Today we’d like to introduce you to Claudia Otis
Hi Claudia, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
In 2015 my 15 year old daughter found a kitten while walking our dog. We contacted a local cat rescue and they agreed to take us on as a foster and would cover the kitten medically. Over the next few months we began fostering for another much larger, organization and the love of kittens began from there. We fostered over 80 neonatal kittens over the next year and thus, The Little Lion Foundation was born.
We filed for our non-profit number and officially opened our foster based rescue in May of 2016. I was working full time as a marriage and family therapist at that time and my daughter Jessica managed the rescue most of the time. We made our focus on neonatal kittens at our local shelter because this population was the highest number of euthanasia’s across our nation. The first year we helped just over 130 kittens.
We remained foster based until 2019 when we partnered with another organization to open Long Beach’s first kitten nursery called the Long Beach Little Paws Project. This project was a brick and mortar facility where we were able to give tiny kitten a safe place to land while we worked on outcomes for them such as foster care within our organization or transfer to other organization. The kitten nursery is completely volunteer ran and is open 7 days a week. Unfortunately, the other organization decided that the kitten nursery was not in their wheelhouse so they pulled out within the first year. The Little Lion Foundation kept going. The first year we helped 453 kittens.
Covid-19 hit and the need for help with cats and kittens skyrocket in our community. The lack of spay and neuter along with the change in our local shelter system caused us to expand our services and we opened our kitten prevention program. The Kitten Prevention program is a Trap-Neuter-Return program that works hard to reduce the number of kittens being born on the street to 1. enter the shelter system, 2. suffer on the street or, 3. continue the cycle of reproduction. Through the last 4 years and during the pandemic we increased our numbers to between 1300 and 1500 cats served each year.
Last year we made the decision to open a community cat spay and neuter clinic. This program is in partnership with Long Beach Animal Care Services, Michelson Found Animals, and Friends of Long Beach Animals. The program will spay and neuter 2,500 community cats this year in the cities of Long Beach, Cerritos, Signal Hill, and Los Alamitos and it is free to community members.
From the beginning of our journey with The Little Lion Foundation it has been our goal to help the cats in our city. I now do this full time and both of my daughters help to run the organization. We are still all volunteer run with the exception of our veterinary team that does the spay and neuter surgeries. We believe that cats are our loving companions and deserve to be cared for so it is our goal to reduce the suffering of cats in our city.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It certainly has not been a smooth road. I think our biggest obstacles is funding. Veterinary care is so very expensive and it is a deterrent for cats to get what they need to be healthy and happy. Our municipal shelter is severely underfunded and so is cat rescue. I always say that cats are the underdogs. I am our grant writer and our funding finder and it is very difficult to keep this thing going year after year. If I win the lottery I would buy us a building or property so we could help more kitties in need.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about The Little Lion Foundation?
The Little Lion Foundation is a dedicated, all-volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2016 to save and improve the lives of cats in need. We specialize in eliminating the euthanasia of healthy, at-risk, and treatable cats and kittens in public shelters by providing vital services, education, and partnerships. Our mission is to ensure every cat gets a second chance, regardless of age, health, or circumstance.
What sets us apart is our unwavering commitment to the most vulnerable feline populations—neonatal kittens, feral cats, and those needing critical medical care. We’ve developed targeted programs like our Trap-Neuter-Vaccinate-Return (TNvR) initiative, neonatal kitten rescue efforts, and community workshops to teach fostering and cat care.
One of our proudest accomplishments is our ability to collaborate with shelters and community partners to save thousands of lives each year. Our Bottle Baby Brigade program, though recently retired, showed how education and teamwork can empower people to help save neonatal kittens, inspiring more fosters to join the cause. Additionally, we’re proud of our focus on high-quality care, ensuring every cat we touch receives spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations, medical attention, and love before finding a forever home.
Our newly opened Community Cat Spay and Neuter Clinic, along with our continued adoption programming, makes our lifesaving services more accessible than ever. Our community should know we are here as a resource, an ally, and a champion for cats, ensuring that every life matters. Whether it’s through adoptions, TNvR, or education, we aim to build a better, more compassionate world for cats and the people who love them.
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
During the Covid-19 crisis I believe I learned that community is where everything starts and ends. We rescue cats not just for the cats but for the people who love them. People need their pets as companions and support and through helping the cats in our community we are helping our community.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.littlelionfoundation.org/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelittlelionfoundation/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thelittlelionfoundation
