Dog and cat owners in Cape Town can get eligible pets vaccinated and microchipped for free at the AWARE Foundation Community Day on Sea Point Promenade on Sunday, 25 October 2026. The day is run by the AWARE Foundation NPC with EarthPet and EarthPet Vet.
Every pet needs its own booking through AniPortal, and there are no walk-ins. Owners should bring their booking confirmation, with dogs on a secure lead and cats in a carrier.
The organisers are also looking for eight volunteers, who can apply here.
Insights on the free pet vaccinations at Sea Point
Four organisations are behind the day, all based at the same estate in Klapmuts near Paarl. AWARE, short for Annie's Animal Welfare and Rescue Enrichment Foundation, is a non-profit company that supports animal welfare and rescue groups in the Western Cape. It is named after Annie, a rescue dog adopted by the family of Dr Deon de Beer, who often comforted animals at EarthPet Vet and whose cancer surgery was paid for from a medical fund.
EarthPet is a commercial pet aftercare business offering eco-friendly burials, cremations and prepaid farewell plans. EarthPet Vet is its registered veterinary practice, which has added a mobile veterinary nurse service for vaccinations and basic care, and it is the practice doing the vaccinations and microchipping on the day.
The fourth is GreenSwitch (Pty) Ltd, the private company that operates AniPortal, a free digital pet health passport. It keeps a pet's identity, microchip number and vaccination history in one place, with clinical entries signed by verified vets, and reminds owners when care is due.
Owners can share records with their chosen vet and remove that access later, and if a lost pet is found, the finder's contact details go only to the owner rather than being shown publicly. It works in a web browser for now, with iOS and Android apps promised.
What others are saying about the free pet vaccinations at Sea Point
AniPortal's own site describes the platform as one connected record for a pet's whole life, for any species. The AWARE Foundation says it is funded by individual and corporate sponsors who buy what it calls Pet Credits, and invites businesses to become ongoing sponsors. EarthPet says it is also working with AWARE on GreenDepart, a project aimed at making its burial service free for animal welfare organisations.
A free service, and a smart way to build a platform
The event itself is simply good news: vaccinations and microchips cost money, and a free day helps owners who might otherwise skip them, while microchips give lost pets a far better chance of getting home.
The model behind it is worth understanding too. AniPortal is free to use, but GreenSwitch's privacy notice also mentions subscriptions, payments, marketing messages and registration for vets, providers and insurers. That is the familiar approach of a free tool that builds a user base first, the same one we saw with FindHomes opening its rental data for free. There is nothing wrong with that, and owners should simply know who runs the platform.
What stands out is how carefully the privacy side has been handled: the notice explains plainly who holds which records, keeps veterinary records separate from event bookings, switches off advertising features in its analytics, and keeps Google Analytics off pages that show bookings. After a week in which Ampath confirmed a patient data breach, that kind of clarity is worth noticing, even for a pet records app.
You might also like our piece on BuddyMeal's personalised dog food, Aura's emergency response network, and the POPIA warning about AI at work.
Get more SA tech and business news and subscribe to The Open Letter.
