#HassInAction: Bringing veterinary care to meet families where they are
One thing that has been reinforced during COVID-19, is how powerful the transformational love of a pet is, especially during tough times. Animal welfare organizations all across the nation are shifting to a more community-centric model of animal sheltering. LifeLine Animal Project in Atlanta, GA, has focused on providing solutions to the community to help both pets and their people. With the community stepping up to foster and adopt their shelter animals, shelters have fewer animals in their care than previously. “This has opened...
Why it’s important to encourage dissent when making changes
“If you stand still, the bus is going to run you over,” said Joceyln Kessler in Change Can Be Fun! A Simple, Proven Framework Can Help Take the Pain Out of Change, a 2019 ASPCA Maddie’s® Cornell Shelter Medicine Conference session. Change is necessary, but doesn’t have to be painful. Often times it is a welcome change, but there is still an adjustment. The importance of being able to articulate the change you want in a couple of sentences is crucial. If you can’t...
Maddie’s Weekly Roundup: HASS in action supporting people and their pets, free mobile fundraising tool and more!
Below is a brief round-up of new blog posts and resources we’ve added over the past week. As a reminder, we’ve created an emergency fostering and COVID-19 webpage that we are updating regularly as new resources become available. You’re also invited to join the Emergency fostering during the Covid-19/coronavirus pandemic group on Maddie’s® Pet Forum where you can ask questions, share resources and more. Free mobile fundraising tool for your animal welfare organizationIs your organization looking for new ways to...
Free mobile fundraising tool for your animal welfare organization
Is your organization looking for new ways to fundraise? It’s safe to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted animal shelters and rescue organizations to pivot and evolve in all areas ranging from adoptions to operations – including fundraising. The pandemic has created economic uncertainty for many, so we thought we’d share this free fundraising tool for your organization to implement. ZOOMGIVE is a mobile fundraising platform designed to help nonprofit organizations simplify their fundraising. This...
HASS in Action: How one NC community rallied together to support people and their pets
As the Human Animal Support Services (HASS) project continues to drive positive change in the animal welfare industry to keep more people and pets together, we wanted to share the touching story, It Takes A Village Working Together: The story of Reverend Demitris Gonzalez. The story is told by Officer Caffray, a Charlotte-Mecklenberg Police Department (CMPD) Animal Control Officer in Charlotte, NC. Personal stories like this provide concrete examples of what the HASS model strives to accomplish – they provide...
Austin Animal Intake Response & HASS Updates
Jun 29, 2020 June 29th Last week, we shared news about the Human Animal Support Services project (HASS). HASS, a project is that, among other things, aims to create programming to better serve people and pets in many ways, much like social services for humans. We’ve seen some instances of lost pets being turned away at the municipal shelter and finders being recommended to turn those pets loose. This is NOT what we recommend and not part of our HASS guidance. One of the many goals of HASS is to help people who find stray pets quickly,...
HASS: The New Model of Animal Sheltering
Jun 19, 2020 Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been sharing the many changes we’ve made to our operations as a result of the virus and how the outpouring of community support for animals during quarantine has given us the opportunity to reimagine how a community supports its pets. We are thrilled to announce that a coalition of leaders from animal welfare organizations all across the country, including Austin Pets Alive!, has just launched the Human Animal Support Services (HASS) project in 30 pilot cities. The project is led by...
Introducing Dog N’ Dash: Instantaneous Lifesaving
Jun 12, 2020 Meet Bertha: A shy, but sweet, dog with floppy ears and beautiful brown eyes. Bertha struggled to cope in her previous shelter. She became depressed, shut down, and fearful of people. As Coronavirus swept through the nation, the shelter could no longer provide the intensive care and attention Bertha needed and resorted to placing her on the euthanasia list. Thanks to Dog N’ Dash, Bertha’s story didn’t end there. COVID-19 took its toll on animal shelters everywhere. In response, Austin Pets Alive! developed and...
How You Can Help Our Parvo Puppies
Feb 07, 2020 Over the past 24 hours, we have been inundated with offers to help our Parvo ICU and we are so sincerely grateful. This unit is near and dear to my heart because it started in my house before APA! had a building. I know first-hand how hard of a job it is and how overwhelming it can seem when the puppies need so much care as well as medical treatment in order to survive. Since those early days, the Parvo ICU has treated a whopping 5,200 puppies with a live release rate of 85%, which is often better than even what private practice...
Austin City Council Votes to Add No Kill Practice to City Animal Code
Oct 17, 2019 Today was a giant step forward for the animals of Austin- and all of those around the country too. Two historic measures took place that now institutionalize saving lives. Probably the most important thing that the No Kill Movement, driven by the will of pet lovers everywhere, must do is eradicate the broken institution of catching and then killing pets in “shelters” – a practice and policy that has existed for over 100 years. Every government funded shelter in America knows how to catch and kill because it is...
Moving Forward: Maintaining No Kill Through Measurement
Aug 07, 2019 Yesterday, the City of Austin announced that they chose Don Bland to be the next Chief Animal Services Officer. As you know, this is a hiring process that we have been critical of and that we believe highlighted some gaps in the way our city is planning to sustain No Kill. Obviously, Don is not responsible for that and needs to be given the opportunity to succeed here. Today, we fully commit to doing everything we can to make Don and Austin Animal Center (AAC) successful. We left our recent conversations with city leadership...
