If you’ve recently brought a new pet into your home you should probably get it vaccinated.

As puppy and kitten season approaches, pet exposure to contagious and deadly diseases – parvovirus, distemper, and panleukopenia – increases but is preventable with a simple vaccine.

And thanks to Petco Love, March has been established as “National Pet Vaccination Month” in hopes of encouraging pet parents to keep their pets up to date on vaccinations.

It will provide free pet vaccines to Rancho Coastal Humane Society for family pets in need.

Rancho Coastal Humane Society aims to vaccinate 300 pets through this effort via the free vaccine event on Saturday, March 26 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at North County Lifeline at 200 Michigan Ave. in Vista while supplies last and it will be first come, first serve.

This is a joint effort between North County Lifeline, Face Foundation, and Rancho Coastal Humane Society. 

Vaccines distributed through the Petco Love initiative will be the DAPPv Canine and HCP Feline vaccines. Some rabies vaccines and microchips will be available.  

There will be pet supply goodie bags and information about other resources for pet families and North County Lifeline will provide food and refreshments.

“Thanks to Petco Love, we can offer these important vaccines at no cost to pet owners,” said Judi Sanzo, president of Rancho Coastal Humane Society. “We urge community members to take advantage of this free resource to help reduce the spread of disease and ensure the health and wellness of our community’s pets.”

The “Give Pets Their Best Shot” initiative makes crucial pet vaccines accessible to pet parents who may be experiencing financial challenges and assures that cost is not a barrier to protecting pets from preventable diseases.

“Treatment for these deadly diseases can be prohibitively expensive for many pet parents,” said Susanne Kogut, Petco Love president. “By providing free vaccines to those in need, we can help these pets live a healthy life. Through this national effort and our other Petco Love Care initiatives, we continue our 22-year history of strategic investments and innovation to end unnecessary pet euthanasia.”

National Pet Vaccination Month is a continuation of Petco Love’s 1 million free pet vaccine campaign, which has helped 400,000 pets to date. Fifty percent of participating pet parents surveyed reported their pets had never been vaccinated against these diseases.

For more information about Rancho Coastal Humane Society’s vaccine event, email info@sdpets.org, call (760) 753-6413 or go to www.sdpets.org. Learn more about Petco Love’s national vaccine effort and lifesaving impact at petcolove.org or freepetvaccines.org.