California requires any animal transported in the back of a vehicle “in a space intended for any load” on the highways to be either (1) cross tethered to the vehicle or (2) protected by a secured container or cage, to prevent the animal from falling, jumping, or being thrown from the vehicle (Cal. Vehicle Code § 23117).

The animal does not have to be restrained if it is in an enclosed space in the vehicle or in a vehicle that has side and tail racks at least 46 inches high.

The law does not apply to livestock or a dog that is transported for a ranching or farming purpose.

A violation is punishable by a fine of $50 to $100 for the first offense and $75 to $200 for a subsequent offense if it occurs within one year of the prior infraction (Cal. Vehicle Code § 42001.4).

When welcoming a new pet to your home, Animal Care Services encourages the new pet owner to look into purchasing pet insurance in case the new pet experiences any illnesses or medical emergencies. 

By having pet insurance the animal owner will be in a better financial situation to assist their pet in a critical time.

Please go to the below link to get a quote from a pet insurance company and to see what they have to offer.  

Pet Insurance

Here's a list of six techniques that can help prevent your dog from barking.  While all can be successful, you shouldn't expect miraculous results overnight.  The longer your dog has been practicing the barking behavior, the longer it will take for them to develop other means of communication.  Some of these training techniques require you to have an idea as to why your dog barks. 

Always remember to keep these tips in mind while training:

• Don't yell at your dog to be quiet—it just sounds like you're barking along with them.
• Keep your training sessions positive and upbeat.
• Be consistent so you don't confuse your dog.  Everyone in your family must apply the training methods every time your dog barks inappropriately.  Consistency is the key.

1. Remove the motivation.
   • Your dog gets some kind of reward when they bark.  Otherwise, they wouldn't do it. Figure out what they get out of barking and remove it. Don't give your dog the opportunity to continue the barking behavior.
     Example: Barking at passersby
     • If they bark at people or animals passing by the living room window, manage the behavior by closing the curtains or putting your dog in another room. If they bark at passersby when in the yard, bring them inside.

2. Ignore the Barking – dogs confined.

   • If you believe your dog is barking to get your attention, ignore them for as long as it takes for them to stop. Don't talk to them, don't touch them, don't even look at them; your attention, even just asking them to stop, only rewards them for being noisy. When they are finally quiet, even to take a breath, reward them with a treat. Timing is important, so make sure you’re quick to reward the quiet so that you don’t confuse them and inadvertently reward them for barking.
     Example: Barking when confined

     • When you put your dog in their crate or in a gated room, turn your back and ignore them.
     • Once they stop barking, turn around, praise them and give a treat.
     • As they catch on that being quiet gets them a treat, lengthen the amount of time they must remain quiet before being rewarded.
     • Remember to start small by rewarding them for being quiet for just a few seconds, then work up to longer periods of quiet.
     • Keep it fun by varying the amount of time. Sometimes reward them after five seconds, then 12 seconds, then three seconds, then 20 seconds and so on.

3. Desensitize your dog to the stimulus.

   Gradually get your dog accustomed to whatever is causing them to bark. Start with the stimulus (the thing that makes them bark) at a distance. It must be far enough away that they don't bark when they see it. Feed them lots of good treats. Move the stimulus a little closer (perhaps as little as a few inches or a few feet to start) and feed treats. If the stimulus moves out of sight, stop giving your dog treats. You want your dog to learn that the appearance of the stimulus leads to good things (treats)!
   Example: Barking at other dogs

   • Have a friend with a dog stand out of sight or far enough away so your dog won't bark at the other dog.
   • As your friend and their dog come into view, start feeding your dog treats.
   • Stop feeding treats as soon as your friend and their dog disappear from view.
   • Repeat the process multiple times.
   • Remember not to try to progress too quickly as it may take days or weeks before your dog can pay attention to you and the treats without barking at the other dog.

4. Ask your dog for an incompatible behavior.

   • When your dog starts barking, ask them to do something that's incompatible with barking. Teaching your dog to react to barking stimuli with something that inhibits them from barking, such as lying down on their bed.
     Example: Someone at the door

     • Toss a treat on their bed and tell them to "go to your bed."
     • When they're reliably going to their bed to earn a treat, up the ante by opening the door while they're on their bed. If they get up, close the door immediately.
     • Repeat until they stay in bed while the door opens.
     • Then increase the difficulty by having someone ring the doorbell while your dog is in bed. Reward them if they stay in place.

