Kittens and puppies always seem to be hot items as pet prospects, but the gray-whisker set has its fluff buffs, too. The people who take senior pets into their homes and hearts do so because they get driven up a wall by baby-pet behavior, like a little cat running up your bare leg to kitchen counter; because an older pet’s personality is already pretty much formed; because they want a companion but don’t want their pet to outlive them.

Sometimes, they also want to make the last handful of years comfortable and safe for cats or dogs who are bewildered about how they suddenly wound up behind bars or in a small kennel because they actually did outlive their friends and had nowhere to go or committed the crime of living too long to be fun anymore. Such people are willing and able to provide for medical care and other special needs, and they accept the idea of quality of life over quantity of years remaining.

Live Love Animal Rescue is a longtime dog rescue and care organization that continually comes up with ways peel off the unadoptable label that gets stuck on senior or other special-needs pets. Ageism does not exist for the Live Love team. Dogs of all ages and conditions loll around in the organization’s foster homes, where they’re loved and cared for. Sometimes, they stay there forever (there’s a term for that—it’s called foster-fail.) This past summer, the group teamed up with Long Beach Animal Care Services and a lot of residents to have its third and most successful Foster the 4th—over 80 dogs were pulled from the shelter to make room for the hordes coming in lost and scared during the Fourth of July lameness season. One poor dog, a border collie named Rocco, was surrendered by his owners for tearing up the yard in fear when the fireworks started going off. Live Love took him, too.

Rocco’s just 8, which makes him a borderline collie as far as age goes, but 18 of the shelter pulls were seniors. Old doggies need medical and dental attention, which have huge price tags. The Grey Muzzle Organization, a nonprofit whose vision is of “a world where no old dog dies alone and afraid,” has for a second consecutive year awarded Live Love a grant that will pay for a lot of procedures, meds and other things they’ll need.

“We are beyond thrilled to be honored with a grant for the second year in a row,” Live Love’s founder, Emily Peters, said. “No one is more grateful or loving than an old dog, and we’re looking forward to helping more senior dogs get the second chance they deserve.”

Whether old dogs can be taught new tricks is moot. The idea is to get them good homes. Here are a few oldsters who aren’t ready for retirement yet.

For more information about any of these nice old folks and other adoptables, visit Live Love’s adoption page. Information for fostering is available here.

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, $25 special rate to reserve a day

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!

Moon Cat Café at Retro Row Fourth Friday: Friday, Aug. 23, 6–8:30 p.m., sidewalk in front of Artistic Edge, 410 St. Louis Ave. (and Fourth Street), Long Beach, $12 to enter café.

What’s music, art, food and general eccentricity without cats? While you’re enjoying First Fridays, stop at this cat café on wheels and enjoy a tasty, locally made pastry and coffee that’s so good that it’s only surpassed in quality by the cats! Adoptable kitties from Zoey’s Place Cat Rescue will be in the playroom waiting to have fun with you.

Benny’s Big Birthday Bash: Saturday, Aug. 24, 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Camp Run-A-Mutt South Bay, 945 W 190th St, Gardena, $15 regular admission, $20 for admission and Quartermania

Benny is the little cat who went through hell, was stuck in limbo for a while, and then reached a deserved paradise (you can read his story here.) Benny’s paying it forward, back and in every direction he can jump, which are surprisingly quite a few. Enjoy wine-and cheese tasting, quartermania, vendors and adoptive kitties, all of whom should go to as good a home as Benny has. All proceeds from the event will benefit Benny’s benefactors: Helen Sanders CatPAWS and Long Beach Animal Care Services. Tickets and more information are available here.

Drags 4 Wags, to benefit Sparky and the Gang: Saturday, Aug. 24, 4 p.m., Hamburger Mary’s, 330 Pine Ave., Long Beach, $10 donation; please bring school supplies as well for children in need.

Some of the greatest ladies of the town will put on a show for their very besties—the adoptable doggies at Sparky and the Gang Animal Rescue. Raffles and giggles all evening long! Please also bring back-to-school supplies—crayons, pencil sharpeners, stickers—for kids who don’t have any. More information is available here; to reserve a spot, call 562-436-7900.

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, pans of decadent treats, and a kindle of awesome beneficiaries.

Doggie Paradise: Saturday, Sept. 14, 11 a.m.–4 p.m., Queen Mary Events Park, 1126 Queens Highway, 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.

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. Third 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 East Second St., Long Beach

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:

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

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

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

Unleashed by Petco, 600 Redondo Ave.