Two cozy casitas to curl up with cats!
Also, it's time to vote in the semifinals for Long Beach's Favorite Pet!
If you don’t have a cat roommate and you have an insatiable jones for feline contact, Long Beach has double the remedy. The city has two places where you can caper and cuddle with kitties — some towns don’t have any.
They’re not in competition with each other, either. The only thing they have in common is a roomful of cats to play with and if you can, adopt.
Feline Good Social Club
Feline Good Social Club (FGSC) has been curled up in Long Beach since 2019, taking in rescued cats in all states of health and well-being. The cats receive any medical treatment necessary, including spay/neuter, and then get socialized in the best way possible. In their new temporary home at the FGSC, they sit on the cushy furniture, wander at will and land on people at whim.
The club also holds craft events, yoga sessions and special programs, which participants share with the cats, not that they have a choice. A couple of weeks ago, FGSC hosted National Cat Lady Day, with a spoken-word poetry session that boosted the audience’s disposition and the cats mostly slept through.
This month, you can book a yoga session, take up crafting while you protect your supplies from being batted onto the floor, take a sound bath, buy merchandise, or just enjoy a session in the lounge with multiple mousers. Paint and Purrs is returning this summer, so get ready to put your own prints on paper! Session information is available here. There’s also a link where you can volunteer your time — what could be cozier? All entrance fees go toward the upkeep of the lounge and the cats, all of whom are adoptable.
Feline Good Social Club is located at 301 Atlantic Ave., Long Beach.
Cool Cat Collective
Cool Cat Collective (CCC) is a progressive, cutting-edge art gallery whose patron saint has two pointed ears, a furry body and a tail, unless the Manx is on shaman duty. For sale are cat books for adults and kids, cat T-shirts printed with slogans of feline and human dissent, original art, human and feline accessories, and of course, toys and furnishings for your familiars at home. And cats, of course, who are brought in by CCC’s rescue partner, Compton’s TippedEars.
While waiting for someone to adopt them, the lucky moggies have the run of an elaborate cat conduit that flows from the meet-and-cuddle chamber, out under the ceiling and down into their playroom in the window. Jena Carr, one of the CCC’s pawprietors, designed the structure, and her husband, Matt, built it.
The Carrs have also built a standing for the Collective as a center for what I can only call edgy humanitarianism. During last year’s Los Angeles fires, they collected several carloads of pet food and supplies and schlepped them where they were needed. Every month, the CCC hosts a diverse bunch of events ranging from crafting to a Lebanon Trivia evening, held in April as a fundraiser for humans and animals caught in the conflict in Lebanon. Adults and kids come for the monthly LB Bookworm Silent Reading Party, where cats come out to sit in laps because what’s a book without a cat?
Artist installations begin with oddball opening nights. This month, patrons are invited to join in on creating their own “bad art.” Check them all out here, and get on the mailing list!
Cool Cat Collective is located at 2741 E. 4th St., C, Long Beach
YOURS DROOLY
As always, here’s a sampling of adoptables from the featured topic: two cats from Feline Good Social Club (actually, a literal bundle) and two from Cool Cat Collective.
Find out how to adopt these two Feline Good Social Club cats here, and check out the rest of the Loungers on the link.
These two wide-eyed tabbies are mother and daughter. They’re bonded, and need to go home together. Mama DD, on right, is 6 years old, and her daughter, Emily, is 4. I don’t know who that is in the background, but they’re pretty cute, too.
Mama DD came to the Lounge with a bellyful of kittens, all of whom got adopted except Emily. Mama DD is a sweet girl who is affectionate and apparently grateful to her caretakers. Emi finds joy in playing, but although Mom encourages her to develop independence and make friends around the lounge, she chooses not to, thank you very much. Both cats will make themselves at home in your house!
Here’s a coupla cats whom you can meet at Cool Cat Collective. See all the Collective’s cool cats here, and adopt any of them by completing an application on the TippedEars website.
Orange is the new green when it comes to selecting produce. Here’s a healthy Radish and a stalk of Fennel — or rather, a stalking Fennel — for your delight. Fennel is actually the one on top, the orange-and-white boy who’ll plant himself on your lap and won’t leave. He’ll make biscuits and top them with sandpaper-tongue kisses. Fennel loves to play with toys and is high energy with them, and would do best in a home with a playmate. He loves other cats, but if you don’t have one at home, you can adopt brother Radish, who’s also a lap cat and will even let you hold him like a baby. Like his brother, though, he loves toys and flings himself around the room trying to land one. Come down and meet them, and maybe add them to your market basket!
TAIL-WAGGIN' AND NOSE-BOOPIN' EVENTS
Time to vote for Long Beach’s Favorite Pet!
Entries have been submitted for Long Beach’s Favorite Pet, and now it’s time for Long Beach to vote in the semifinals! Access this link and click the graphics for dogs, cats and all other pets, and cast your vote. You have until May 17 to vote. Votes are $1 each.
Pet Loss and Illness Support Group
The worst day in the life you share with a pet is the day you have to say goodbye forever. Grief is personal on the one hand, and on the other hand, you have a lot of company who get what you’re going through. Helen Sanders CatPAWS rescue gets it, too, and offers a space for anyone who also gets it, who’ll never say to you, “But it was just a cat.” Or a dog, or a rabbit, or a horse, or a goldfish. The members of this group will listen, connect, and support you, and you’ll do the same for them.
The Pet Loss and Illness Support Group takes place Saturday, May 16 at 11 a.m. at the Bay Shore Church, 5100 E. The Toledo, Long Beach. No cost for the meeting, but let the leads know that you’re coming here.
Kitten Pilates and Play Therapy
Enjoy a gentle workout session and even gentler workout companions! For the first 30 minutes, introduce yourself to adorable, adoptable kittens through wand-toy play. Then, take part in a Pilates session — a full-body flow with a focus on light core work, stretching and breathing as the kittens supervise your workout. After the session, you’ll have 15 minutes to cuddle and play with the cats once more. All ages of well-behaved humans are welcome — a parent or a guardian must accompany participants under 18. Your ticket purchase will help save lives — every dollar will go to The Little Lion Foundation cat rescue to pay the vet bills for cats and kittens in need. Spaces are selling out fast, but there’s a waiting list for cancellations!
Kitten Pilates and Play Therapy takes place Saturday, May 16 at 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Level Up Dance Studio, 3202 E. Willow St., Signal Hill. Tickets are available here.
Need a low-cost veterinarian, information about trapping community cats, places to volunteer, pet food, veterinary assistance, 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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