white dog with 'black eye' stands on cement with his pink tongue hanging out.
Do you have a soft spot for seniors? If so, you’ll want to meet 12-year-old Casper, another pit-bull mix. The volunteers call him a “distinguished gentleman” who loves walks, car rides and belly rubs. He’s lived with other dogs, so if you have one, he’ll be a great Mr. Belvedere!

The P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village on Saturday will be teeming with activity and adoptable animals from both the city shelter at Long Beach Animal Care Services and spcaLA. The Pet Adoption Day, hosted by spcaLA and sponsored by an odd trio of sponsors—Subaru, 95.5 KLOS and Tito’s Handmade Vodka (you have to have something to celebrate an adoption of a homeless pet with)—will feature a meet-and-greet with KLOS DJs, gift bags, booths with vendors and games, a silent auction and food trucks. If you have a dog, they can come along as long as they’re on leashes and up to date on shots. Find the details in Things to do, pets to support.

The most important part of the event, of course, is the group of pets waiting to go home. You get to pick your adoption fee as long as you meet the adoption requirements. Pet Projects is featuring a few as a preview.

The Pitchford facility comprises two entities—Animal Care Services, which is our city’s open admission shelter, and spcaLA, which is a private nonprofit rescue. The shelter’s entrance is under Animal Admissions; the spcaLA’s is under the spcaLA Adoption Center sign. People get further confused by the signage, thinking that adoptable pets only reside on the spcaLA side. Actually, cats, dogs and rabbits wait on both sides, but they’re all processed through the adoption center.

I don’t want to confuse you any more—just visit the pets on both sides (and take one or more home). I always encourage people to visit Animal Care Services—the shelter side—first. The staff and volunteers there are both progressive and proactive in finding ways to get forever homes for everyone, but it’s a sad truth that, being an open-admission shelter, that if push comes to shove, some of the healthy pets may not make it out. This year, they’ve had a flood of felines come in, and we’re featuring four that you can meet Saturday.

gray cat with white chest and funny look on her face
Smudgy (ID#A626132) is a 7-month-old spayed female with a look on her face that seems to say that you got the last sardine on the cocktail plate before she got there. Don’t let the look fool you—she’s a sweetheart.
beautiful black cat with yellow eyes and solemn face
Jack Black (ID#A626040) is 8 years old. He’s beautiful and shiny, and his personality is charming, just like his namesake! We featured him last week and hope now that someone will be looking for such a cat—no longer in his kittenhood but still playful and snuggly.
cat with black 'hood' and ears and white muzzle, fat cheeks, pink nose
Chuckles (ID#A627362) is an adorable fat-cheeked 10-year-old who’ll be a puffy pal for someone who wants a cat who’s done with kittenish ways. He’s still a love, though, and would make a nice, quiet friend.

 

Tiny striped kitten with white chine and white paws, standing and staring at the camera.
Henry (ID#A627884) is a tiny drop in the river of kittens that have come in to the shelter this year. At 9 weeks old, he has time to grow into his name—unless you give him a different one.

The spcaLA’s pets come mainly from our shelter and at times from other areas served by their Long Beach and Los Angeles areas. Here are four of their pets:

brown pit-bull mix with white chest sits on grass. Pink tongue hangs out.
Karen (ID#19-00214) is a 5-year-old pittie mix—female, of course. Like many of us, she’s very food motivated—great for training—and has already learned a few tricks. Awesome girl!
white dog with 'black eye' stands on cement with his pink tongue hanging out.
Do you have a soft spot for seniors? If so, you’ll want to meet 12-year-old Casper, another pit-bull mix. The volunteers call him a “distinguished gentleman” who loves walks, car rides and belly rubs. He’s lived with other dogs, so if you have one, he’ll be a great Mr. Belvedere!
gray cat with "milk" muzzle sits in carpeted cylindrical cat toy.
Sal (ID#19-02654) is a 3-year-old cuddler who’d love a sunny windowsill in a home. He loves chin scratches and playing with other kitties he’s met. Sal hopes to meet a new forever human friend, too!
dark-gray cat with white chest and proliferate whiskers stares at camera.
It’s whiskers forever with Jennifurr (ID#19-03164)! She’s a 5-year-old tuxie girl and another cuddler-snuggler. She and the right human would have so much fun!
Things to do, pets to support

Please send any Long Beach or Seal Beach pet-related events or projects to [email protected]. Posting subject to approval. 

