Thank you for fostering or adopting an animal from APA!. Below you can find information on how to contact our medical clinic to report signs of illness, book an appointment or refill prescribed medications.
If your APA! animal is experiencing a life or death medical emergency, please call 512-466-0720. Life or death symptoms include vomiting blood, not eating or drinking for more than 48 hours, trouble breathing, unstoppable bleeding, and unconsciousness.
Please note that we have changed our clinic check-in process to better protect all visitors and staff. When you arrive at the clinic for a scheduled appointment or medication pick up, please remain in your vehicle and call the clinic at 512-466-0720 to let them know you have arrived. You will receive further instructions at that time.
The APA! clinic can distribute scheduled dewormer or flea/heartworm prevention for your foster animal on a walk-in basis. This means you do not need an appointment, however, we prefer that you call the clinic at least one hour in advance of when you expect to arrive (during normal business hours) with your foster animal’s APA! name, APA! number, and current weight to request the needed medications. Upon arrival, please call the clinic and they will provide further pick up instructions at that time.
Please note that the clinic will not be able to provide any other services at this pick up, so if your foster animal needs to be seen for another reason, you will need to make an appointment through the regular channels.
It is also very important that you notify us ([email protected]) each time you administer flea or heartworm prevention to your foster animal, so that we can ensure our records are up to date. Dog fosters should also copy [email protected] on this notification.
Common issues include worms in stool, lack of appetite, signs of a cold/respiratory infection, diarrhea, and vomiting. A staff member will get in touch with you to determine the appropriate course of treatment.
Request a medication refillFor existing, ongoing prescriptions.
If you have a general question about policies or clinic operations, or feedback about the service that you received while visiting the clinic, please send an email to [email protected] with your comments.
PLEASE DO NOT use this email for medical issues or potential emergencies - that contact info for those are at the top of this page.
As a true No Kill partner in Austin, Austin Pets Alive! makes medical decisions differently from other types of organizations. Our priority is to save the life of every treatable homeless dog or cat rather than provide gold standard medical care to fewer animals while others are left behind to die.
If we are to rescue as many cats and dogs at risk for needless euthanasia in other shelters as possible, then we must steward our resources carefully.
If an animal has a condition that is not immediately life-threatening and requires more resources than our medical budget can cover or specialized care that we lack in-house, Austin Pets Alive! will spend some time doing one or more of the following:
While dogs with distemper are most commonly killed in shelters due to the highly contagious nature of it, Austin Pets Alive! is and has been committed to exploring alternatives.
Austin Pets Alive! has been at the forefront of distemper treatment and understanding due to our distinctive philosophy and acceptance of dogs who have distemper, uniquely giving them a chance to survive and overcome this virus.
A highly contagious and potentially fatal virus contracted by canines, distemper is a gruesome reality for many shelters across the country. While dogs with distemper are most commonly killed in shelters due to the highly contagious nature of it, Austin Pets Alive! is and has been committed to exploring alternatives. The APA! Clinic Team routinely pulls in dogs from other shelters and treats dogs for distemper and is uniquely qualified to care for these affected animals. It is highly probable that we treat more distemper from beginning to natural end than any expert in the field of infectious disease – and we have actually furthered the field of distemper treatment through our commitment to this work.
Distemper is found in just about every part of Texas. Shelter pets have a particularly hard time with it because it is a disease that affects the least vaccinated dogs and those that congregate as they do in shelters, which is why we are adamant that shelters vaccinate animals before bringing them into their main kennels. Distemper is a virus, like the flu, so it has to run its course – this means that it has no cure but there are proven treatments to help dogs survive the symptoms and proceed to live full lives. Due to the unfortunate nature of distemper, it can take many days for symptoms to show, which can make this virus even more challenging for shelters. However, APA! believes that every dog deserves a chance at life – including those affected by distemper.
Our trained veterinarians and staff have developed and continue to improve specific procedures when treating dogs with distemper that are adhered to both within our clinic and throughout our shelter. This includes a “Distemper Manual,” public handouts for APA! fosters and volunteers, and specific shelter protocols for handling distemper. Additionally, Dr. Ellen Jefferson and the APA! veterinary staff have even used Botox to treat the effects of distemper symptoms, such as muscular and neurological tics, with proven successes. A new development has been the use of megadose intravenous vitamin C therapies to stave off full symptoms in dogs that are early in the course of the disease. New Castle serum has been a mainstay treatment for many years in a similar attempt to decrease symptoms.
Should your shelter community have questions about handling distemper as a disease and providing these dogs in need a chance at survival, please contact [email protected] for resources.
For information on heartworms and heartworm treatment click here.
Austin Pets Alive! constantly strives to expand available resources,
but we must also keep our no-kill model sustainable.
Until every dog and cat is safe from needlessly being killed,
we cannot afford more.
