Roll on by this Saturday! 🧡🚗

Join us for a community-wide Donation Drive-Thru on Saturday, March 14! Swing by anytime from 11am to 2pm at Deckers (250 Coromar Drive in Goleta) to help us raise critical resources to keep local pets healthy and with their families for life.

Our goal is to support pet families in need by stocking our pet pantries and funding essential medical care. We are gratefully accepting donations of both dry and canned pet food, as well as monetary gifts. Your financial contributions go directly toward the purchase of pet food and the operation of our mobile clinic wellness services.

Can’t join us on Saturday? You can still make an impact by supporting us any time of the year with one of the options below.

Your generosity keeps families together!

Pawsitive progress at our Pet Refuge

Thanks to many generous supporters, our Pet Refuge is a reality! The pre-manufactured dog kennels are installed and the large exercise yard is ready for playtime.

This is a significant milestone for our animal-loving community, as the refuge will provide a safe, free, temporary haven for dogs and cats whose families are navigating difficult life circumstances.

Now we’ve entered the next fundraising phase and are working to raise $20,000 to support the care of the pets staying at the refuge. Beyond monetary gifts, we are truly grateful for donations of supplies, including Kuranda beds, cozy blankets and Kongs (durable chew toys).

Every single donation makes a meaningful difference!

To learn more and explore our giving and sponsor opportunities, click below. Thank you for your kindness and support.

We’re pawsitively excited for our Happy Tails Celebration & Fundraiser on Sunday, May 3, from 3pm to 7pm, at Santa Barbara’s Cabrillo Pavilion.

Join us for a fun and meaningful afternoon filled with community, inspiring stories, great food and drinks and exciting auctions, all in support of pet families across the Central Coast.

We invite you to become a Happy Tails Sponsor to support our work in 2026 and beyond. We offer several meaningful sponsor opportunities that all include event tickets, while assisting pet families with critical services.

View our Happy Tails video above. Special thanks to our incredible videographer, Ryan Pettey!

Did someone say Pizza 4 Pets?

🍕 Ready to add a slice of goodness to your March? Klondike Pizza’s month-long fundraiser in Arroyo Grande supports C.A.R.E.4Paws and our mission to keep Central Coast pets healthy, safe and with the people who love them.

Throughout March, every time you enjoy a delicious Klondike meal (dine-in or take-out), you can choose to donate to help cover affordable veterinary care, pet food, vaccines and other critical services that keep pet families together. You’ll also have the chance to enter to win fantastic raffle prizes, with winners announced on April 2 during our special grand finale. That day, the C.A.R.E.4Paws team will be serving in the restaurant, and we’ll receive a generous portion of all sales plus tips!

Come enjoy great food while supporting local pets in need.

Calling all local pups!

There is still time to enter your pup into the Pooch Playoffs 2026! Images By Valerie hosts this dog portrait project that combines creativity and giving back to the community, as all the photo session fees are donated to C.A.R.E.4Paws. Together, over the last few years, we’ve raised more than $8,000 to support animals in need.

Here’s how it works:

• Your dog gets a professional portrait session.
• Dogs are entered into a friendly community voting bracket.
• Voting goes live this month.
• And yes…there are serious bragging rights involved.
• If you’d like details or want to enter your pup, click the button below.

So many thanks and tail wags! 🐾

Together, we ensure pets stay healthy, safe and with their families. Thank you for being a part of the C.A.R.E.4Paws team.

Dear friends,

As we’ve stepped into a new year, I’m filled with gratitude for our amazing C.A.R.E.4Paws community. Because of you, more than 25,000 pet families in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties received critical support in 2025, from mobile pet wellness services and pet food to urgent, lifesaving veterinary care through the Albus Fund.

You also helped us raise $220,000 for our Pet Refuge, the first confidential pet emergency boarding facility on the Central Coast. Launching in March, the refuge will help ensure families navigating domestic violence and other life crises won’t have to choose between their own safety and the well-being of their beloved pets.

YOU inspire the happy tails!

Thanks for standing with animals and pet families when it matters most. I’m so thankful for you and excited for all that we will continue to accomplish together in 2026.

With love and pawsitivity!

Isabelle Gullö

Executive Director & Cofounder

We truly appreciate our generous donors, grantors and sponsors. Your contributions impact the future of our life-saving, life-improving services and that never, ever goes unnoticed.

In 2025, more than 800 compassionate animal lovers gave a total of $1.6 million to ensure Central Coast pets stay healthy and with the people who love them. We love the below note from Dr. Paula Kislak, a longtime supporter.