Pet Adoption Day at P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village: Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 E. Spring St. at entrance to El Dorado Park, Long Beach, pick your own adoption fee, $5 minimum, with possible additional fees for meds and e-collars.

95.5 KLOS, Subaru and Tito’s Handmade Vodka present Pitchford’s biggest adoption event of the year! Enjoy vendors and a beautiful day with some beautiful cats, dogs and rabbits who need to go home!  Well-behaved, owned dogs are welcome in the booth area of the Village but must be on leash at all times and current on shots. Cats, of course, should stay at home. All adoption requirements apply. Pick-your-price adoption fees may not be combined with any other discount or offer. Offer is only valid for adoptions processed on June 15.

Saving Orphaned Kittens Workshop: Saturday, June 15, 4–4:30 p.m., Pet Food Express, 4220 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach, free

Seems that in this column at least, there are kittens everywhere. That’s because there are kittens everywhere. Unaltered cats allowed to roam produce litters of kittens; when they grow, they produce litters… The Little Lion Foundation’s main purpose is to make sure that the tiny orphaned (or perceived as orphan) kittens brought in to the shelter get a chance to grow into healthy cats. If you want to help in this effort, come learn how. All supplies will be provided.

Paw Tenders Memorial Walk for Jess Bingaman: Saturday, June 15, 10 a.m.–noon, Shoreline Village, 401-435 Shoreline Village Drive, Long Beach, free.

Friends and supporters of popular dog walker Jess Bingaman will honor her through a “pack walk”  from Shoreline Village to the Queen Mary and back, approximately five miles. Bingaman and five dogs she was tending were killed when a driver fleeing from police plowed into them with his vehicle. The organizers welcome participants with or without dogs to join the walk. Walkers are advised to bring water and snacks and wear walking shoes. Dogs must be on leashes and kept at a respectable distance from other dogs.

“One of the strongest foundations built between us and the dogs we work with is through a pack walk,” wrote Yasmeen Zenni on the Facebook page dedicated to the walk. “So I thought what better way to honor and thank Jessie for her hard work and dedication by participating in a calm pack walk at a place she loved and frequented the most.

The Pawtenders Memorial Fund for Bingaman’s family is accepting donations at this link.

Bake Sale, Boutique and Raffle to benefit Seal Beach Animal Care Center : Saturday, June 15, 11 a.m.–4 p.m., Seal Beach Animal Care Center, 1700 Adolfo Lopez Drive, Seal Beach, item prices vary

Details in flyer. This delightful event will benefit the animals in this volunteer-run shelter in many, many ways.

Fix Long Beach’s ‘A Fistful of Dollars’ Casino Night: Saturday, June 22, 6–10:30 p.m., Cosmic Brewery, 20316 Gramercy Place, Torrance, $20 per ticket, available here.

It shouldn’t be a gamble to see whether Fix Long Beach can spay and neuter as many cats and dogs as possible as well as support the fosters they rescue. But it’s a great way to fund the clinics, if last year’s event was any indication! The event includes a burger bar with a vegan option, s’more bar, discounts on beer and wine, and $50 casino cash for full-size craps, poker, roulette and blackjack tables. Come dressed to win in your favorite Western wear, and wax up your lip fur during the Best Moustache contest. There will also be a 50/50 drawing; the silent auction; which includes some amazing trips; and the opportunity drawing. Prizes will go to the biggest casino winners.

Tickets are available here.

Free microchip clinic for dogs: Sunday, June 23, 10 a.m.–1 p.m., Primary Care Veterinary Hospital,2200 N. Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach, free

Microchipping an animal, as long as the pet’s owner registers the chip through the proper channels, can be the difference between your errant cat or dog making it back home. An article on Petfinder.com cited the effectiveness of microchips in return-to-owner of pets; now, a number of animal partners are making a free one-stop for Long Beach residents to have their dogs microchipped for free! See flyer for details, and see Fix Long Beach’s free clinic calendar announcement below for cats. They’ve got to make it home, too.

