🐾 Shelter Dog Month, wind-season tips for pets & horses, and a longtime Palmdale vet

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month. Plus evacuation prep for pets and horses, low-cost vaccines, and Halloween safety.

AV Paws & Hooves

Oct 7, 2026

Welcome to This Week's AV Paws & Hooves

Fall has arrived in the high desert, and with it come cooler mornings, gusty afternoons, and a few seasonal things every pet and horse owner in the Antelope Valley should have on their radar.

This week we're celebrating Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, walking through wind-and-fire-season readiness for pets and horses, sharing a few Halloween safety reminders, pointing you to low-cost vaccines and microchips, and spotlighting a Palmdale animal hospital that has cared for AV pets for decades.

Trivia Question❓

Which Antelope Valley-area community, known for its horse properties and the famous rock formations at Vasquez Rocks, has a Spanish name that translates to "sweet water"?

Answer at the bottom of the newsletter

October is Adopt a Shelter Dog Month, and the Antelope Valley has two county animal care centers full of dogs ready for a fresh start, along with plenty of cats, puppies and kittens.

Adopting from a shelter does more than change one animal's life. Every adoption opens a kennel for the next dog that comes in. And many shelter dogs are already house-trained, socialized, or simply past the chew-everything puppy stage.

Before you go, think about your home and routine. How much exercise can you realistically give each day? Is your yard fence secure and tall enough? How will a new dog fit with the pets you already have? Staff can help match you with a dog whose energy and personality fit your household. Plan on a few weeks of patience while your new companion settles in.

Lancaster Animal Care Center
5210 W. Avenue I, Lancaster, CA 93536

Palmdale Animal Care Center
38550 Sierra Highway, Palmdale, CA 93550
(661) 575-2888

Both centers are open for adoptions Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Sundays and holidays they're closed for public viewing.

Browse animals currently at both centers on the LA County Animal Care & Control adoption search. Can't adopt right now? Fostering is another great way to help. Learn more about becoming a foster caretaker.

Wind and fire season: have a plan for every animal

Fall winds can turn a small brush fire into an evacuation order fast, and the AV's open land, dry brush and rural roads make that a real risk. Moving dogs and cats takes minutes. Moving horses, goats and other livestock can take hours, so the time to plan is before the smoke shows up.

Pack a grab-and-go kit for each pet: food, water, medications, leash or carrier, vaccination records and a recent photo of you with your animal.
Check that microchips are registered with your current phone number. A chip only helps if the contact info is up to date.
Horse and livestock owners: make sure your trailer is hitch-ready with good tires, and practice loading before an emergency. Set up a buddy plan with a neighbor who can haul for you if you're away from home.
Identify every horse with a halter tag, a mane tag, or your phone number written in livestock marker, so they can be returned if they're released or moved.
Know your destination ahead of time: a friend's property, a boarding facility, or a designated large-animal shelter outside the threat area.
Sign up for emergency alerts through Alert LA County and leave early when an evacuation warning is issued. Don't wait for the order.

LA County Animal Care & Control publishes free preparedness guides for pets and for horses and livestock. They're worth printing and keeping in the barn or tack room.

Halloween reminders

Keep candy out of reach. Chocolate and the sugar-free sweetener xylitol are both toxic to dogs. Wrappers can cause blockages too.
Watch the front door. Constant trick-or-treaters can mean a dog or cat slips out. A quiet back room on Halloween night is a kindness for nervous pets.
Costumes should be comfortable. Make sure your pet can see, breathe, move and bark or meow freely, and skip anything with small parts that could be chewed off.
Keep candles and jack-o'-lanterns away from wagging tails and curious paws.

If you think your pet ate something toxic, call your veterinarian or an animal poison control line right away.

Low-Cost Vaccine & Microchip Clinic for Dogs and Cats

★★★★★

	Date	Ongoing — by appointment only
	Time	Book a time slot online
	Location	Lancaster Animal Care Center (5210 W. Avenue I) and Palmdale Animal Care Center (38550 Sierra Hwy)
	Price	Rabies $10 · DHLPP, FVRCP or Bordetella $15 · Microchip $7.50

Keep Your Pets' Vaccines Up to Date

Vaccines protect dogs and cats from serious and often deadly diseases, including rabies, parvovirus, distemper, bordetella (kennel cough), feline leukemia and feline panleukopenia. Which shots your pet needs, and how often, depends on its age and health, so the annual wellness exam is a good time to work out a vaccine plan with your veterinarian.

