FOCAS SERVICES AND PROGRAMS

FREE RABIES VACCINATIONS & MICRO-CHIPPING CLINICS
• 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.

ADOPTION SUPPORT
Second Chance Program
• The Second Chance Program is for shelter dogs who have behavioral problems. Twin Cedar K9’s Margaret Blair is a professional dog trainer who trains dog in basic obedience, socializes them and helps them find forever homes. The program provides for their neuter or spay, rabies vaccination, heartworm preventatives and other medical expenses.

Gypsy Fund
• The Gypsy Fund helps low income individuals adopt dogs and has now been expanded to cats. The fund pays for spay or neuter, rabies vaccinations and adoption fees. Adopters pay for licenses and microchips.

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.

DIRECT SHELTER TRANSFERS
• When the shelter becomes overcrowded, dogs and cats are sometimes transferred to reputable, high-quality shelters and rescue organizations that have low intake and high adoption rates. FOCAS pays volunteer transporters mileage to deliver the animals.

SHELTER ENHANCEMENTS
FOCAS provides shelter enhancements that Animal Services could not otherwise afford. Recent examples include:

• Additional stainless steel food and water bowls that attach to cage walls, giving cats housed in cages more floor space
• Easy-to-clean, durable cat towers for each communal cat room providing kitties vertical space to climb and additional places to stretch out and relax
• Easy-to-clean, comfortable dog beds for each dog kennel
• X-pens for indoor play areas for puppies
• Tarps for outdoor exercise pens so volunteers and dogs have shade in the summer and can stay dry when it rains
• An indoor dog washing station
• Painting of the indoor dog kennels
• Much needed storage sheds for food, litter, supplies and equipment
• Equipment for the dog and cat photo studios
• Doors with glass windows in the dog kennel so staff and volunteers could see when a dog is out of its kennel, preventing unwanted surprises and dogs from escaping
• Stall pads to provide horses with comfortable floors and to prevent slipping
• Security doors for the dog kennel and cat houses
• And more on the way…

COMMUNITY EDUCATION
• FOCAS and retired educator, Darcy Zimmerman, launched a new program called “Kitten Season” in October 2019 aimed at bringing awareness of the plight of unwanted animals to the fourth and fifth grade students in Mark Twain School District. The popular program has quickly expanded to other fourth and fifth grader in Calaveras and Tuolumne Counties.