The purrly elegant Le Chic Chat Soirée is coming soon!
Here’s how you can win a pair of tickets to the event, where funny veterinarian Kevin Fitzgerald will be guest of honor.
You are invited to a glittering ball! Slink into your spiffiest, most furshionable catskin and step into your coach, drawn by four horses. When you arrive at Le Chic Chat Soirée, Helen Sanders CatPAWS’ fanciest fundraiser, the horses will morph back into kittens and scamper into the green room to await their next act: the After-Dinner Kitten Parade, where they’ll make the rounds of the room and snuzzle with adoring guests.
At the Soirée, you’ll sample hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, both of which are included in the ticket price; place bids on items for yourself or the fur-face who shares your home; get a tarot reading from Lady Catterly; dine on a buffet dinner, lap up a champagne toast, and maybe chase a laser toy down the hall. The hilariously funny Kevin Fitzgerald, DVM will be the Soirée’s special guest.
Le Chic Chat Soirée marks CatPAWS’ 15th anniversary as a rescue; it was founded in 2010 in honor of Seal Beach resident Helen Sanders, who trapped, neutered and spayed, and released cats who roamed the jetties on the beach. When Sanders died in 2005, every cat on the jetties had been fixed, and only eight were left to scamper in the sand and breed no more.
The Long Beach Watchdog is giving away two sets of ticket pairs to the event! If you’re reading this article, submit your guess of how many community and friendly personal cats have been fixed by CatPAWS’ two spay/neuter clinics since they opened. (Hint: it’s over 2,000.) The closest two guesses will each win a pair of tickets worth $300! Submit your guesses by Oct. 22 to Kate@lbwatchdog.com.
The spay/neuter clinics comprise one of the things that the Soirée will help fund. The CatPAWS mobile clinic has spayed and neutered community cats at our shelter at Long Beach Animal Care Services (LBACS) and at locations in Long Beach and Orange County. Earlier this year, the rescue opened a brick-and-mortar clinic in Huntington Beach.
Once a week, veterinarians and technicians perform procedures on cats who have been trapped by volunteers as part of TNVR (trap/neuter-spay/vaccinate/release); on a second day, cats who live with people are fixed. Funds from events help pay for veterinarians, vet techs and supplies. Details are available here.
Proceeds from the Soirée will also support medical care, bottle feeders, fosters, and the CatPAWS’ neonatal DIY kitten care kits distributed at LBACS. All the efforts help formerly unwanted kittens rescued from shelters by CatPAWS to land on their feet and get adopted — about 3,100 of them since the rescue’s founding.
Dr. Fitzgerald was sufficiently enthused by CatPAWS’ works to accept their invitation as guest of honor.
“I agreed to come speak at the Soirée to meet like-minded people, to help with awareness for the event, to help spotlight the work being done,” he said. “What is happening here is good, old-fashioned community service — which, by the way, is never old or out of style — and is what should be expected of us and not out of the ordinary. One of my favorite Irish proverbs says, ‘When we die, all we get to keep is what we gave away.’ We all must do our part.”
Dr. Fitzgerald does his part, too. Here he is checking out the Smithsonian Institution’s Animal Connections, a traveling exhibit for which he served as an advisor. Video by Veterinarians on Call
During his appearance, Dr. Fitzgerald will reflect on what humans’ responsibilities are for their companion animals and reflect on his thus far 43 years of veterinary experience. Through it all, he wants to bring in some much needed humor.
“None of us laugh enough, and that is particularly true today in these trying times, with people so divided and polarized,” Dr. Fitzgerald said. “We are going to laugh. People should come away with a smile, a little less stressed, and with a new understanding of the work being done right there in their own community. I am extremely honored and excited to come speak and spend some time with you.”
By the way, one of Dr. Fitzgerald’s pre-veterinary employments was as bouncer not for the Animals but for the Rolling Stones. If that doesn’t merit a few stories, nothing does!
Le Chic Chat Soirée takes place Saturday, Nov. 1, 5 p.m.–9 p.m. at the Navy Golf Course, 5660 Orangewood Ave, Cypress. Tickets are $150 each and include appetizers, cocktails, dinner and champagne toast, tarot readings and guest speaker presentation. Kitten cuddles are also included. Ticket sales are online only; purchase them here, and remember to enter the free ticket contest by emailing Kate@LBWatchdog.com with the number of spay/neuter procedures you think the rescue’s clinics have performed since opening a little over two years ago.
Just for the sake of transparency, the author is on the board of Helen Sanders CatPAWS, and proudly so.
YOURS DROOLY
Kitten season never really stops. Helen Sanders CatPAWS pulls kittens in every state of physical well-being from municipal shelters, and the rescue uses every resource, every available medical technique, every bottle feeder, every volunteer, every foster that will turn the most vulnerable kitten into a healthy heart stealers.