Foster the Fourth orientation for dog fosters: Saturday, June 29, noon, Long Beach Animal Care Services, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach, free

Fourth of July is not a pet’s favorite holiday. Loud crashes and booms from pyrotechnics, “safe,” legal or otherwise, sends them hiding and often fleeing in terror. It’s also not a great time for the shelters—they fill up with lost cats and dogs, some of them injured, and there’s a threat to the other pets already in the shelter because of space constraints. Want to help out? You’d take a shelter dog into your house for only two to four weeks while the shelter locates the owners of the errant animals. This is the third year that Live Love Pets has organized this worthwhile project—it’s dogs only. We hope to see you at the orientation.

Fix Long Beach Free CAT Spay/Neuter Clinic: Sunday, June 30, 8:30 a.m.–2 p.m., Ramona Park, 3301 E. 65th St., Long Beach, free spay/neuter for qualifying Long Beach residents, with appointment; free microchips, shots, flea-med doses, dewormers and nail trimmings $10 each—no appointment necessary.

Newborn kittens are the most euthanized pets in shelters, ours included. The best way to stop a flood is to tamp the source, and that’s why we’re here. Our appointments are fully booked, but you can come for standby at 10:30 a.m. Appointments are available for future clinics—come make one. Full details are available here.

Celebration Sunday, Meow Edition: Sunday, June 30, noon–3 p.m., Pixie Toys, 3914 Atlantic Ave.; and Averyboo Art Studios, 3908 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach, crafts from free to $12; Moon Cat Café visits, $12

“Childhood buddies” Averyboo Arts and Pixie Toys celebrate 10 years in Bixby Knolls with Sunday Celebrations, this one all about cats. Averyboo Arts will feature cat-themed cats and ceramics and an open-studio visit; Pixie Toys will offer kitty storytime, whisker face painting, and party favors and snacks; and Moon Cat Café will introduce playtime with real-live adoptable cats along with a locally sourced pastry and coffee that only the cats exceed in quality. A portion of the café’s door fee will benefit rescues.

Friends of Long Beach Animals 25th anniversary theater benefit: Thursday, July 11, 6:30–10 p.m., Long Beach Playhouse, 5021 Anaheim St., Long Beach, tickets $30

Don your boas and make sure that they’re not crafted with feathers or fur! Then, sashay on down to the Long Beach Playhouse for one of the most enjoyable benefits you’ll ever attend: divine piano playing, faaabulous finger food, ravishing raffle prizes and a production of La Cage aux Folles, which will set you on fire! Tickets, which include it all, my dears, are available here.

24th annual Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals to benefit Seal Beach Animal Care Center: Saturday, July 20, 6–9:30 p.m., Los Alamitos Racing, 4961 Katella Ave., Cypress, $3 for general, free for kids under 17, $85 for VIP dinner packages, parking free

Enjoy the most, if not the only, humane dog race anywhere! Los Al will be wriggling with wiener dogs, i.e., dachshunds, at this whimsical event that has raised over $275,000 for the Seal Beach Animal Care Center since 1996, with $12,000 earned last year through ticket and T-shirt sales. The dogs will win prizes for themselves, and the nonprofit animal care center will get goodies for their animals, too! Purchase tickets at the Care Center in advance of the event or at the door the day of. For safety reasons, please do not bring your own dog. Call the Vessels Club at (714) 820-2821 for information about the VIP package. If you have a long little doggie—dachshunds only—and want to enter him or her, call (714) 820-2690—there are a few spots left.

Pinot’s Palette Fundraiser for Fix Long Beach: Sunday, July 21, 2:30–5 p.m., 470 Pine Ave., Long Beach, $35 per artist

Remember that silly book titled When Cats Paint? After a couple of glasses, you’re sure to do as well as any of the kitty Kandinskys and Kahlos in this ridiculous book. You’ll have a great time slapping the colors on the canvas—or whatever they use while sipping a good glass of wine and helping Fix Long Beach make sure that cats—and dogs too, of course—can still paint on paper but not paint the town red breeding kittens. Doors open at 2:30, so get your pawr of wine ready. Tickets are available here.

