Friends of Berkeley Animal Care Services

Come by to purchase items in the gift shop made by (who has a BACS alum of her own!) Now through November 2nd! For every $1 sticker sold, 70 cents will go to the shelter. A portion of the sales from other items benefit the shelter too. Thank you for your support!

Empty the Shelters is back! 🎉💚💙

Our nation’s shelters are facing an overcapacity crisis, with 322,000 more pets entering the system than leaving this year. Adoption is needed now more than ever to save lives! BISSELL Pet Foundation's Fall National Empty the Shelters™ event will occur from Oct. 1-15 and we are one of the participating organizations!

Help us take as many pets as possible from shelter kennels to the couches of loving homes by bringing home a spayed/neutered, vaccinated and microchipped pet for $50 or less!

Learn more here: https://www.bissellpetfoundation.org/programs/empty-the-shelters/

TOMORROW!

BACS is participating in Bark and Meow Around the Block hosted by ! The largest single-location adoption event in California! We will have adoptable dogs and cats available at the event.

Free to attend with waived or reduced adoption fees, free pet vaccines and microchips, and so much more!

Saturday, September 7th 10am-4pm
2700 9th Street, Berkeley

🎉🎉 HAPPENING TOMORROW! We’re thrilled to announce that we’ll be participating in Berkeley Humane's Bark (& Meow) Around The Block event, their largest annual adopt-a-thon and family-friendly street fair 🐾

Save the date for Saturday, September 7, 2024, and come visit us at 2700 Ninth St. in Berkeley for an amazing day. This free, outdoor event will showcase hundreds of adoptable animals from shelters and rescues throughout the Bay Area, along with live music, tasty food, pet vendors, and more. Don’t miss out: https://berkeleyhumane.org/events/bark-and-meow

is here! and are matching donations weekly, and we need your support! Donate now to help us save as many pets as possible: https://donate.clearthesheltersfund.org/page/BerkeleyAnimalCareService

💰 Starting Tuesday, September 3 at 1 p.m. ET, Hill’s Pet Nutrition will be matching donations dollar for dollar, up to $20,000! Once the 20K is met, the match is over. Donate today to help us save lives!

Berkeley Animal Care Services is participating in Clear The Shelters, a nationwide campaign to get animals out of shelters.

Visit ClearTheShelters.com to Find Participating Shelters or Donate from Aug. 1 to Sept. 30

For one day only!!! Together with Cal Animals and ASPCA, adoptions will be free THIS Saturday June 1st!

🐾 Berkeley Animal Care Services, 1 Bolivar Dr. Berkeley, CA
⏰ Sat: 10am - 4pm
📧 Email: [email protected] or call
(510) 981-6600

You too can sponsor a kennel in honor of your favorite furry friend... or anyone else!

https://www.friendsofbacs.org/sponsor-a-kennel

In 2014 Morrchik was allowed to walk the hall of the cat kennels for a drink in the sink while he waited for a home at Berkeley Animal Care Services. Now a photo of Morrchik faces the large shelter kennel in which he was housed.

I adopted Morrchik, then known as Holstein, from this Berkeley municipal animal shelter in October 2014 and the following year began sponsoring a kennel as a small way to help other shelter cats. Every little bit counts.
🐾🐾 Friends of Berkeley Animal Care Services

BACS will be participating in the nationwide “Empty The Shelters” adoption event hosted by BISSELL Pet Foundation! The event is from May 1st-15th. FEES WAIVED! BISSELL Pet Foundation Cathy Bissell

BACS will be participating in the nationwide “Empty The Shelters” adoption event hosted by BISSELL Pet Foundation! The event is from May 1st-15th. FEES WAIVED!

Pictured: Soldier and Butters

Kitten season is here! Here are the steps to take if you find kittens in Berkeley, Emeryville, Albany or Piedmont.

A combination of temperate weather and feral cats in heat creates the perfect conditions for an influx of kittens every spring. Many animal shelters and rescue organizations are already stretched thin, making it even more difficult for them to help these newborn kittens. Pet Food Express we’ll be collecting funds through Sunday April 28 both in-store and online. If you are interested in helping or curious, please go to https://www.petfood.express/kitten-season/

Follow Berkeley Animal Care Services for more adoption updates!

To start off the week we have a happy adoption story! After a short stint in foster, this couple drove all the way from Sacramento to meet Star. They immediately had a connection and decided to make it official! Congrats Star on your new family!

Adoption fees are waived all month! Come meet your new best friend!

🐾 Berkeley Animal Care Services, 1 Bolivar Dr.
⏰ Mon - Sat: 10am - 4pm with extended hours on Wednesday until 7pm.
⏰ Sundays: 11am to 3pm
📧 Email: [email protected] or call (510) 981-6600

No-fee adoptions all month long! Come meet you new best friend at BACS!

🐾 Berkeley Animal Care Services, 1 Bolivar Dr.
⏰ Mon - Sat: 10am - 4pm with extended hours on Wednesday until 7pm.
⏰ Sundays: 11am to 3pm
📧 Email: [email protected] or call (510) 981-6600

February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month!

