and Pasadena, and has helped shelters across the country build programs that save more cats and kittens.
Susie’s love for community cats took root during her time at Best Friends Animal Society, where she worked in partnership with Stray Cat Alliance as part of the Safe at Home kitten diversion program. That full-circle connection makes her a natural fit for our team. Since then, she’s stayed committed to programs that support not just cats, but the caregivers who love them. She’s also led large teams and managed shelter operations across both cat and dog programs, though cats have always held a special place in her heart.
At home, Susie keeps a cat-only household and finds joy in fostering kittens who need extra care, including those recovering from URI, panleukopenia, and other medical challenges.
We’re so excited to have Susie on the team!
