There is a heaven on Earth for kitties, where cats and kittens snooze on thick rugs, bask in the sunshine, play with innumerable toys, climb on handmade cat furniture, get spoiled with love and good food, and yet are always willing and eager to show humans equal admiration and attention, usually up close.

Any cat lucky enough to spend the first of their nine lives at the Feline Good Social Club, located on Atlantic Avenue on the corner of Third Street, would tell you, if they could talk, that this description is not flowery exaggeration even for their own finicky dispositions.

The Feline Good Social Club is the brainkitten of three local entrepurrneurs, Pam Leslie, Tamara Trujillo and Erica Johnson. Leslie is the CFO—chief feline officer—of the organization. The lounge’s greatly anticipated opening was delayed by a mess of city-centered red tape that was tangled enough to have been done by one of the cats, but at long last, they had their soft opening on Aug. 10. A grand opening is planned for late fall.

https://youtu.be/t8tS3cPAyUg

Fancy Feet, the many-toed resident cat at Feline Good Social Club, has more fun than a barrel of hamsters on his wheel. On Aug. 28, 2019. Video by Valerie Osier.

Leslie said that the Social Club isn’t a cat café but a lounge. No coffee or food is served, but visitors are more than welcome to bring their own during their visit (keep an eye on the cheese sandwich) and work on their electronics (watch the cords ver-ry carefully). The cats presently come from Long Beach Felines, a nonprofit rescue founded by Leslie in 2008, but she plans to eventually manage the adoptables from other rescues and give the rescues the adoption fees.

Dean Case and his wife have been following the lounge’s genesis on Facebook and finally were able to pay a visit.

“You almost feel your blood pressure drop when you walk in here,” Case said. “This is a great way to figure out the personality of the cat—especially if you don’t want to adopt but want some quality cat time.”

The lounge is unique indeed—bright, clean and no litter-box smell. A mural by local artist Vlad brightens one wall, handmade cat furniture is everywhere, some fashioned from buffed and polished limbs that fell from trees in El Dorado Park following the winter windstorm; and there’s neat, catty merchandise to buy. The cats have their own brand of uniqueness–instead of suffering you to stroke them or hiding behind the furniture, they’re either all over you or doing performance art. Or napping, of course, and you can lie down right next to them.

Feline Good Social Club also hosts Cats & Mats yoga (read a little about it in The 7, and if you haven’t done yoga with a cat looking upside down at you and another one standing on your back, you haven’t really stretched) and a Kids Club that teaches young people how to treat and care for cats and the reasons that rescue exists. There are game nights, kitten showers, private parties and movie nights. Leslie said that someone asked about hosting a wedding (watch that veil and train).

“People want to hang with the cats, but it’s coming across as a venue!” Leslie said.

You can find all the lounge’s events on Feline Good Social Club’s calendar. As we get back to the lounge’s real mission of making cats adoptable and Pet Projects being an adoption column, here are three wonderful cats we met. Not to rush you, but access the adoption application here.

Feline Good Social Club is located at 301 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach. The lounge is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visits are $15 for an hour and $8 for a half-hour “kitty quickie.” Cats & Mats is $20 per session.

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.

Helen Sanders CatPAWS Show Us Your Kitties calendar photo contest: through Sept. 30; $5 per vote, $10 to feature your cat on a specific date

Helen Sanders CatPAWS rescues cats and kittens from shelters and finds each of them loving homes. You’ll see quite a few of them on next year’s calendar, but your kitty doesn’t have to be a CatPAWS alumnus or alumna to be a part of this 2020 vision (heh). Choose a date for $10 for a thumbnail, or enter the contest to feature your little buddy. You can enter as many votes as you like for your cat, and perhaps he or she will be the Moggie of the Month! Details available here.

Southern California Bulldog Rescue calendar photo contest: through Sept. 3, $25 per entry

How’d you like that beautiful, drooly, jowly face that you adore to be a pinup girl or guy for the largest bulldog calendar in the world? Join in the photo contest for Southern California Bulldog Rescue’s 2020 No Bulldog Left Behind calendar! Entry fees will earn you a complimentary calendar and a chance to win by collecting as many pledges as possible. The top pledge getters will each have a month, and one will have the honor of being the cover photo! New this year is the opportunity to claim a special day to honor a birthday, a memory, an adoption day or any day that’s special to both of you. Visit the website for rules and details; contact [email protected] or [email protected] for questions. Only squatty little slobberers may apply!

