Los Angeles, Calif., Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VCA Charities, the charitable arm of VCA Animal Hospitals, today released its 2025 annual Impact Report detailing how nearly $4.2 million in grants supported adoption readiness efforts, in-shelter enrichment, shelter dog field trip programs, disaster relief and access to emergency and specialty veterinary care for low-income families. Through its partnership with Royal Canin and Hill’s Pet Nutrition, VCA Charities Fighting Hometown Hunger grant program also provided more than 1.5 million meals to pets belonging to struggling families and communities as well as shelter partners in need.
The 2025 report outlines how VCA Charities meaningfully delivered on its mission of helping pets find and remain in loving homes. VCA Charities focused on granting resources and dollars to increase positive outcomes through its Ready for Rescue grant program, awarding more than $1.5 million supporting adoption readiness, enrichment, medical care, transport and shelter training. As part of its Ready for Rescue, VCA Charities ‘Dog Day Out’ shelter field trip program trained 29 shelters and helped facilitate more than 35,000 field trip outings for shelter dogs.
“VCA Charities continues to demonstrate the power of partnership by granting millions of dollars to shelter partners across the country, helping increase positive outcomes and connecting more animals with loving families,” said Kim Van Syoc, Executive Director, VCA Charities. “From funding innovative adoption programs as well as field trip initiatives that provide shelter animals greater visibility, to expanding access to emergency veterinary care for families facing financial hardship, our grants remove barriers and create opportunities for people and pets to thrive.”
Through its partnership with KONG®, VCA Charities surpassed the milestone of granting forward 85,000 “Second Chance KONGs”, slightly imperfect KONGs that can’t be sold because of small imperfections but have the same durability of any KONG you’d find in a store—reducing waste while increasing resources for some of the highest intake shelters across the country. Additionally, VCA Charities was the charitable partner of the VW KONG For a Cause campaign, highlighting the limited-edition Cabana Blue dog toy inspired by the launch of the electric Volkswagen ID.Buzz—100 percent of net proceeds and a buy-one-donate-one model benefited VCA Charities’ programs.
VCA Charities also granted $212,000 to Virginia Tech School of Animal Sciences for the creation of the VCA Charities Companion Animal Research & Education (CARE) Internship Program in Shelter Enrichment, Behavior, & Welfare. Through the CARE internship program, undergraduate students were placed for up to three weeks at animal shelters with robust behavior departments (mentor shelters) so students could further develop skills in animal behavior, enrichment, and welfare while supporting shelter operations. Participating mentor shelters included Animal Farm Foundation (NY), Arizona Humane Society, Nebraska Humane Society, Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA) and Roanoke Valley SPCA (VA).
Following the initial internship, students were placed in secondary internships for up to six weeks at less-resourced shelters (outreach shelters) to create and implement critical enrichment programs and carry out training strategies. Participating outreach shelters included Animal Care and Control Team Philadelphia (ACCT Philly), Denver Animal Shelter, Kentucky Humane Society, Maricopa County Animal Care and Control (AZ), San Francisco Animal Care and Control, Williamson County Animal Shelter (TX).
“Throughout their time in the VCA Charities CARE Internship Program, students provided behavioral support and socialization to hundreds of dogs at 11 shelters across the U.S., logging over 3,000 hours in one-on-one behavioral sessions, manners training, playgroups, in- and out-of-kennel enrichment activities—and even in-home fostering,” said Dr. Lisa M. Gunter, Assistant Professor, Animal Behavior & Welfare at Virginia Tech. “We are grateful to VCA Charities for their commitment to animal welfare and to supporting Virginia Tech in developing the next generation of behavior professionals who are improving the lives of dogs in shelters.”
VCA Charities 2025 Impact by the Numbers:
- $1,521,153 in Ready for Rescue grants supporting adoption readiness and shelter support
- 29 shelters trained on Dog Day Out; 35,000 shelter dogs participated in a field trip
- $116,107 in disaster response grants supporting 4,877 animals across 11 states including grants in response to the Palisades and Eaton fires and Texas Hill Country floods
- 1,505,046 meals served supporting owned and shelter pets
- 348,000 pets helped through all grant programs
- $4,178,063 awarded in support of our purpose: A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS
Since 2020, VCA Charities has granted $11 million and provided 4 million meals to hungry pets. Whether it’s responding to disasters, transporting pets from at-capacity shelters, or funding emergency veterinary care for pets belonging to low-income pet owners, VCA Charities works to support the joy of pet ownership in communities across the country. To learn more about VCA Charities, or make a donation, visit VCACharities.org.
About VCA Charities
VCA Charities, a 501c(3), is committed to supporting the joy of pet ownership by helping pets find and remain in loving homes. Through grants and partnerships with shelters and animal welfare organizations, we help remove barriers to pet ownership and help keep pets in loving homes by funding emergency and specialty veterinary care; supporting adoption readiness and surrender prevention programs; enabling the care and feeding of pets belonging to underserved families; and, responding to our local communities in crisis. VCA Charities is the charitable arm of VCA Animal Hospitals, a leader in veterinary care committed to caring for the future of veterinary medicine while positively impacting pets, people, and communities. Learn more about VCA Charities at VCACharities.org or find us on Instagram and LinkedIn.
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Katie Schoen VCA Charities mediarelations@vca.com
