One gift. A real second chance at life.
Some animals arrive needing more than routine care — surgery, medication, or months of recovery. Your gift to the Second Chance Fund covers the extraordinary costs, so no animal is turned away when a little more help is all they need.
Looking for a way to save a life today?
Make a gift to the Second Chance Fund, and you truly save lives.
Most animals who come to the Santa Cruz SPCA need only routine care before finding a loving home. But some arrive with serious medical or behavioral needs that go far beyond the ordinary — and their care can cost hundreds or thousands of dollars.
The Second Chance Fund exists for exactly these animals. Your gift offsets the veterinary, medical, and behavioral costs of the animals who need specialized treatment — giving them the healthy, happy future every animal deserves.
What the Second Chance Fund makes possible
Your donation goes straight to the care that gives an animal a second chance — the treatments a shelter budget alone can't always cover.
Life-saving medical care
Emergency treatment, diagnostics, and ongoing management for animals who arrive sick, injured, or with chronic conditions.
Specialized surgery
Orthopedic repairs, tumor and stone removals, and other operations that restore mobility, comfort, and health.
Behavioral & recovery support
Rehabilitation, special diets, and the time and patience it takes to prepare each animal for a forever home.
Meet a few of the animals your gift saves
These are the faces of the Second Chance Fund — each one healed, recovered, and adopted thanks to donors like you.
Tinsel came to us as a malnourished puppy with severe mange, rescued from a shelter that didn't have the resources to treat her. Her skin was raw and her coat was almost gone.
With medication, skin tests, medicated baths, and proper nutrition, Tinsel slowly transformed. Her coat grew back healthy and full — and she found the loving home she'd always deserved.
✓ Healthy, happy, and homeRusty, a 12-year-old cat, arrived with dangerously uncontrolled diabetes. After emergency care for diabetic ketoacidosis, our team worked to stabilize him with careful diet changes and improved insulin management.
Today Rusty is thriving on a minimal insulin dose — and enjoying life in a home that adores him, proof that senior animals deserve a second chance too.
✓ Stabilized and adoptedDixie was a young dog born with a malformed hip that left her in pain. Rather than amputation, the Second Chance Fund made it possible for her to have femoral head osteotomy surgery.
After her recovery, Dixie can run, play, and keep up with any dog at the park — moving freely and without pain for the first time in her life.
✓ Running and playing pain-freeSasha, a Miniature Schnauzer, needed emergency surgery to remove painful bladder stones. The Second Chance Fund covered her operation and her recovery.
She healed beautifully on a specialized urinary diet and was soon ready for adoption — comfortable, healthy, and looking forward to her new life.
✓ Recovered and adoptedGive a second chance today
Every gift, at any level, goes directly to the care of an animal who needs it most. Choose an amount below — or give any amount that's right for you.
Make your gift
Secure donation · Second Chance Fund is pre-selected
When we adopted Dixie, we couldn't believe she'd ever had a bad hip. She runs to greet us every single day. Whoever gave to the fund that helped her — thank you. You changed our whole family.— A Second Chance Fund adopter
Three simple ways to make your gift
Every method sends your donation straight to the Second Chance Fund. Choose whatever is easiest for you.
Give online
Make a fast, secure gift through our donation portal and select Second Chance Fund as your designation.
Give by phone
Prefer to talk to a person? Call us and we'll be glad to help you make your gift.
Give by mail
Send a check with "Second Chance Fund" on the memo line to:
Santa Cruz SPCA
P.O. Box 3800
Santa Cruz, CA 95063
Common questions
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Give an animal their second chance
Your gift today becomes the surgery, the medicine, and the recovery that sends one more animal home. Please give to the Second Chance Fund.
2601 Chanticleer Ave.
Santa Cruz, CA 95065
(P) 831-465-5000 (F) 831-479-8530
Monday - CLOSED
Animal Browsing Tuesday to Sunday 11am - 5pm
PET FOOD PANTRY - Sundays 1:00pm - 3:00pm
The Santa Cruz SPCA is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to the welfare of animals. We receive no government funding, and depend solely on financial support from our friends. Our organization is not affiliated with any other SPCA or Humane Society.
Tax ID: 94-6171565
© 2026 Santa Cruz SPCA