Fix Long Beach Free Spay/Neuter Clinic: Sunday, Aug. 31, 7:30 a.m.–3 p.m., Somerset Park, 1500 E. Carson St. Long Beach, free spay/neuter appointments for qualifying people; free microchips, shots, flea-med doses, dewormers and nail trimmings $10 each—no appointment necessary.

The best way to mitigate shelter euthanasia is to tamp the source, and that’s why we’re here. Our shelter and rescues are packed with cats and dogs, and everyone doing rescue is chasing their tail trying to get them all adopted. The best way for our community to help out is to turn off the taps at the other end so that more won’t be born. Remember: it’s the law to fix your pet in Long Beach, and Fix is here to help you do just that. Appointments are available for future clinics—come make one at [email protected] or PM us on Facebook. More information is available here.

Jellicle Cats Fundraising Bake Sale in tandem with Long Beach Vintage Etc. Caturday Blowout Sidewalk Sale: Saturday, Aug. 31, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Long Beach Vintage Etc., 737 Pine Ave., Long Beach, item prices vary

Again, perfect setting for a cozy: crumb-dropping baked goodies, vintage curios and oddities—all for the good of the cats! All proceeds for the sale will benefit Jellicle Cats Rescue Foundation, whose founder singlepawedly rescues and rehabs all the cats she can handle, and then some. Tons of merchandise at huge summer discounts, pans of decadent treats, and a kindle of awesome beneficiaries.

Trots Dogs behavior classes: Tuesdays, Sept. 3–Oct. 8, 6:30–7:30 p.m., location announced upon registration, $395 per student

You want your dogs to be on their best holiday behavior, so Trots Dogs is offering a special finishing school! Learn to manage your dogs’ behavior during social gatherings, with specialized training in excited-energy managing through a good walk; relaxing in a safe, designated area while human guests are socializing; respectful greeting of and socializing with human and canine guests, including not dashing out the door to meet them or evade getting a smooch from Aunt Bertha; and of course, creating boundaries around the party food! The coursework ends with a great class party catered by a chef! To sign up, email [email protected]. Only eight slots left—one dog per human student.

Doggie Paradise: Saturday, Sept. 14, 11 a.m.–4 p.m., Queen Mary Events Park, 1126 Queens Hwy., Long Beach, $25 general admission for 4 years old and above, to include one dog; $20 for each additional dog; $50 VIP admission

Even though they won’t be boarding the ship, humans will envy the cruise-type amenities offered this afternoon in September: splash pools, mutt-fashioned souvenirs for their humans at the arts-and-crafts table, a ball pit to go all Fido in, and, of course, a spa in which all the pooches can get shampoos and manicures. Enjoy contests for your pup and workshops for you puppy parents.The Cutest-Dog contest sure beats karaoke demos, and Instagram photos, vendors and other contests promise a fun-packed day. Don’t have a dog? Adoptable and fosterable pets from the Seal Beach Animal Center and Long Beach Animal Care Services can take care of that. Get the long version of the event here.

Sparky and the Gang’s Fourth Annual Black Dog Tan Chihuahua event: Saturday, Nov. 16, 4–10 p.m., 250 N. Tribune Court, Long Beach, entrance TBA.

Prohibition-themed event to raise funds for Sparky and the Gang dog rescue. Dress up in your dapper flappers. Can we say barkeasy? Al Ca-Bone, maybe? More information available here.

Shelter Shenanigans

Have an overnight with a kitty with Foster Fridays! The shelter has kittens coming out of the walls—literally. The shelter manager constantly has a few in her office! Every Friday from 2-5 p.m., shelter staff is inviting residents who have the necessary accommodations—a safe space, time to feed them and play with them, and a propensity to say “Awwww!” every 15 minutes—to take a healthy, weaned kitten home for a while. Shelter will provide food, litter and a carrier and will cover any offsite medical. Time commitment is two weeks, with an option to adopt—of course! Foster fail! Have questions? Contact the shelter director at [email protected].