Rabies shots are also the law. In LA County's service area, every dog and cat older than three months must be vaccinated against rabies, and pets can't be licensed without it. After the first shot, the rabies vaccine has to be repeated every year, or every three years with an approved three-year vaccine. Skipping vaccinations or licensing can lead to fines.

Staying current matters even if your pet rarely leaves home. Animals can pick up illnesses through a shared fence line, at the park, or anywhere pets gather. Keeping vaccines up to date protects your pet's health and can save you from costly vet bills and the worry of a sick animal.

Cost doesn't have to be a barrier. LA County Animal Care & Control offers low-cost vaccinations for dogs and cats, along with mobile vaccine and microchip clinics in communities throughout its service area year-round.

	5210 W. Avenue ILancaster
	(661) 940-4191

Click to find out more

Fall is a good time to get pets caught up before the holidays, and LA County Animal Care & Control runs low-cost vaccine and microchip clinics at both AV care centers. Appointments are required, with up to two pets per appointment. Microchip registration isn't included in the $7.50 chip price, so plan to register it afterward.

Prices are from the county's current clinic flyer. Confirm when you book through the county's vaccination page.

Hosting an animal event in the AV? Horse show, adoption day, clinic or fundraiser, we'd love to share it. Post your event here.

Interesting Facts

The high desert communities of Antelope Valley have a surprisingly rich animal culture that goes far beyond tumbleweeds and Joshua trees. Here are a few things you might not know:

Horse capital credentials: The unincorporated areas of the Antelope Valley — particularly around Palmdale and Lancaster — have some of the highest concentrations of privately kept horses per capita in all of Los Angeles County, largely because lot sizes and zoning allow equine keeping at a fraction of the cost of coastal communities.
Desert-adapted rescue network: Because extreme summer heat makes animal abandonment especially dangerous in the valley, local rescue volunteers have developed a coordinated rapid-response system for stray livestock — including cattle, goats, and pigs — that operates independently of traditional municipal animal control.
Tortoise handoffs, not just cats and dogs: The Antelope Valley is within the native range of the Mojave desert tortoise, a threatened species, and local shelters regularly coordinate with California Department of Fish and Wildlife to legally rehome captive-held tortoises rather than euthanize them — something almost no urban shelter deals with.
Working-dog demand: The area's active agricultural and ranching community creates unusually high local demand for trained livestock guardian dogs — breeds like Great Pyrenees and Anatolian Shepherds — making them a staple at several valley-based rescues rather than a rarity.
Veterinary desert gaps: Despite its large animal population, the valley has historically had a shortage of large-animal veterinarians, prompting some horse owners to drive over 40 miles to the nearest equine specialist — a gap that community advocates have publicly lobbied to address through mobile vet incentive programs.

Antelope Valley Animal Hospital, Palmdale

Some local practices have been part of the community so long that families have brought several generations of pets through their doors. Antelope Valley Animal Hospital is one of them.

The practice began as Schumann Animal Hospital. Dr. Jim Nyholt purchased it in 1980 and renamed it Antelope Valley Animal Hospital, and it has served AV dogs and cats ever since. Its location on Avenue N, just west of the 14 freeway, sits roughly between Lancaster, Palmdale and Quartz Hill, so it's an easy drive from most of the valley.

The hospital describes its mission as giving every patient the best quality veterinary care possible through teamwork. It offers a broad range of small animal services, from preventive care, vaccinations and dentistry to diagnostic imaging, surgery and help with allergies, skin problems and behavior concerns. Longtime clients often mention the doctors by name in reviews, which says a lot about the relationships a hometown practice builds over the years.

With fall vaccine reminders and holiday boarding season coming up, it's a good time to make sure your pet's annual exam is on the calendar, wherever you go for care.

Antelope Valley Animal Hospital
1326 W. Avenue N, Palmdale, CA 93551
(661) 273-1234
Please call for current hours and appointments.

What to Know When Adopting a Dog from a Rescue Shelter

Thinking about adopting a rescue dog? Learn what to expect before bringing a shelter dog home, including how to prepare, what questions to ask, and why patience, training, and realistic expectations matter.