Our Values, Standards & Promises
At Companion Animal Coalition, our values are more than words on a page. They guide how we care for animals, how we support people, how we use the resources entrusted to us, and how we make difficult decisions.
We believe trust is earned through actions, not claimed through words.
Our Values
Four values sit at the center of the work we do: passion, trust, transparency, and compassion.
We care deeply.
Passion drives us to take action, seek solutions, educate our community, and continue showing up even when rescue is difficult. We believe every animal deserves to be treated as an individual, not simply as a number.
We take responsibility seriously.
Our community entrusts us with animals they love, animals who have no one else advocating for them, donations given in good faith, and often deeply personal situations. We work to earn that trust through responsible care, honest communication, thoughtful decision-making, and accountability.
We believe you deserve to know.
We believe our community should understand how we operate, the standards we follow, how resources are used, and what outcomes our work produces. Transparency also means acknowledging the difficult parts of rescue—not only celebrating the successes.
Compassion extends to animals and people.
Sometimes helping an animal means bringing them into foster care. Sometimes it means helping them remain with the person who already loves them. Sometimes it means providing comfort, dignity, and a peaceful ending. We look at the whole situation and seek the path that best protects an animal’s welfare.
Values mean very little without action.
The standards we set for ourselves are how we put those values into practice. They define what animals, adopters, fosters, donors, and our community should be able to expect from Companion Animal Coalition.
Our Standards & Commitments
Responsible rescue is more than moving animals from one place to another. When an animal becomes our responsibility, we commit to providing care designed around that individual animal’s needs and welfare.
Animal Care & Medical Standards
Animals in CAC care receive preventative and medical care based on their age, health, history, and individual needs.
- Age-appropriate FVRCP vaccination
- Rabies vaccination when age-appropriate
- FeLV/FIV testing
- Appropriate parasite treatment and prevention
- Spay or neuter as medically and age appropriate
- Appropriate diagnostic testing when medically indicated
- Treatment of identified illness and injury
- Appropriate pain management
- Accurate medical records
- Individual quality-of-life assessment
- Humane euthanasia when suffering cannot reasonably be relieved
Adoption Standards
Our responsibility to an animal does not disappear when an adoption is finalized. Adoption begins a new relationship between CAC, the adopter, and the animal.
- Honest disclosure of known medical information
- Honest disclosure of known behavioral information
- A two-week post-adoption health guarantee
- Post-adoption guidance and support
- Access to our CAC alumni community
- A lifetime return commitment for CAC animals
- Support when an adoption is not the right match
Foster Care Standards
Foster homes make our work possible. We believe foster families deserve clear expectations, communication, resources, and support.
- Veterinary care coordinated through CAC
- Supplies and resources based on foster needs
- Clear communication and medical protocols
- Support with behavior and adjustment
- Thoughtful placement and adoption planning
- Support through difficult medical outcomes and loss
Community Cat Standards
We believe humane population management is essential to reducing suffering and creating long-term change for community cats.
- Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR)
- Spay-abort as a humane population-management tool
- Vaccination at the time of TNR when possible
- Ear tipping as the universal visual marker of sterilization
- Responsible colony management
- Individual evaluation of friendly cats and kittens
- Returning healthy unsocialized cats when appropriate
Keeping Loved Pets Home
We do not believe an animal must enter rescue for us to make a meaningful difference. When safe and appropriate, keeping pets with the people who already love them can be one of the best outcomes.
- Emergency veterinary assistance when funding allows
- Access to community veterinary resources
- Intake-diversion support
- Education and problem-solving before surrender
- Respect and compassion for families experiencing hardship
Quality of Life & End-of-Life Care
Rescue does not always end in adoption. We believe quality of life matters more than simply keeping an animal alive at any cost.
- Individual quality-of-life evaluation
- Veterinary guidance when making medical decisions
- Comfort-focused and hospice care when appropriate
- Humane euthanasia when suffering cannot reasonably be relieved
- Dignity and compassion through an animal’s final moments
Capacity is part of compassion.
Saying yes to every animal is not responsible rescue. Every animal we accept becomes our responsibility—for housing, food, veterinary care, behavioral support, and placement, potentially for months or even years.
We will not knowingly take animals beyond our ability to provide appropriate care simply to increase intake numbers. When our foster homes or resources are at capacity, intake may be limited or placed on a waiting list.
Sometimes compassion means saying, “We cannot responsibly take this animal today,” while helping a person identify other resources or options whenever we can.
You should not have to take our word for it.
Transparency means showing our community what we actually accomplish, where we still have room to improve, and the difficult outcomes that are part of animal welfare work. These numbers represent real animals, real families, and real responsibility.
2025
Year in ReviewWhere we want to improve: Our average length of stay was 121 days overall and 90 days while available for adoption. We want to see those numbers decrease while continuing to prioritize thoughtful, appropriate placements. We also want to increase the amount of emergency veterinary assistance we can provide to families so more loved pets can remain in their homes.
2024
Year in Review2024 marked significant growth for our young organization. As our impact increased, so did our responsibility to maintain sustainable capacity, strong medical standards, and meaningful support for the animals and people relying on us.
2023
Where It BeganCompanion Animal Coalition was founded in 2023. These first 59 intakes and 34 adoptions became the foundation for the programs, partnerships, and community support that continue to grow today.
Why We Report Losses
Transparency means celebrating successful adoptions and lives changed while also acknowledging animals who die or are humanely euthanized while in our care.
Rescue sometimes means accepting animals who are critically ill, severely injured, elderly, or facing terminal disease. Not every life can be saved, and we do not believe those animals should disappear from our story simply because their outcome was not the one we hoped for.
Their lives mattered. Their care mattered. Their outcomes are part of our work, and we believe our community deserves an honest accounting of that work.
Your trust includes your donations.
Every donation represents someone’s decision to trust Companion Animal Coalition with resources that could have gone somewhere else. We believe that creates an obligation to use those funds thoughtfully and to be transparent about our organization.
Donations help support veterinary care, preventative care, food, supplies, community-cat initiatives, emergency veterinary assistance, and the other costs associated with caring for animals and supporting families in our community.
Our organization is powered by people who donate their time, homes, skills, transportation, administrative work, and countless hours to further our mission.
2025 Financial & Tax Document
View our 2025 organizational financial and tax documentation.
View 2025 DocumentTransparency does not mean pretending to be perfect.
Animal welfare involves difficult decisions, limited resources, changing circumstances, and sometimes incomplete information. We will not always get everything right.
What we expect of ourselves is a willingness to learn from outcomes, listen to qualified veterinary and animal-welfare professionals, evaluate our policies, correct mistakes when they occur, and change our practices when better information becomes available.
We believe accountability means being willing to explain our standards, stand behind our decisions, acknowledge where we can improve, and continue doing the work required to earn our community’s trust.
Questions about CAC?
If you have a question about our policies, practices, financial information, or organizational standards, we welcome respectful questions from our community.
companionanimalcoalition@gmail.comWe take the responsibility of rescue seriously.
We cannot promise that every decision will be easy or that every story will have the ending we hoped for.
What we can promise is that our decisions will be made thoughtfully, with animal welfare at the center. We will be honest about what we can and cannot do. We will use the resources entrusted to us responsibly. We will continue learning. And when we make a commitment to an animal, we will take that commitment seriously.
Passion drives us. Trust holds us accountable.
Transparency keeps us honest. Compassion reminds us why we’re here.
Ready to Make a Difference?
There are so many ways you can help animals in need. Together, we can build a better future for every pet.