5. Keep your dog tired.

   • Make sure your dog is getting sufficient physical and mental exercise every day. A tired dog is a good dog and one who is less likely to bark from boredom or frustration. Depending on their breed, age and health, your dog may require several long walks as well as a good game of chasing the ball and playing with some interactive toys.

6. Contact a certified professional dog trainer

   • If you believe your dog is barking reactively to strangers, family members or other dogs, or if the above tips prove unsuccessful, considers reaching out to a certified professional dog trainer for help.

Contact the Mendocino Wildlife Association for assistance

You can also call them at 707-984-6363

During high kitten season in the spring and summer, it’s not unusual to discover a nest of unattended kittens or a single kitten seemingly abandoned by the mother.  You want to help, right? Before jumping to the rescue, consider these recommendations.

First: Wait & Watch

You might have come across the kittens while their mother is off searching for food, or is in the process of moving them to a different location.  Try to determine if the mother is coming back for them, or if they are truly orphaned.

To do this, stand far away from the kittens — 35 feet or more.  If you stand too close, the mom will not approach her kittens.  You might need to go away completely before the mother cat will return to attend to the kittens.  It might be several hours before the mother cat returns — until she no longer senses the presence of humans hovering near her litter.

If you need to leave before the mother cat comes back, carefully evaluate whether the kittens are in immediate danger: Is it raining or snowing?  Are dogs or wild animals that might harm the kittens running loose in the neighborhood?  Does the neighborhood have kids or adults who are likely to harm the kittens?  Are the kittens located in an area with heavy foot or car traffic?

To help with your decision, it is important to know that it might take several hours for the mother cat to return, and healthy kittens can survive this period without food as long as they are warm.  Neonatal kittens are much more at risk of hypothermia than they are of starvation.  During spring and summer months, waiting a longer time to see if mom will come back is much safer than during frigid winter months.

The best food for the kittens is their mother’s milk.  Remove the kittens only if they are in immediate, grave danger.

The mother cat offers her newborn kittens their best chance for survival, so wait and watch as long as you safely can for her to return before removing them.

If the mother cat returns…

If mom returns and the area is relatively safe, leave the kittens alone with mom until they are weaned. You can offer a shelter and regular food to mom, but keep the food and shelter at a distance from each other.  Mom will find the food but will not accept your shelter if the food is nearby, because she will not want to attract other cats to food located near her nest.

Six weeks is the optimal age to take the kittens from the mother for socialization and adoption placement and any time after eight weeks for Trap-Neuter-Return (spay/neuter, vaccination, eartip, and return to their colony).  Female cats can become pregnant with a new litter even while they are still nursing, so don’t forget to get the mother cat spayed or you will have more kittens soon! Learn how to socialize kittens and how to successfully trap a mom and her kittens.

If the mother cat does not return…

If you discover that mom has been hit by a car, or if for any reason it appears that she is not coming back, then you should remove the kittens.  This is crucial to the kittens’ survival.  But you must be prepared to see this project through to weaning if you decide to intervene!

If you take the kittens in, it is unlikely that you will find an organization with available staff or volunteers to take on bottle-feeding on short notice.  Some organizations do have experienced bottle-feeders, but prior logistical planning is necessary.  

Kitten Care & Bottle-Feeding

First Steps

1. Prepare for bottle-feeding and proper care before you take the kittens off the street.

2. If you feel you must take the kittens in, wrap the carrier or container you will transport them in in a towel for warmth and make sure you leave air holes uncovered so the kittens won’t suffocate.

3. Check to see if the kittens are warm.  This is more important than feeding.  Never feed a cold kitten!  If the kittens are cold, you will need to warm them up slowly.  You can tell a kitten is cold if the pads of his feet and/or ears feel cool or cold.  Put your finger in the kitten’s mouth.  If it feels cold, then the kitten’s temperature is too low.  This is life-threatening and must be dealt with immediately.  Warm up the kitten slowly over 20 minutes by wrapping him in a towel or baby blanket, holding him close to your body and continually rubbing him with your warm hands.

4. Determine the age of the kittens by comparing them to the photos and descriptions on the How Old Is That Kitten?  Kitten Progression: At-a-Glance page on the Alley Cat Allies website, or the Boutique Kittens website (Note: we do not advocate breeding or buying kittens; these kitten development photos just happen to be particularly descriptive.).

