Meet Dawn
Dawn Gillette, RVT
A Registered Veterinary Technician (RVT) and former UC Davis veterinary technician who built a place where animals could get the kind of attention she'd seen them need.
For years Dawn worked inside one of the busiest veterinary teaching hospitals in the country, in the rooms where the hardest cases go. She learned to read animals the way other people read faces: the shift in appetite, the guarded step, the quiet that means something hurts.
All Species Animal Care grew out of that. It sits on a quiet property in Woodland, minutes from the veterinary hospital in Davis, and it exists for the animals whose recovery, age or medical schedule asks more than an ordinary kennel can give. Post surgical rest, medications on the clock, seniors who need help standing, families deployed or hospitalized, and the goats, poultry and other species most boarding places turn away.
Dawn takes a small number of animals at a time and reviews every stay herself, so that what your veterinarian wrote down is exactly what happens each day, for as many weeks as it takes.
For Dawn, caring for animals has never been "just a job." It's what she has done, carefully and personally, for decades.
The years at UC Davis
Before founding All Species Animal Care, Dawn Gillette, RVT, worked as a veterinary technician at UC Davis, one of the foremost veterinary hospitals in the world, and a place where the difficult cases end up.
What she carried out of those years wasn't only clinical technique, though there was plenty of that. It was the habit of noticing. Appetite. Gait. Breathing. The particular stillness of an animal who isn't comfortable and can't tell you.
Why she started All Species Animal Care
In a hospital you see the same conversation over and over. An animal is ready for discharge, the owner is anxious, and the recovery instructions assume a household that doesn't exist: someone home all day, a quiet room, no stairs, no other dogs.
There was also the geography problem. Families drive to Davis from hours away for treatment that runs for weeks. Somebody had to be nearby, and had to be somebody you'd trust with an animal in the middle of treatment.
So Dawn built the place she kept wishing she could send them to: on a quiet property in Woodland, minutes from the veterinary hospital, with room for dogs, cats and whatever else arrived.
Sixteen radiation treatments
The UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine published a patient story about a dog named Sadie Mae, a Catahoula-Rottweiler mix whose treatment plan called for sixteen radiation appointments. Her family couldn't make the drive sixteen times.
Sadie Mae stayed with Dawn and went to every appointment. That is the shape most of this work takes: not dramatic, just relentlessly reliable, for as many weeks as it takes.
How she works
Every stay is reviewed personally. Dawn wants to know what the animal needs before she agrees to take them, because saying yes to an animal she can't properly care for would help nobody.
She works from your veterinarian's instructions rather than around them. All Species Animal Care does not diagnose, prescribe or provide veterinary treatment it provides the care in between, carried out exactly as written.
The difference isn't simply what Dawn does. It's how much she cares.
All Species Animal Care provides boarding and supportive animal care and is not a substitute for veterinary diagnosis or treatment. Animals requiring veterinary attention should remain under the direction of their veterinarian.
All Species Animal Care is independently owned and operated. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or certified by the University of California, Davis.
Reviews
Trusted with what matters most.
For many families, leaving an animal in someone else's care is the hardest part of treatment, recovery or travel. These are the words of people who have done it.
5.0 on Google5 reviews
Dawn is nothing short of amazing! She cared for my 7 year old German Shepard after TPLO surgery on his back leg. Recovery time is long and she kept him for 5 weeks. He shed extra pounds, regained his leg strength, and completely healed from the surgery under her amazing care. He adores her and she clearly loved him back!! She's the best!!
No words for how lucky I feel to have found Dawn Gillette and All Species Animal Care. Recommended by UCDavis, she is a former vet tech who does medical boarding for animals post surgery or those with ongoing treatment needs. Works with multiple rescues and also takes in animals that have been evacuated from the fires. My dog will be with her for 8 weeks recovering from TPLO surgery. Horses, cows, goats, sheep, cats, dogs, chickens, ducks, geese, alpacas, llamas and donkeys - the place is a veritable ark!
Dawn is amazing. I never worry about my dog when I travel because I know he will be well cared for. Very highly recommend All Species Animal Care!
Woodland, California
Close to the care they already have.
The property sits on State Highway 16 outside Woodland, an easy drive from Davis, Sacramento and the wider Yolo County area, and close to the UC Davis veterinary hospital. For families whose animals are on a repeating treatment schedule, that distance matters a great deal.
All Species Animal Care LLC
36791 CA-16, Woodland, CA 95695
Ask Dawn about coordinating transportation for veterinary appointments.
Request care
They deserve somewhere you can feel good about leaving them.
Tell Dawn about your animal, what they need, and the dates you're considering. Every care request begins with understanding the animal first.