A Letter from Dr. Jefferson: Common Misconceptions of No Kill Shelter Influx
Jun 28, 2019 For the last 8 years, the City of Austin has been the largest No Kill City in America, where 97.5% of the animals that enter Austin Animal Center’s (AAC) doors leave alive. Even though we as a city have been extremely successful in saving lives, AAC is going through a difficult time with a 20% increase in animal intake between 2018 and 2019. AAC is currently facing a “space crisis,” meaning every kennel is inhabited by one or more pets and there is no space for incoming animals. Each summer, like in most...
Myth vs Fact: How We Pick Our Creative Cat Names!
Jun 06, 2019 Due to a viral tweet, the talk of the town has been our, as many have put it, eclectic cat names. You may have seen the tweet which simply asks, “Who is in charge of naming the poor kittens at Austin Pets Alive!?” Some of the cats featured in this tweet have the names of Atomic Toaster, iPad 4, Glycolysis 6, and Unicycle 7 – safe to say those aren’t the typical cat names you’re used to hearing. The tweet led to many people digging through our adoptable cats and picking out the names they found to be...
Radiant Plumbing & Air Conditioning Commits to $20k in Pledged Improvements at APA!
Apr 22, 2019 Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) is pleased to announce that Radiant Plumbing & Air Conditioning has committed to a year-long sponsorship of Austin Pets Alive! that provides $20,000 in services to help APA! make improvements to its shelter facilities. Radiant has been a long time supporter of Austin Pets Alive! and has consistently stepped up to provide and/or donate necessary work and improvements to both the Town Lake Animal Center and the Tarrytown Adoption Center. “I am so thankful for Radiant’s continued generosity...
Historic No Kill Resolution Passes in Austin City Council
Mar 29, 2019 AUSTIN, TX — Austin City Council voted unanimously in favor of a historic resolution to raise the minimum live release rate for the city to maintain No Kill status from 90 percent to 95 percent yesterday on March 28. You can read the signed resolution here. This resolution ensures that as the City of Austin works to maintain its status as the largest No Kill city in the country, a minimum of 95 percent of homeless animals who enter shelters must leave alive. This is the first resolution of its kind and is the highest...
Stop H.B. 3806 in its Tracks
Mar 28, 2019 UPDATE!: The Agriculture and Livestock Committee received over 2,500 emails regarding this bill! Because of the outreach and overwhelming response from the incredible animal welfare community here in Texas, Representative Springer and the committee will not be furthering the bill this session. Thank you to everyone who wrote this committee! This is a major win for animal welfare! On Monday, April 1 at 10:30am, the Texas Legislature will hear House Bill 3806, an act related to veterinary services by releasing agencies. This...
Recommitting to No Kill at 95 Percent
Mar 21, 2019 Date: Thursday, March 28 Time: 10:00 AM Where: Austin City Hall, 301 W 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701 What: Hearing to recommit No Kill in Austin at 95 percent On Thursday, March 28, city council is hearing a resolution that would set the minimum live release rate to 95 percent instead of 90 percent. This goal directly affects whether or not over 1,000 pets live or die. In 2010, the Austin City Council passed a groundbreaking resolution that mandated that at least 90% of the animals that enter the City of Austin Animal Center leave...
#LoveATXPets? Us too! Come find us at SXSW!
Mar 07, 2019 SXSW is here, and we’re so excited to take part in this year’s festivities! In the midst of all the panels and concerts, don’t forget to find Austin Pets Alive! at the following fun-filled events, and be sure to follow our SXSW adventures via #LoveATXPets on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram! We will be making a few exciting appearances – find where to join us below: The Puppy Pop-Up 12pm – 2pmSaturday, March 9thHarvest HQ78 Rainey St.APA! is bringing adoptable puppies to hang out at Harvest HQ...
CBD Oil for Dogs – Why CBD Dog Treats May Be the Best Option
Mar 05, 2019 This guest post was written and provided by Joy Smith of Joy Organics. We love our pets. This goes without saying. In fact, we’d rather spend the day with them than many of our two-legged family members! Yet, when our less awesome two-legged family members need care, we would bend over backward to see them comfortable. The same kind of love should be shown to our four-legged babies too. Now that CBD products are legal in all 50 states, our dogs can also benefit from the same relief that many humans did in 2018. Here’s...
#AmplifyLifesaving for Pets Like Lovebug
Feb 28, 2019 Approximately 1.5 million pets are euthanized in shelters across the country every year. This is an epidemic that APA! is on a mission to solve. By pioneering our seven lifesaving programs, Austin Pets Alive! has provided over 60,000 pets since 2008 with a renewed lease on life. Programs such as our Dog Behavior Program and Barncat Program provide perfectly healthy animals a shot at finding their forever home; and programs such as our Parvo Puppy ICU, Ringworm Cat Adoption Center, Neonatal Kitten Program, Feline Leukemia Adoption...
