Los Alamos Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals
Los Alamos, New Mexico
Since 1999, Los Alamos Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals LAFOSCA (Formerly Los Alamos Friends of the Shelter LAFOS) has provided canine and feline foster homes, funding for catastrophic animal medical care and our spay/neutering program.
The redefined focus of LAFOSCA is exclusively on assisting privately owned companion animals and their families and private rescue organizations, including groups such as NM Dog, Stray Hearts, Dew Paws Rescue, McKinley County Animal Rescue, and Otero County Animal Rescue and many, many more!
While we are unable to take in animals, assistance of information is provided in animal re-homing and adoptions.
Assistance provided to private rescue groups and privately
owned companion animals is the priority of LAFOSCA’s work.
Our work alongside shelters and rescue organizations of
Northern New Mexico will help reduce the population of
homeless and at-risk companion animals by providing
assistance directly.
2026 FOSCA Rescue Calendar is available!
Our Shelter Alumni Calendars for 2026 are now for sell at local businesses for $20, and all proceeds will go directly to help the animals through Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals programs.
Pet owners who have adopted a shelter animal or an abandoned or homeless animal have sent in photos and stories about their special companion. The calendars will be for sale at Ridgeview Veterinary Hospital and Pet Pangaea and at local craft fairs. These calendars are attractive spiral-bound 52-week calendars that make great holiday gifts for pet lovers everywhere.
We will kick off our calendar sales at Pet Pangaea on Small Business Saturday on November 29, 2025. You can find us there from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
We will also be selling the calendars at the YMCA Winter Vendor Fair on Saturday December 6, and at the Los Alamos Coop Market on Saturday December 13.
Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals, a humane organization based in Los Alamos for over 25 years, is working to improve the quality of life for homeless pets and pets and to help pet owners and local rescues. We work closely with local veterinarians, and with other independent rescues and with humane societies. Our program has three major components:
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a program where we pay for medical expenses for low-income pet owners and
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a program where we provide access and support for low-cost spay neuter surgeries for low-income pet owners and our pet rescue partners around the state, and
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an education program to promote responsible pet ownership, including the benefits and importance of spaying/neutering pets. Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals works year-round to make our two special programs to help pets ad pet owners and reduce the number of unwanted pets successful.
The Catastrophic Illness/Injury program provides funds for veterinary treatment of severely ill or injured pets whose owners cannot afford extensive treatment. The second program provides vouchers for free spay/neutering of pets, in order to encourage pet owners to make sure that their pets are surgically altered and cannot produce litters of unwanted cats or dogs. Friends of Shelter and Companion Animals would like to thank our participating veterinary clinics, Ridgeview Veterinary Hospital, Cottonwood Veterinary Clinic, Arroyo Seco Animal Hospital, and the Santa Fe Animal Shelter Spay/Neuter Clinic.
The winner of this year’s Dog Jog logo contest is Gracie Nichols, one of our youngest winners ever. This talented Pinon fourth grader produced a clever and imaginative drawing showing a free-spirited dog enjoying nature and the great outdoors. Her drawing will be the official logo for this year’s Dog Jog event and she will receive a free t-shirt featuring her artwork. The winners are chosen on the basis of artistic merit, creativity and originality.
The other young artists recognized this year include our 2nd
place winner, 3rd-grader Miller Gauss, and 3rd place for
Clara Nichols and 4th place for Riley Stark. Honorable
mentions go to entries from Heather Gauss, Aurora
Matzke-Rubio, Hudson Ayers, and Liesl Whitton, all talented
3 graders. We want to thank all of our young artists for their
talent and enthusiasm. We encourage the younger artists to
enter again in future years.
Here is a picture of young artist Gracie with her winning
design and assisted by her 2 - year-old Bernedoodle Rosie
At the August 8th, 2017 Los Alamos County Council meeting, Los Alamos Friends of the Shelter was presented a Notice of Special Recognition for all the work that has been accomplished since 1999.
(Double clicking on the image pulls up enlarged view)