Ongoing

Kitten Super-Bloom: to June 30, P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach, $20 adoption feline fee

Kitten season has seeded the pet gardens at the shelter at Long Beach Animal Care Services and spcaLA with beautiful little blossoms, big and little. Oh, enough with the flowery talk. Both facilities are bulging with cats, and they need to go home. This is the only time that you can pick a flower and have it thrive instead of wilt and die. Until the end of June, you’ll have the opportunity to pay a $20 fee as long as you meet the adoption requirements.

tiny scruffy Siamese kitten
Jellybean, courtesy of Long Beach Animal Services

Bottle feeders needed desperately at shelter, ongoing

This is Jellybean, and he’s eating gruel (think 6-month-old baby human in a high chair). He needs help getting all his food in his mouth and then cleaning his cutie-pie face after he’s finished eating. Photo courtesy of Long Beach Animal Care Services.

This year’s kitten season has been a downpour. Last Saturday, about 40 pets (in one day!) were brought to Long Beach Animal Care Services, and over 30 of them were kittens, many just born. Our shelter and the Long Beach Little Paws Project kitten nursery need help badly and immediately, whether you are an experienced bottle feeder or have never had a cat before. Compassion happens when the rescuing begins—private-message the shelter on its Facebook page with your contact info to help kittens in our shelter, like Jellybean. Please share the post on that page widely. If you’re not in our area, your local shelter kittens need your help, too.

Feline Social Club’s Letter-Writing Campaign, through June 23

Fans of Long Beach’s first cat café who’ve been waiting at the mousehole for it to finally open will be satisfied if not overjoyed to learn that the gears are turning in the right direction. On Monday, June 24, the founders of the Feline Good Social Club will appear before the Zoning Commission for their public hearing. Want to bat along the effort a little? Send an email to [email protected] and state why Feline Good Social Club would be a great addition to Downtown Long Beach! The founders will collect all the emails and share them with the Zoning Commission. Meanwhile, go to the cafe’s website to find out other ways you can help: volunteering, donating, flyer distribution and light-duty construction.

Adopt, adopt, adopt

The following pet-related businesses regularly feature cat, dog and rabbit adoptions. If you’re a Long Beach-area rescue and don’t see your adoption event listed here, please email [email protected]. Click on the links for each rescue in case of updates or changes.

Chase Bank, 5200 E. Second St., Long Beach

 Gelson’s Market, 6255 E. Second St.

Kahoots Pet Store, 18681 Main St. #102, Huntington Beach

Petco Animal Supplies, Marina Shores, 6500 Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach

Pet Food Express, 4220 Long Beach Blvd., Long Beach:

PetSmart Cerritos, 12741 Towne Center Dr, Cerritos

PetSmart Compton, 1775 South Alameda St., Compton

PetSmart Garden Grove, 9835 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove

PetSmart, Long Beach Exchange, 3871 N Lakewood Blvd., Long Beach

PetSmart Signal Hill, 2550 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill

PetSmart Seal Beach, 12341 Seal Beach Blvd., Seal Beach.

Unleashed by Petco, 600 Redondo Ave.

Donations accepted for Pets of the Homeless

Pets of the Homeless’ 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, 255 Redondo Ave., 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 at Beacon for Him Ministries, 1535 Gundry Ave. Long Beach, Mondays from 9 a.m. to noon and Saturdays from noon to 3:00 p.m.; and at Christian Outreach in Action, 515 E. Third St., Long Beach,Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. Donations will be gratefully accepted at these locations as well.

Shelter-enrichment supplies requested for ACS’s cats, dogs and rabbits: drop-off Wednesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., shelter side of P.D. Pitchford Companion Animal Village, 7700 E. Spring St., Long Beach

Canned kitten food (Royal Canin–sorely needed), yogurt, beef and chicken broth, pipe cleaners, toilet-paper and paper-towel rolls, catnip, canned pet food, wine-bottle corks (for cat toys) and ice cube trays.