Newborn kittens need to be fed and stimulated for elimination every three hours around-the-clock.

Feeding & Elimination

Neonatal kittens (under four weeks of age) cannot eat solid food (not canned, not dry) and cannot urinate or defecate on their own, so you must bottle-feed them around-the-clock and stimulate their genitals after every feeding so they can eliminate.  For example, if you have kittens less than one week old, they will need to be fed and stimulated every three hours. That means you will be caring for them eight times a day — for example, at midnight, 3:00 a.m, 6:00 a.m, etc.  If the kittens are unusually small or sickly, they might need to be fed every two hours.

Skipping feedings or overfeeding can cause diarrhea, which results in dehydration, a condition that can be fatal for small kittens (not to mention a hassle for you to clean up after).  Diarrhea requires a visit to the Veterinarian.

As the kittens age, the number of feedings they need per day goes down.  You can start weaning at four weeks of age.

Milk Replacement Formulas

Powdered kitten milk replacement formula is better for kittens than the canned liquid formula.  We recommend that you use only powdered kitten milk replacement formula from the start — or as soon as possible — to prevent diarrhea.  Two major brands of formula are available: PetAg KMR® Powder and Farnam Pet Products Just Born® Highly Digestible Milk Replacer for Kittens.  Both brands are available in both canned and powdered formulas.  We highly recommend the powdered type to prevent diarrhea. It can be purchased at pet food stores, veterinarians’ offices, or online. Revival Animal Health offers the lowest prices we know of.

Make sure that the powdered formula you are using is fresh by opening the pop-top and smelling it. It should smell slightly sweet, like powdered milk.  If it has a sharp smell like bad cooking oil, cheese, or chemicals, it is rancid, and dangerous to give to the kittens. Do not use any type of formula past the expiration date.

Once opened, kitten milk replacement formula (canned or powdered) must be refrigerated promptly and stored in the refrigerator.  You cannot keep opened kitten milk replacement formula out of the refrigerator for very long before it spoils. Think of it as fresh milk.

Tip: Using unflavored Pedialyte electrolyte solution instead of water when mixing the powdered formula for the first 24 hours of feeding helps prevents diarrhea and eases the transition from mom’s milk to commercial kitten milk replacement formula.

During a PG&E power shutdown situation due to a Red Flag Warning the number one priority at the Animal Shelter is to care & clean for the shelter animals. 

The primary service Animal Care Services will offer in a power shutdown situation for the public is lost impounded owned animals being returned to their owners.   

Animal Care Services will be able to conduct cash & credit card transactions during a power shutdown. 

Animal Care Services volunteers may be allowed to come to the Animal Shelter and walk dogs as usual if they wish. 

Visitors will be permitted at the Animal Shelter during a power shutdown situation that are requiring dog licenses services. 

Stray or owned animals that come into the Animal Shelter by Animal Control, Law Enforcement and over the counter via citizen will be impounded as usual. 

The Animal Shelter will not have access to a back up generator and will be without power during a power shutdown situation. 

Animal Care Services will not take in owned animals for care during a power shutdown situation.

Animal owners will be responsible for the care of their owned animals during a red flag warning / power shutdown situation. 

Information from the State of California about rabies

A large amount of the population in Mendocino County is facing economic hardships due to many variables.  The average cost of keeping a dog is estimated to be approximately $1,400.00 a year.  The decision to not adopt a dog comes down to dollars & cents for families.  Mendocino County Animal Care Services understands why residents are not choosing to adopt a dog, surrender a dog or not reclaim an impounded dog. 

When the time comes to euthanize healthy dogs please understand that is not for lack of effort on behalf of the Animal Shelter and that the Animal Shelter exhausted all the available resources prior to euthanizing a dogs to free up dog kennel space. 

We ask that the community not criticize the decision to euthanize and understand the very difficult decision that had to be made in order to assist other stray dogs that need to come into the Animal Shelter.  

The problem of the Animal Shelter being overcrowded with dogs is not going away anytime soon. 

This is a problem facing animal shelters across the country:

8 Concerning Animal Shelter Euthanasia Statistics

There are several reasons & benefits on why Animal Shelters are not taking in feral cats. 

