Laine Fast

Support Oakland Spay/Neuter for Giving Tuesday 2020!

Rescue Run Club’s 3030 Challenge is a virtual event taking place during months with 30 days. Participate in the month of September to benefit FOAS!

Run or walk 30 miles in 30 days with a dog. Take your dog. Take your own dog, borrow a friend’s or neighbor’s dog, volunteer to walk a shelter dog… any combination can be used to complete the 3030 Challenge! Complete the mileage on your own schedule, at your own pace, with the dog – or dogs – of your choice.

Register here: https://www.rescuerunclub.com/3030

We want to hear about YOUR very special “Happy Tails!” The Friends of Oakland Animal Services (FOAS) 2021 calendar will feature the pictures of adopted animals, along with a story about what makes them happy.

Enter your favorite photo of your pet to win one of 12 coveted spots in the 2021 Calendar. The top vote earner will be on the cover of the calendar and will also be featured on one month, with the remaining eleven featured one per month.

We invite you to join the fun by participating in this special fundraiser. All proceeds will go toward our mission: Providing homes, health, and happiness to Oakland’s homeless animals. The contest winners will be determined by public online voting.

Upload your photos today

• Submit your photo here: https://www.gogophotocontest.com/friendsofoas
• Once a pet photo is submitted, it will appear in the online gallery, and be open to voting by the general public.
• $1 per vote. All votes are donations to Friends of Oakland Animal Services.
• Those who donate $25 or more of votes will receive a calendar (be sure to include your mailing address).
• Winning photos will be included in our 2021 Calendar. At least the top 4 dogs and top 4 cats will earn spots in the calendar, and 2 spots are reserved for “other” animals.

We’d like to introduce you to Jessie, a very special OAS volunteer and kitten whisperer.

You can support Jessie here.

Though Jessie is “just” a teenager, she has already changed countless lives through her foster and volunteer work for OAS. Since May 2019, with support from her family, Jessie has been fostering homeless OAS kittens. As a young shelter volunteer, she started out doing non-animal handling chores like laundry while working around her school schedule. When our volunteer team saw her level of commitment, Jessie became a rabbit volunteer, providing care for the bunnies–cuddling, but also cleaning cages and feeding greens. On the first day of shelter-in-place, Jessie was one of the first in line to bring home both a foster rabbit and a foster cat! All of this on its own is heartwarming. But there is more to know about this amazing young woman.

Jessie has a lung disease that makes her eligible for a wish from Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area. Most Make-A-Wish children, who are all facing life-threatening medical conditions, make wishes like taking a trip to Disneyland, or meeting one of their sports idols. Amazingly, Jessie’s one special wish is a philanthropic one–to help kittens at OAS by hosting a “virtual kitten shower.” As part of her wish, Friends of Oakland Animal Services will also receive a $5,000 donation in Jessie’s honor from Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area!

Jessie’s generous wish will enable OAS to purchase much-needed items on our “kitten registry,” providing for all of the foster and medical care needs for our kittens as they get big and strong enough for adoption. We at FOAS are overwhelmed and inspired by Jessie’s incredible dedication and generosity–so much so, that we have committed to raising a matching $5,000 for Oakland’s kittens. Now, we need your help to meet this match for our dozens of kittens currently in foster care–and to make Jessie’s wish have double the impact for Oakland’s neediest animals.

The typical kitten arriving at OAS as a baby requires supplies like formula, bottles, kitten food, litter, a scale, and a carrier. They also need routine medical care including vaccines, flea prevention, medication for diarrhea and upper respiratory infections, and spay/neuter surgery. All told, each kitten in foster costs the shelter over $200, assuming they have no additional medical expenses.

Right now, OAS has 60 kittens in foster care, as this year’s unusually long “kitten season,” which began in the spring, is still in full force. Because shelter-in-place has impacted spay/neuter programs across the nation, the 2020 kitten season has no end in sight.

Jessie’s $5,000 wish come true, plus $5,000 from our FOAS community, means that we can continue to provide care for our city’s tiniest cats as these litters of bottle babies continue to arrive at our shelter doors.

Please help us continue to provide the love and care that every kitten deserves during this year of unprecedented need–and to celebrate Jessie’s dedication by meeting our challenge match goal of $5000. Your gift, no matter how small, will help make Jessie’s “virtual kitten shower” a truly life-changing event.

And on August 23, we’ll be celebrating live with a special baby shower broadcast from one of our shelter’s bi-weekly kitten adoption events! Jessie, FOAS, and Make-A-Wish representatives will join remotely as we livestream from the shelter, where our foster kittens who are ready for adoption will show off their cat-stuff and meet the families waiting to adopt a new best feline friend. Stay tuned to the OAS Facebook and Instagram feeds for details on how to join the party!

Support Jessie here: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/jessies-kitten-shower

Do you have the cutest, funniest, or best furry friend ever? If so, Patelco wants to meet your pet and they’re holding a contest to feature them in their 2020 Pets of Patelco Calendar.

Submit a photo of your own pet and Patelco will donate $5 per submission to Oakland Animal Services to ensure pets in need in our community are provided with the food, water, and love they so desperately deserve. (And your pet may just be featured in the 2020 Pets of Patelco calendar, too.) 12 winners will be announced on December 2, 2019, and calendars will be available at your local Patelco branch.

Here’s how it works:

• Upload a photo of your pet before the contest closes at 11:59 pm PT November 23, 2019.
• Share your entry to collect votes. All entries to receive 50+ votes will be eligible to be picked for the top 12 and win a $100 Petco® gift card.

And the best part? Patelco will donate $5 to Oakland Animal Services for every entry, up to $2,500.

As a bonus, for every new follower to the Patelco Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter through the end of the year, they’ll donate $1 up to an additional $1,000.

So what are you waiting for? Show everyone your pet and help save another!

We’ll be participating in the Bay Area Pet Fair on the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Join us!

We rely on donations of items that help to improve our animals’ quality of life and give our staff and volunteer teams the tools they need. We are in need of Friskies, Royal Canin Babycat food, chicken broth, Kongs, and many other supplies for our many cats, kittens, dogs, puppies and rabbits! We rely on donations from our Amazon wishlist for many of these items that keep our animals happy and healthy.

You can find our Amazon wish list here.

You can also donate other items or drop off donations directly at the shelter. Read about other ways to give.

Donations from SCRAP

Oakland Animal Services is currently operating a second (temporary) site in Oakland where over a hundred of our shelter dogs are being housed for several weeks due to exposure to canine influenza virus (CIV). We would like to thank everyone who has donated items for the CIV quarantine warehouse where all our dogs who were exposed to CIV at our shelter are currently being housed. From dog treats, to rolling carts, sharpies, paper towels, and so many other supplies, we and the dogs are so grateful for your donations and support.

Donations from East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse

Special shout out to Lisa Ryan and the folks at SCRAP, as well as the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse for donating a whole bunch of sound dampening materials to help us with soundproofing the warehouse, so the dogs don’t get too stressed.

If you’d like to purchase treats. toys, or other supplies that help us care for our shelter dogs, visit our Amazon wishlist.

Carts and treats donated by the public

We have a tremendous need for volunteers at our warehouse location for various tasks. Some tasks require handling dogs, while other tasks do not require any experience with handling dogs. You do not need to complete our training program to volunteer at the facility. All instructions will be provided to you when you arrive at the facility to volunteer. Note that briefings occur at 8am and 1pm each day, so it would be best if you are available to arrive at one of those times. All volunteers must be at least 18 years old. For more information or to sign up to volunteer, email volunteerprogram@oaklandca.gov.