By Nathalie Basha San BernardinoPUBLISHED 5:00 AM PT Dec. 21, 2022
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — They have a gone super-viral on social media because of their work saving cats in Southern California, but behind the Tiktok videos are two Los Angeles natives with big hearts for cats.
Jaina Spagis and wife Ivy Spagis have turned their suburban San Bernardino home into the central hub of Cats of San Bernardino, their nonprofit group that works to relieve the growing number of feral cats on the streets of San Bernardino.
Through feeding programs, adoptions and trap/neuter/return programs, the couple have helped nearly 1,000 cats since 2019. It’s documented on their social media pages, which has garnered the pair millions of views.
On a muggy Tuesday evening, Jaina and Ivy Spagis pulled into a shopping center on San Bernardino’s east side and parked near an enclosed dumpster behind the building.
They popped the back hatch of their electric-blue RAV4 with vanity plates reading “CATS SB” and began filling cardboard bowls with dry and wet cat food, pulling from a 22-pound bag of Meow Mix and assorted cans of Friskies. They poured water from a 5-gallon jug into a clear Tupperware bowl, then carefully placed the bowls on the ground behind the dumpster.
One by one, their charges quickly emerged from bushes, a ditch and the alleyway behind the shopping center — a colony of about 30 feral adult cats and kittens of various breeds. They cautiously made their way to the bowls of food and water and began eating heartily.
“They’re everywhere,” said Ivy Spagis, president of Cats of San Bernardino, a cat rescue she and wife Jaina, the organization’s vice president, started in 2017. They obtained nonprofit status in 2019.
We rescued Valentino from underneath a car in San Bernardino. It was 100 and he was dehydrated and badly injured. After multiple trips to the vet he finally healed and was eventually adopted by the one and only Kelly Osbourne!
Phoenix had been abandoned and had a severe case of mange. We rescued him and he healed but he was still aloof until.... He met Ruby. We rescued Ruby and her entire litter of siblings from the streets of SB. They were also sick and once passed away. We thought she was going to pass away but she fought and survived, becoming a spunky little kitten who wanted nothing more than to play with her old man cat.
Medi and Cal were rescued from one our colonies behind a medical center in San Bernardino. They were bonded and eventually found a forever home together!
We rescued Gambit from the middle of the street in San Benardino. She was the sweetest kitten who showed so much love and appreciation. She made a lot of improvements after we took her in but unfortunately about 2 weeks later she started having seizures and despite us and our vets best efforts she passed away from her injuries
Copyright © 2024 Cats of San Bernardino - All Rights Reserved.