Animal lovers’ calendar: June and beyond

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Animal-loving Southern California residents have a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks; here are a few events to put on your calendar. (Are we missing something? Let us know in the comment section!)

This Week:

Friday, June 26 is Take Your Dog To Work Day, an annual event that celebrates man’s best friend by dressing him up in a necktie letting him interact with coworkers at the office. (Want to bring your dog to work, but the boss says no? A new book, cowritten by the Humane Society’s Jennifer Fearing and celebrated dog trainer Liz Palika, might help. ‘Dogs at Work: A Practical Guide to Creating Dog-Friendly Workplaces’ is available on Amazon and HSUS.org.) Learn more at TakeYourDog.com.

June is Adopt a Shelter Cat Month -- and it’s almost over! To celebrate shelter cats, Petfinder.com has partnered with the website behind the LOLcat meme, Icanhascheezburger.com. For the remainder of June, pages for all adoptable ‘kittehs’ on Petfinder are equipped with an ‘Add to Icanhascheezburger.com’ button, allowing you to add your own LOLspeak captions. From there, you can share the photo with friends; the most popular photos will be featured on Icanhascheezburger.com each day.

Upcoming:

Friday, July 3, the Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) hosts its Ask-a-Vet event from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the Long Beach Dog Park, 5201 E. 7th Street. [Update: The Companion Animal Parasite Council has announced a change in venue; this event will now be held at the Long Beach Dog Beach, 1 Argonne Avenue, rather than at the Long Beach Dog Park as originally planned.] Experts, including veterinarians and parasitologists, will be on hand to educate pet owners about zoonotic diseases -- like toxocariasis, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever -- which can be transmitted from pets to people. The good news, the CAPC says, is that such scary-sounding diseases are easily preventable with common sense, good hygiene and year-round deworming and parasite control. The event is free; more information is available at PetsAndParasites.org.

Saturday, July 11, spcaLA hosts ‘Kitten Palooza’ from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at its South Bay Pet Adoption Center, at 12910 Yukon Ave. in Hawthorne. Meet cats and kittens available for adoption while drinking a refreshing, complementary beverage from Honest Tea. Chat with pet food experts and take home free samples from Natura Pet Products. SpcaLA’s resident animal behavior specialist will be on hand to offer advice and answer questions. And for the kids -- a craft table where they can make their own cat toys (which can be taken home or donated to spcaLA’s needy kitties). For more information, check out spcaLA.com.

Saturday, July 18, spcaLA hosts a low-cost vaccination and microchip clinic from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its Specialty Spay Neuter Center on 5026 W. Jefferson Blvd. The clinic will offer rabies vaccinations for both cats and dogs ($5); DHPP vaccinations for dogs ($15); bordatella vaccinations for dogs ($10); FVRCP and leukemia vaccinations for cats ($15 each); and microchipping for cats and dogs ($25). More information at spcaLA.com.

We know what you’re thinking: spcaLA is hosting up a storm! Saturday, July 18, the group invites potential ‘foster parents’ to learn about its fostering program from 10 a.m. to noon at its South Bay Pet Adoption Center, at 12910 Yukon Ave. in Hawthorne. ‘Foster parents’ are needed to care for underage puppies and kittens that are too young to be adopted, as well as older dogs and cats with special needs. More information at spcaLA.com. (The L.A. Department of Animal Services offers a similar program for underage puppies and kittens; more information on that program is available at the department’s website.)

Ongoing:

It’s ‘Shark Summer’ at Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific, and to celebrate, the aquarium is extending its hours and offering visitors a discount on Sunday evenings. Sundays from now until Sept. 6, admission fees will be reduced to $11.95 beginning at 5 p.m., and visitors can hang out with the sharks (as well as the aquarium’s other sea life) until 10 p.m. For more information, check out Aquarium of the Pacific’s website.

In Theaters:

‘The End of the Line,’ a documentary about the environmental crisis caused by overfishing in the world’s oceans, is ‘as beautiful as it is damning,’ writes Times film critic Kenneth Turan. The film, directed by Rupert Murray and narrated by British journalist Charles Clover, has been called ‘The Inconvenient Truth about the oceans.’ Currently playing at Laemmle’s Sunset 5; also playing at Laemmle’s Monica 4 beginning Saturday, June 27.

‘Earth’ is the first foray into filmmaking by Disney’s new documentary unit, Disneynature. Orlando Sentinel film critic Roger Moore says it’s ‘a grab bag of beautiful nature footage, a bit all over the place in subject,’ but hey -- we’d take a grab bag over a lot of the other movies playing nowadays. It’s playing at the Mann Beverly Center. Bonus for parents: It’s G-rated.

-- Lindsay Barnett

Photo: A dog gets ready for a tough day at the office. Credit: daisy / Your Scene