Did you know that February is Spay/Neuter Awareness Month? It is! Here's some quick facts for why spaying or neutering your pet is not only good for the community, but is good for the wellbeing of your best friend:

-Shelter Animals Count estimates that in 2023, over 6.5 million animals (3.3 million cats and 3.2 million dogs) entered animal shelters and rescue organizations. Due to this, shelters and rescues have been overwhelmed, with more animals coming in than being adopted out, for the 4th year running.

-Cats can become pregnant as early as four months old and dogs as early as six months old when they are still kittens and puppies themselves. The hardship of labor and life outdoors means a decreased likelihood of mom and her litter all surviving. The best way to keep your pet healthy and prevent unplanned litters is to spay and neuter, even if your pet spends most to all their time indoors.

-The American Veterinary Medical Association says that spaying female dogs and cats can prevent uterine infection and reduce the risk of breast cancer. They also say that neutering males can eliminate their risk of testicular cancer and reduce their risk of developing enlarged prostate glands (known as benign prostatic hyperplasia).

-The AVMA also offers behavioral reasons to spay/neuter! Removing a female dog or cat's ovaries eliminates their heat cycles and generally reduces mating-related behaviors that may frustrate owners. Removing a male dog or cat's testicles reduces their breeding instinct, resulting in less roaming and fewer urine-marking behaviors.

Our friends at Berkeley Humane have a great list of low cost resources in the Bay, including spay/neuter programs. https://berkeleyhumane.org/community-resources/low-cost-resources/

Shout out to Animal Fix Clinic for doing amazing work in this area by offering sliding scale spay and neuter surgeries - check them out and support them here! https://animalfixclinic.org/

Also check out Cat Town, hosting a Trap-Neuter-Return workshop later this month with Feral Change! You'll learn all the steps to get started doing TNR - more info here: https://www.cattownoakland.org/events

NO-FEE ADOPTIONS through January!
Ring in the New Year with a new friend! The shelter is still full of animals looking for their forever homes. All adoption fees are waived through January 1st. Come meet your new family member today!
🐾 Berkeley Animal Care Services, 1 Bolivar Dr.
⏰ Mon - Sat: 10am - 4pm with extended hours on Wednesday until 7pm.
⏰ Sundays: 11am to 3pm
📧 Email: [email protected] or call (510) 981-6600

We’re looking for BACS adoption success stories to feature on upcoming posts! Have you welcomed a BACS dog, cat, guinea pig or bunny into your family? We’d love to hear about it! Send a message to with pics, a reel, a little blurb about your time together, and we’ll post your heartwarming moments on our social media to help inspire others to adopt, not shop!

That’s a wrap on 2023! Thank you to all of the staff, volunteers, donors, friends, and families that helped support all of the shelter animals through another year. Special thanks to all of our adopters who created place in their hearts and homes for a new family member. This is why we do what we do!

Looking forward to another year of walks, play time, snuggles, and adoptions in 2024!

We received this email on December 1st from BACS vet tech, Jane Batavia...

“Dr. Kuti has just finished a surgery on Josey the bulldog. The surgery was particularly difficult because Josey appears to have had multiple previous abdominal surgeries (we assume C-sections). There was scar tissue and layers of wire suture - it was a mess. However, the electrocautery unit purchased by FoBACS helped so much. Josey had significantly less blood loss and less time spent under anesthesia - both important factors for an old girl.

Mid-procedure, Dr. Kuti said, “I am SO thankful for FoBACS!”

This is just one of the ways your donations make an impact!

If you make a gift by midnight on December 31st, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000 by Maris and Ivan Meyerson. You can donate at www.friendsofbacs.org/donate
We appreciate your support!

(Swipe to see Josey and her new family!)

Please follow Berkeley Animal Care Services for more updates!

All adoptable dogs:
https://www.petfinder.com/search/dogs-for-adoption/?shelter_id%5B0%5D=CA412&sort%5B0%5D=recently_added

It’s Giving Tuesday!

Please support the vital work we do servicing the communities of Berkeley, Piedmont, Emeryville and Albany, by donating to our non-profit group Friends of Berkeley Animal Care Services. Your much-needed dollars go toward medical care, kennel enrichment, playgroups, adoption promotion, and other programs that make a real difference in the lives of our animals. Every little bit helps!

And if you give today, on Giving Tuesday, your donation will be matched dollar-for-dollar up to $5,000 by the Partnership Fund. We're so grateful for your generosity!

https://www.friendsofbacs.org/donate

As an open admission city animal shelter, we are a much needed resource for stray, surrendered, and abandoned animals to have another shot at a safe and happy home life. Your financial support helps us go above and beyond for the cats, dogs, and other animals we care for, and we deeply appreciate it!

If you're not able to donate financially, we could still use your help! Consider signing up as a volunteer to walk dogs and pet cats! https://berkeleyca.gov/community-recreation/volunteering/volunteer-animal-shelter

Egypt is such a beautiful and fun dog! She would make a great addition to any family :)

Duke is currently in a foster home but is looking for his FOREVER home!

Scooby is loving his new home!

Scooby has made it HOME! 🏡 Per his new amazing family he enjoyed his long drive to Michigan! He is loving his new backyard, playing with his rubber ball and laying in the leaves! 🍁 Just look at that BIG smile!

UPDATE: Champagne is adopted! Ben is still available!

We have two senior sweeties available for adoption at BACS!