“Dr. Peter Mangravite and I have supported C.A.R.E.4Paws since the start in 2009 because of the organization’s compassionate and practical approach to reducing pet overpopulation and strengthening pet families,” says Dr. Paula Kislak, who recently donated a large stock gift. “C.A.R.E.4Paws’ commitment to meeting people where they are, and keeping pets healthy, safe and in loving homes, truly sets this group apart. We are proud to support an organization that makes such a meaningful difference for animals and families across the Central Coast.”

We are honored to have Paula as part of the C.A.R.E.4Paws community and so grateful for her continued support!

Albus Fund: The difference between hope and heartbreak 🧡

With your support, we exceeded our Albus Fund fundraising goal of $50,000, raising an extraordinary $82,815 to help dogs and cats receive urgent, life-saving veterinary care when their families need it most.

For us, having this funding means we can prevent suffering and continue to say yes to helping beloved pets like Rita, whose story is shared below.

In December, a young pup was found in a riverbed, gravely injured after a devastating dog attack. Her jaw was crushed, her injuries severe and her condition critical.

A dedicated volunteer rushed her to PETS Hospital, where the ER team described it as one of the worst cases they had ever seen: a severe, bilateral mandibular fracture with significant soft tissue trauma and exposed bone. Recovery would be long and complex but we knew we had to try to save her.

Now named Rita by her loving foster family, she was given a second chance at life. Rita underwent intensive reconstructive surgery with Dr. Dan Terhaar. She continues to receive follow-up care from the compassionate team at Main Street Small Animal Hospital and Dr. Alex Gomes.

Through it all, Rita has remained trusting, gentle and endlessly lovable, winning hearts everywhere she goes.

Rita’s care has already exceeded $2,500 and her final costs are expected to approach $3,000.

Thanks to the compassion of our community and the life-saving support of the Albus Fund, Rita received the treatment she needed!

Our Pet Refuge is a reality

Thanks to the generosity of our amazing community, we’ve reached our original, $220,000 Pet Refuge fundraising goal!

Every single gift played an important role in making this one-of-a-kind project possible for pets and families navigating domestic violence and other life crises. ♥️

The momentum continues. Recently, an incredible group of volunteers and staff came together to prepare the space for our pre-manufactured dog kennels as well as the the construction of a large play yard. With these milestones underway, we’re on track to launch the Pet Refuge in March.

As with many large projects, we’ve encountered additional, unanticipated costs that we now need to fundraise for. We are also raising funds for the day-to-day care of the dogs and cats who will stay at the refuge.

To learn more about the Pet Refuge and how to help, click below.

We send loads of gratitude to our volunteer rock stars! You make an incredible difference by donating your time and talents to C.A.R.E.4Paws, from supporting our pet wellness clinics, community programs and fundraising events to delivering pet food and fostering animals. Thank you for being an extraordinary part of our organization!

Save the date!

We’re excited to announce that our 2026 Happy Tails Celebration & Fundraiser will take place on Sunday, May 3, from 3–7 pm at Santa Barbara’s beautiful Cabrillo Pavilion.

Join us for a fun and meaningful afternoon filled with community, inspiring stories, great food and drink and exciting auctions, all in support of pet families across the Central Coast. Tickets go on sale in February, with sponsorship opportunities announced soon. We can’t wait to celebrate with you!

National Giving Month reminds us of the amazing things we can accomplish together. Thanks to compassionate community members like YOU, C.A.R.E.4Paws can be there when pets and their people need us the most.

Your support fuels every part of our mission—from expanding access to affordable care to stepping in when pet families face crisis.

Here are three meaningful ways to ensure Central Coast pets stay healthy, safe and homebound:

• Donate pet food and supplies at our annual Howliday Donation Drive-Thru on Saturday, December 6.
• Double your impact with our $25,000 Albus Fund matching gift challenge to help pets receive life-saving veterinary care.
• Support our Pet Refuge, an anonymous emergency boarding facility for pets whose families are navigating difficult life events. 

Let’s brighten the howlidays for pets and the people who love them!

We invite you to read our December 2025 e-newsletter!

We invite you to gather your friends and join C.A.R.E.4Paws at the Gatehouse at Bien Nacido for our Pours & Paws friendraiser! It’s a perfect opportunity to enjoy world-class wines, light hors d’oeuvres, and live music by Jon Millsap while learning about the meaningful change we’re creating for local pet families.

