Dec 27, 2024

Austin Pets Alive! has received permission from the City of Austin to make urgent repairs to our kennels and long-overdue renovations to our 70-year-old shelter that will ensure better care, comfort and safety for our animals and staff.

We’d like to begin the work as soon as possible, but several steps must be taken before we can begin.

First, we need to move as many dogs as possible into foster or adoptive homes so that we’re operating with just 100 open kennels. We’ve been working towards our 100 kennels goal since October, and now, we just need to move 50 dogs into loving homes by December 31st to meet that goal.

We’re asking our incredible community to step up—foster a dog or adopt during our final Home for the Holidays adoption special, where adoption fees are waived from December 27–31.

What The Renovations Will Accomplish:

• Replace outdated concrete walls and double the size to make more comfortable kennels.

• Upgrade drainage systems and repair trouble spots to further prevent flooding.

• Install improved HVAC systems for better heating and cooling.

How You Can Help:

• Adopt a dog during our Home For The Holidays adoption special (Dec. 27–31).

• Foster a dog to provide a safe, temporary home.

• Share our mission with your network to spread the word.

Who We Need:

Adoption Special Details:

From Friday, Dec. 27 to Tuesday, Dec. 31, we’re offering waived adoption fees for all animals in our care — whether foster or adoptive, to help find them loving homes during our Home for the Holidays adoption promotion.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Why Are There Empty Kennels:
Visitors to APA! may have noticed fewer dogs in our kennels. You may recall that we were given permission a few months ago by the City of Austin to make some much-needed kennel repairs, but to do that, we have to have fewer dogs on campus and raise the money to fix our kennels. First, we’re working on moving dogs into homes so that we can operate at just 100 kennels to make those repairs. This is two-fold: We need animals out of the shelter because of construction stress and because we need the room to begin the renovations and tearing down walls.

We can only begin improving the shelter after we’ve successfully gotten to this number. We’ve been working to operate with 100 kennels since October.

We can reach our goal if we can get 50 dogs out for adoption or foster by the 31st, so we need community support for longer-term fosters and adopters!

APA! Mission Remains the Same
This does not change our mission or commitment to our contract with AAC, and we are still fulfilling our obligation. We’re still taking in animals; we are prioritizing putting them in homes, not kennels. This also does not change our mission of saving the lives of our special populations, including FelV, FIP, Ringworm, and Parvo.

Why did you need permission from the City of Austin?
The Town Lake Animal Center (TLAC) facility is owned by the City of Austin. Austin Pets Alive! has a 75-year lease with the city to operate our nonprofit rescue work with the requirement that we pull at least 12% of Austin Animals Center’s intake each year.

Why can’t you rebuild the entire facility and why haven’t you done it before?
We actually have a very helpful video explaining the trickiness of TLAC here: youtu.be/s3QcnchrHbc?feature=shared

Source: Austin Pets Alive