Current Volunteer Opportunities

Greeter– Greet people at the facility especially on weekends, give them a brief tour, answer general questions, and introduce them to staff members. Assist in cleaning and upkeep of the facilities.

Cat Care and Socialization – Provide a loving touch for cats and kittens awaiting their happy new home. Begin by helping with basic needs such as fresh water, food, and a clean environment. After attending appropriate cat training programs, help socialize, groom, and exercise our cats during their stay at the shelter.  Increase their chances of being adopted by familiarizing them with handling, and grooming. 

Dog Care, Socialization, and Training – Begin by helping with basic needs such as feeding, kennel cleaning and other basic tasks. After attending the appropriate training programs, become a volunteer dog trainer. As a trainer you will provide exercise, socialization, and mental stimulation for the dogs at the SPCA, thus decreasing their stress levels and increasing their chances of being adopted.  Many dogs are surrendered to shelters because of lack of training; help our dogs become happy and permanent members of their next family by providing them with essential lessons in basic manners.  Our goal is to potty train, crate train, and chew train our resident dogs.

Foster Care Provider – Have a little extra space in your home?  Want a dog or cat but not quite ready for the lifetime commitment?  Fostering is an excellent way to help out a needy dog, puppy, cat, or kitten in the comfort of your own home.  You may opt to foster a mother dog or cat and her babies, volunteer to bottle feed kittens or puppies, or even take an adult animal into your home and provide them with a temporary residence until they are able to find their permanent home.  We also have an emergency foster program, which serves our community and other communities across the country by providing temporary residences for dogs and cats in case of a natural disaster (like Hurricane Katrina).  Families interested in becoming emergency fosters will be doing a great service to their community by alleviating a small amount of stress during times of crisis. 

Mobile Adoptions – Attend adoption events and help in the process of adoption. You would transport animals to and from adoption events, provide basic needs for the animals, and help provide information to those attending the events.

Outward Hounds – Help reduce the stress levels in our kennels and get more exposure for our dogs by taking them on group field trips.  Group field trips are an excellent way to socialize our canine guests, and let the public see what well behaved dogs we have at the Solano County SPCA.

 Public Service and Outreach – Represent the Solano SPCA at public events. Help prepare and hand out information to the public. Set up and tear down booths and displays. Take shelter animals to public functions to encourage adoption and obtain publicity for the SPCA.

Grant Writing – Have experience and a special talent for writing grants?  Obtaining grants can be extremely helpful in providing good care for our animals.

Fundraising – Help us make improvements to the shelter by raising funds that will be put towards the care and management of the animals.  Duties might include soliciting “in kind” services and fund raising for special projects.

NOTE: The above programs will require specific levels of training, depending on your level of involvement.

Education – Help set up facility bulletin boards and informational boards and materials for community outreach and special events.  Help schedule and prepare information for classes at the facility. Could be combined with Public Service and Outreach.

Photographer – Take or assist in taking pictures of our adoptable animals to be posted on the website, bulletin boards, and other public venues. You would also assist in taking pictures of staff and events for facility displays and the website.

Historian and Scrapbook – Maintain scrapbook of successful adoption stories, volunteer and community involvement, and other organization news. Help prepare displays for bulletin boards, and provide information for our website.

Shelter Beautification – Plant a tree, paint a kennel, pull weeds - help us present a more welcoming kennel. You can help to attract more visitors to our shelter by improving and maintaining the appearance of our facility.  In addition to general maintenance, you can help with landscape gardening, painting, new signage, modification of existing facilities, and design and construction of new facilities.

Ongoing Projects and Special Events

Pet Detective Program – Always wanted to be a detective just like those on TV? This special job could give you your chance. Help people through the process of looking for a lost pet. Check lost and found reports, check local shelters including ours, match them up, give information to persons with missing pets, and update posters with you success stories.

Crate and Hut Drive – Help the animals at the shelter by collecting dog crates and cat huts.  The crates will be used to potty train the dogs, and provide them with comfortable beds while at the shelter.  They will also be used in emergency situations for evacuation purposes.  The cat huts provide a safe place for the cats to take a break from the public.

Doggy Derby – Help in all phases of planning for this annual event: facilities preparation, fund raising, raffle gift solicitation, event scheduling, guest presenter and volunteer coordination.