The Kitten Super Bloom and Bunny Adoption Special continue, featuring  $20 cat, kitten and rabbit adoption fees at Long Beach Animal Care and at all @spcaLA locations until fur-ther notice. Check out shelter manager Staycee Dains’ video. Again.

Your old towels and blankets wanted and needed at Long Beach Animal Care Services

Stop! Before you toss away the old towels or use them to sop up the oil on your garage floor, consider our shelter  animals! gently used hand towels and regular-size ones clean up messes in the kennels and dry off pooches and kitties after baths. Don’t forget small and medium-size blankets, too. Cats curl up on them and dogs are warmed and comforted. Drop by the shelter with them and a shelter staff member will help you take them in..

Other/ongoing

Register for Strut Your Mutt Los Angeles

Best Friends Animal Society is teaming up with our partner rescue groups, shelters and animal-welfare organizations to help save the lives of homeless cats and dogs at Strut Your Mutt. Local Long Beach groups such as The Little Lion Foundation are participating, and animal advocates and lovers will be coming from everywhere. Register for the Walk or donate if you have a pet who just won’t be walked—cats come to mind. All funds raised go directly to lifesaving programs such as spay/neuter, adoption, and a KITTEN NURSERY! This year’s event is on October 26, 2019 at Exposition Park in Los Angeles—all information is available here.

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 p.m.; and at Christian Outreach in Action, 515 E. 3rd St., Long Beach,Thursday from 9 to 11 a.m. Donations will be gratefully accepted at these locations as well.

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

• Long Beach Spay & Neuter Foundation, noon–4 p.m.

The Farmer’s Marketplace of Long Beach, 5000 E. Spring St. (Spring and Clark), Long Beach

• Long Beach Animal Care Services along with other pet-rescue and pet-foster groups, fourth Sunday of each month, 9 a.m.–4 p.m.

Gelson’s Market, 6255 E. 2nd St.

• Sparky and the Gang Animal Rescue, second Sunday of each month

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

• Zoey’s Place Rescue, fourth Saturday of each month, noon–4 p.m.

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

• Pet Food Express Cat Adoption Center, permanent adoption center, business hours alternate weekends, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.
• Fix Long Beach, occasional weekends
• Live Love Animal Rescue, first Saturday of each month, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
• Ozzie and Friends Rescue, 11 a.m.–2 p.m., alternate Sundays.
• The Little Lion Foundation, alternate weekends, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.
• Zazzy Cats

PetSmart Cerritos, 12741 Towne Center Dr, Cerritos

• The Little Lion Foundation, permanent adoption center, store hours

PetSmart Compton, 1775 South Alameda St., Compton

• Zazzy Cats Kitty Rescue,permanent adoption center, store hours
• Rabbit Rescue Inc., one adoptable rabbit daily, store hours

PetSmart Garden Grove, 9835 Chapman Ave, Garden Grove

• The Little Lion Foundation, permanent adoption center, store hours

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

• The Cat Cove, Saturdays, 3–5 p.m.
• Jellicle Cats Foundation, Saturdays, 3-5 p.m.

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

• Helen Sanders CatPAWS permanent adoption center, store hours
• Sparky and the Gang, Saturdays, 1 p.m.–3:30 p.m.
• Dogs in Need, Saturdays, 9 a.m.–2 p.m.

PetSmart Signal Hill, 2550 Cherry Ave., Signal Hill

• Kitty Katchers, Saturdays and Sundays, 11 a.m.–3:30 p.m.
• Stray Cat Alliance, permanent adoption center, store hours

PetSmart Towne Center, 7631 Carson Blvd., Long Beach

• The Cat Cove, Saturdays, 10–2 p.m.
• Jellicle Cats Foundation, Saturdays, 10-2 p.m.

Unleashed by Petco, 600 Redondo Ave.

• Foreverhome Pet Rescue, Inc., Sundays, noon–4 p.m.