Please send any Long Beach or Seal Beach pet-related events or projects to [email protected]. Posting subject to approval.
Virtually Pets
Long Beach Animal Care Services has a standing date every first Saturday at the Long Beach Pet Food Express (PFE), 4220 Long Beach Boulevard, for pet adoption (see Mark Your Calendars). If you’re looking for a new best buddy or one for a dog or cat who lives with you, this is a great venue for anyone wanting to spoil anyone on four (or sometimes three) legs in literally the best way possible. The pet food is high quality, there are terrific toys and accessories, and there are onsite dog-wash and play areas.
But the highlight is the Cat Adoption Center, where adoptable cats from the shelter and Stray Cat Alliance loll around in comfort in furnished leveled condos with full maid and butler service while people goo and coo at them through the clear windows. I went in the other day to help volunteer April clean out the litter boxes, de-fur the beds, deep-clean the walls and floors, change food and water, and let them out for supervised playtime. Not that they don’t look adorable in the condos, but seeing them in action and rubbing their little chops makes a better photo. Here are a few of them:
Peek-a-boo! Ruby’s a 4-year-old female longhair tortie—a great big girl who heads for the kitty treehouse and observes the world. There’s a lot of cat to love.
Mama Dixie played like mad with the track ball, and every time I pointed the phone at her, she sat down. So I gave up. If it’s a cat you want, that’s what Dixie is.
This girl’s a sweetheart. Her name is Sylvia, and she was the first one to greet me when I came in. She’s a complete love. Sylvia’s roommate is her sister, female orange tabby Virginia Woolf, who’s a little more reserved. If they could go home together, they’d be delighted.
Mr. Wilson was my favorite. He simply appealed. He has fur with the texture of silken water, he’s a cuddler, he’s playful—and what a face he has! He’s a young boy with lots of years in him.
All cats in the Adoption Center have been spayed or neutered, fully vetted, inoculated, and microchipped.
PFE’s Facebook page has more photos and details about the cats, but it’s highly recommended that you come in instead to see them. If you don’t come down on June 4, you can make an appointment to see any of them that you may be interested in. The Adoption Center also welcomes volunteers for shifts to clean the condos, feed the cats, and play with them. It’s seriously a neat gig. If you’re interested, email [email protected].
Mark Your Calendars (the People Way)
Friends of Long Beach Animals’ (FOLBA) Student Essay/Poetry ContestDeadline extended to June 10; email entries to [email protected]
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—elementary and middle school. Cash-prize values have been updated to $100 for first place, $75 for second place and $50 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 Wienerschnitzel 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 [email protected], through this website link, or by snail mail at 2016 Weiner Nationals, c/o Los Alamitos Race Course, 4961 Katella Avenue, Los Alamitos 90720.
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 (SNP/LA) 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.