C.A.R.E.4Paws Partners with The Street Dog Coalition to Assist More Unhoused Pet Families on California’s Central Coast

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Santa Barbara, Calif., April 12, 2023 – As the cost of living on the Central Coast keeps rising, so does the number of community members experiencing homelessness, including thousands of people with pets. To ensure unsheltered pet families have access to veterinary care, another steadily increasing cost, local nonprofit C.A.R.E.4Paws has partnered with The Street Dog Coalition to host regular, free pet wellness clinics in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo (SLO) Counties. The first collaboration event takes place Saturday, April 15, at the city of San Luis Obispo’s United Church of Christ (11245 Los Osos Valley Road), 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 

“We want people and pets to stay together,” says Isabelle Gullo, executive director and cofounder of C.A.R.E.4Paws, an organization that offers affordable, mobile pet wellness services for families in underserved communities. “Pets provide comfort, love and loyalty and they are nonjudgmental, unlike us humans. For so many people experiencing homelessness, the companionship of an animal is everything. And that human-animal bond is mutually beneficial.”