Doris Day is coming up on a big birthday on April 3rd and instead of cards and gifts, the Hollywood legend would like the focus to be somewhere else, according to CBS.

Day is hosting a fundraising bash at her Cypress Inn in Carmel, California to benefit animals, which have been her life and cause since retiring from stage and screen.

She says, “I’m all about the four-leggers.”, and she puts her money and energy behind it. She started the Doris Day Animal Foundation because she felt the animal rescue efforts in the 1970’s were severely lacking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nuq8X4mn8P4

According to the website, she was “affectionately known to some as ‘The Dog Catcher of Beverly Hills’, Doris would often find unwanted dogs dropped off at her gate. It was not uncommon for her to knock on neighbors’ doors in an attempt to reunite lost dogs with their owners or check to make sure those that were either reunited or in new homes were doing well and receiving proper care and attention.

‘One star was famously quoted as saying, ‘We all had at least one of those Doris Day animals. If you would see Doris on the street or at the studio, chances are you would end up with some homeless cat or dog Doris was sponsoring. She carried around photos of the animals who needed homes, and then she’d actually come over to inspect your house to make sure you were up to it.'”

Her heart for animals is the center of the affair which will include a doggie fashion show, adoption event, and an April 4th tribute dinner for fans and friends. An online auction will begin April 1st featuring items signed by her celebrity friends Paul McCartney, Tony Bennett, and Doris Day herself.

“There is so much work still to do to rescue animals, and to inform people about the importance of spaying and neutering their pets,” Day said.

She is most famous for the dozens of films stretching from the 1940s all the way to the 1960s, including “Pillow Talk” and “Calamity Jane,” and recorded hit songs including “Que Sera, Sera.”

Image via Wikimedia Commons