Also available for Calaveras County Residents is our Free Rabies Vaccinations and Micro-Chipping Clinics,  Click Here for details.

Calaveras County Animal Services Programs

FREE RABIES VACCINATIONS & MICRO-CHIPPING CLINICS – Available to Calaveras county residents only. 

• Rabies is a deadly disease caused by a virus. Calaveras County is an area where the rabies virus can be found in wildlife and transmitted to pets and humans through a bite that punctures the skin. The law requires dog owners to vaccinate and license all dogs 4 months of age or older. Thanks to FOCAS, Animal Services, and participating vets who donate their time, rabies clinics are held in the county throughout the year in different locations.

MEDICAL SUPPORT

• Adoptable animals sometimes arrive at the shelter needing such things as dental care, eye surgery, ear and skin care, diagnostic blood testing and lab work. FOCAS provides funds for medical services for shelter animals that Animal Services is unable to provide due to its limited county budget. Medical services for treatable problems relieve suffering and save lives. After treatments, healthy animals are then adopted into loving homes.
• FOCAS also provides funds for people who cannot afford to euthanize their very old or very ill pets. Funds for euthanasia are never provided for frivolous reasons.

SPONSORED ADOPTION SUPPORT – View more information

• Covers the cost of the Adoption Fees

SPAY/NEUTER PROGRAMS

• Return To Field (RTF)
  RTF is an effective and humane alternative to “trap and kill” methods to control feral cat populations. RTF involves returning healthy feral and semi-feral stray cats at the shelter to their original outdoor homes after they are altered and vaccinated against rabies. Cats that are RTF are unadoptable as household pets and are likely to be euthanized. RTF allows these cats, now unable to reproduce, to continue to live and thrive where they were found.
• Prevent Another Litter (PAL)
  PAL provides free spay or neuter, and a free rabies vaccination and microchip if needed, to residents of Calaveras County for dogs who have been involved in the birth of unwanted puppies and brought to the shelter, thus preventing future litters. The program has recently been expanded to households with cats who have had multiple unwanted litters.