But rescue volunteers aren’t fairy godmothers. As with all successful productions, the kittens frisking around the playroom in the Seal Beach PetSmart don’t tell the backstory of the hard work that makes them delightful and irresistible to adopters. They can always use help. As CatPAWS cofounder Deborah Felin-Magaldi said, “It’s basic math: we only have so many foster homes and so many resources.”
To make it tougher, Felin-Magaldi continued, several adult cats who’d been adopted years before were return to the rescue “through no fault of their own” because of allergies, a new baby, death of the owner or aggression from another pet.
“In a moment, their whole lives were upended,” Felin-Magaldi said.
Here are three of them who’ve passed the kitten stage and are ready to resume their lives as house cats. Access this link to adopt. If you’d like to see what it would be like to have a cat in the home, want to help out, or both, access this link.
April is a purrfect little chatterbox with a heart full of love! This sweet tortie girl is as talkative as she is cuddly, always ready to share her thoughts with tiny meows and cozy up in your lap. Friendly with everyone she meets, she's the ultimate snuggle buddy and sunshine in fur form. Her cloudy eye is the result of a bad infection that she had when she came in to CatPAWS. The combined efforts of a veterinary ophthalmologist and her foster caregiver, who diligently giving her medication, saved her eye. The residual scarring and cloudiness doesn’t cause April the least problem — she can see that spider on the ceiling just fine!
Say hello to Flame, a beautiful two-year-old black cat with a soft, shiny coat and a personality to match. Flame is a sweet, affectionate boy who loves to sit on laps, soak up attention, or enjoy a belly rub — he’s truly a cuddle lover at heart! Flame has some food sensitivities, so he thrives on a limited-ingredient, rabbit-based diet that’s widely available and can be purchased without a prescription. He adores canned food and is always excited for mealtime. He also enjoys sipping from his water fountain — hydration in style! Playtime? Yes, please! Flame has a blast chasing wand toys and showing off his playful side. He’s also easygoing with other cats, making him a great potential companion in a multi-cat home.
Olive is a statuesque beauty who’s lovely outside and in. She’s been confused as to why she was suddenly uprooted from a loving home, and she needs to find someone or someones who’ll help her regain her trust and have security once more. She’s over her kittenhood and wants to be someone’s lap rug!
TAIL-WAGGIN' AND NOSE-BOOPIN' EVENTS
Autumn meeting of the Long Beach TNVR Community Cat Coalition
Kitten season hasn’t ended — it’s just petering out. Come to the TNVR (trap/neuter and spay/vaccinate/return to home base) meeting and learn about trapping methods, where trapping’s going on, resource sharing, LBACS spay/neuter vouchers and clinic options. Meet the great volunteers who are leading the effort! Get there a few minutes early because the shelter parking lot can get packed. Trapping demonstrations take place after the meeting proper.
See flyer above for details.
Interfaith Blessing of the Animals
What’s October, autumn or anything animal and Beach without Justin Rudd? This month, the 23rd annual Interfaith Blessing of the Animals will take place in a new location: in front of the Chase Bank on E. Second Street. So far, eight religious leaders will be present to bless a pet who’s still with you or has passed on. Bring your well-behaved pet in a carrier or on a leash (tortoises could likely be in a wagon), or carry a photo of a departed buddy. This will be the second pet blessing in Long Beach this year. Animals may be blessed already, but we need all the blessing we can get now.
The 23rd Interfaith Blessing of the Animals will take place at 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 19, in front of the Chase Bank, 5200 E. Second St., Belmont Shore in Long Beach. Free event.
Haute Dogs Howl’oween Parade
Then, of course, the best parade in the world follows! For 23 years, the Haute Dogs Howl’oween Parade has been entertaining everyone whether they have a dog or do not. Over 350 dogs and their humans entered last year, with 2,000 “dogless spectators,” as Justin put it. Entry is $10 in advance online, $20 the day of the event, and $35 VIP to skip the line and be first out the gate! Free to spectate, but you can rent a chair for $5. Vendors will be selling goodies for your pets, and in case you don’t have one, great rescues will be there as well.
Dress up your dog and yourself if you like — no stereotypical cultural costumes such as Native American chiefs and Mexican sombreros will be permitted. If you’re unsure about the appropriateness of a costume, don’t wear it or dress your dog in it. Last year’s Howl’oween parade helped raised about $1,000 for the nonprofit Community Action Team (CAT), of which Haute Dogs is a part.
The Haute Dogs Howl’oween Parade and vendor fair will take place at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 26 at the beachfront grassy park and path in front of the former Belmont Pool, 4000 E. Olympic Plaza, Long Beach, just west of Rosie's Dog Beach. The parade is on the concrete path through the park. Access this link for information about registration, seat purchases, judges and costume categories. Registration will begin early this month.
Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer, rescues and shelters to adopt from — anything pet related? Follow this link for resources. Please add your own ideas in the Comments section.
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