All proceeds from the event support our critical community programs, including the launch of our Pet Refuge, which provides a life-saving safety net for pets of domestic violence survivors. Best of all, Bien Nacido is donating 10% of all weekend sales to our cause! Check out the full newsletter below for event details and to learn how your support helps keep pets healthy, safe, and with the people who love them.

We invite you to read our October 2025 e-newsletter!

Dear friends,

C.A.R.E.4Paws just turned 16 years old and the numbers reflect just how much we can accomplish when we all work together!

The best part? We have so much more to celebrate…

• We have launched a Capital Campaign for a Pet Refuge, which will support pet families experiencing critical, temporary life transitions.
• Our clinic team cares for 1,500 pets every month in our mobile units.
• As many as 78 cats and dogs were altered during our August 17 Spayathon in collaboration with Santa Barbara County Animal Services.
• Matching grant funds are still available —donations toward spay/neuter services are doubled up to $25,000!
• We are expanding our support for unhoused pet families and planning for additional Pet Resource Centers to provide greater access to pet food.

Thank you for helping us grow, achieve and dream big for pets and their families. Together, we’re building a stronger, more compassionate community for all.

We invite you to read our September 2025 e-newsletter!

Our team is on a roll this summer! 🐾

We have so many updates to share from our Mobile Community Medicine & Spay/Neuter Outreach program, from the hiring of a new lead veterinarian and our upcoming Spayathons, to happy tails and great partnerships that increase access to care. This includes a pawsome, matching gift challenge for feline spays/neuters through our friends at ResQcats.

Our clinic team is providing affordable services to more than 1,300 pets per month! And we keep expanding to new locations on the Central Coast.

YOU keep us rolling. Thanks for making such a big impact!

We invite you to read our July 2025 e-newsletter!

Hello team C.A.R.E.4Paws! 🐾

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the wonderful support for our Happy Tails Celebration & Fundraiser on May 4.

We have exciting announcements: In June, we provide FREE microchips at all Pet Wellness Clinics alongside three key partners. On June 8, we start our quarterly wellness clinics inside the Santa Maria riverbed with Street Dog Coalition and SB County Animal Services to assist the growing number of unhoused pet families moving there. In August, we will host another big spayathon event in Santa Maria.

Plus, we’re launching a fundraising campaign for a brand-new pet refuge that will house dogs and cats whose families are going through a critical, temporary life transition, including escape from domestic violence.

We are so grateful for all that you do to support C.A.R.E.4Paws. As you see from “happy tails” (testimonials) from pet families we help, your contributions make an impact, keeping animals healthy and with the people who love them.

We invite you to read our June 2025 e-newsletter!

We are so excited about our Happy Tails Celebration & Fundraiser at Santa Barbara’s Cabrillo Pavilion this Sunday, May 4.

While we are sold out of in-person tickets, you can still participate in our online silent auction. Bidding is open until 10pm on May 4, with 60+ great packages to choose from! Plus, you can preview our live auction to get excited for Sunday—or to inspire you to attend next year’s event.

Have fun bidding and know that the funds raised go to support pet families in need, keeping animals healthy and with their people. That is truly priceless! We can’t thank our kind and generous auction donors enough for making all of this possible.

We invite you to read our May 2025 e-newsletter!

Hello!

We hope all is well with you and your four-legged family members. 

Right now, we need your help to get four of our adoptable dogs into loving forever homes or long-term fosters. Our super cute puppies, Jasper and Smokey, are staying at Creekside Pet Boarding in Arroyo Grande. Our beautiful Greek sisters, Athena and Aphrodite, are boarded at Lucky Dog in Nipomo. 

Our boarding partners are fantastic, but it’s time for these amazing pups to land in a home! ❤️

We invite you to read our April 2025 e-newsletter!

We are excited to offer tickets and sponsorships for our Happy Tails Celebration & Fundraiser on Sunday, May 4, at Santa Barbara’s Cabrillo Pavilion, 4pm to 7pm. Enjoy wine, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres on the oceanfront terrace, a delicious dinner by Whiskey ‘N Rye, and curated live and silent auctions.

Happy Tails celebrates the pawsitive outcomes from our community work and heartfelt stories from the families we assist. Funds raised support programs that reduce pet overpopulation, prevent animal suffering and improve pet family welfare on the Central Coast.

We hope you’ll join us as a Happy Tails sponsor to support our critical services in 2025 and beyond. We cannot do our work without you!

Guest tickets are $150. Reserve yours today!

We invite you to read our March 2025 e-newsletter!