1. Feral cats take up valuable kennel space in the Animal Shelters that could be used for domesticated kittens & cats. 
2. The associated cost for housing feral cats is costly.  
3. When Animal Shelters house feral cats the chance of spreading diseases to other domesticated & feral cats is high.
4. There is a significant potential risk of injury to staff members who have to clean the feral cats housing on a daily basis.

Out in the field there is what community cat experts call the "vacuum effect" in the feral cat colony areas.  The "vacuum effect" is where cats from other territories move into the empty or depleted colony areas due to trapping & removal and start to populate the unoccupied territories.  If feral cats are spayed or neutered and returned to their existing feral cat colony areas the other feral cats from nearby territories won't move in.

On July 1, 2020, Animal Care Services implemented the practice of spaying & neutering, returning feral cats to the field and not long term housing feral cats in the animal shelter.  Citizens will have to make arrangements with Animal Care Services staff to schedule a surgery date, citizens will be instructed to capture feral cat(s) in a humane trap, transport the feral cat(s) to the Animal Shelter Clinic on the scheduled surgery date and return later that afternoon to pick & transport them back their original locations.

If there are citizens that have a problem with a feral cat colony around their premises they need to contact Animal Care Services as soon as possible.  Animal Care Services will contact the Feral Cat Sponsoring Organization and start working on resolving any issues or problems the citizens may have.  The immediate disbandment of a feral cat colony is not likely to happen due to a citizen’s complaint.  The process of resolving the situation will take time, resources and a coordinated effort from the Feral Cat Sponsoring Organization & Animal Care Services.  

If conditions at a feral cat colony warrant an immediate disbandment due to animal or human health concerns then Animal Care Services, the Feral Cat Sponsoring Organization, Public Health & Animal Control will meet and discuss a plan of action.

Feral cats have roamed free throughout communities for thousands of years and it wasn't until 1947 when kitty litter was created that cats started being kept indoors.  The geographical area that Mendocino County is in allows feral cats to thrive outdoors.  Spaying & neutering is proven to be the best method of reducing the feral cat population and is a much better humane action to take instead of long term housing them in an animal shelter environment costing the tax payers thousands of dollars, getting sick in the animal shelter, cross contaminating healthy adoptable cats in an animal shelter and eventually euthanizing them.

Animal Control Intake of Free Roaming Cats

Ordinance Sec. 10.24.110 – Mandatory Microchipping of Impounded Animals

• (A) Microchipping Requirement. When an impounded dog or cat is without microchip identification, in addition to satisfying applicable requirements for the release of the animal, including, but not limited to, payment of impound fees required by this Chapter, the owner or keeper will be required to do the following have the dog or cat implanted with an animal services microchip by designated personnel at the expense of the owner or keeper.
• (B) Fees for Microchip Identification Device. The fee for an identifying microchip device shall be set by the Board of Supervisors. Microchip fees may be collected by the Animal Care Services division when a dog or cat is adopted by the public, transferred to a non-profit animal rescue or adoption corporation, or when a dog or cat is reclaimed by the owner from the county animal shelter. If an animal has already been implanted with an identifying microchip device by some other facility, there will be no fee to have the identification microchip number entered into the Animal Care Services division's registry.

The above ordinance was adopted by Mendocino County Board of Supervisors on December 4, 2018 and implemented on January 18, 2019. 

Benefits of Microchipping Dogs & Cats

Each year over 3 million animals are euthanized in pet shelters. Many of these animals are someone's pet that either got lost or was found wandering through busy streets.  Now with microchipping, missing pets can be taken back to their rightful owners quickly!

How does a microchip work?

A microchip is approximately the size of a grain of rice.  It is placed under your pet's skin using a needle and acts as a tracking device.  The microchip itself carries a number which is put into a database with contact information like name, phone number and address.  If your pet wanders off and a pet shelter or vet's office picks him or her up, they can scan your pet's body to find out who "Fido" or "Fluffy" belongs to.  Pets that receive a microchip implant will feel the same amount of pain as a vaccination.  Remember that microchipping is useless unless you keep your records up to date.

What are the benefits of microchipping?

• Keep track of your pet if he or she wanders off.
• If your pet ends up in a pet shelter they can get him or her back to you quickly.
• In case of a natural disaster your pet will be returned to you.
• Microchips last for your pet's lifetime, so all you have to do is keep your records up to date.
• If your pet is on medication and he or she gets lost, having a microchip allows you to find your pet sooner to administer medication.