Thursday 2/20 Update: We have a dog celebration and a cat ask! We have now placed an incredible 52 dogs in warm homes, exceeding our goal for pups. But we still have barn cats in need of adoptive homes and other kitties on site at our shelter in need as well. Come see us if you can help with kitties! Thank you as always to this amazing community coming together for pets in need.
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Wednesday 2/19 Update: 24 pets are now in homes of our 57 goal (21 dogs, 3 barn cats)! Thank you! Let's keep it going today before tonight's lows.
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Tuesday 2/18:
Austin, it's happening again! The temps are dipping into freezing and below starting today and lasting the remainder of the week. With the pending extreme winter temps headed our way we’re working to move 57 animals -- 50 dogs and the current 7 Barn Cats to sleepover, foster or adoptive homes!
While we do have working heaters in every kennel building, these are “open-air” kennels, meaning they can be drafty and being made out of concrete, not an ideal place to spend a night in these extreme temps, let alone multiple nights. When weather like this rolls in, our staff and volunteers have added responsibilities beyond getting the dogs out for their potty and stretch breaks. These responsibilities include:
Rolling down and zipping weather tarping
Monitoring kennel temps
Placing coats on all of the dogs (this can be hard for some of our dogs with touch sensitivities!)
Monitoring electrical
Closing dogs into the “inside” part of their kennel, which isn’t ideal for the bigger dogs who would prefer more space to move around.
Also, don't forget to keep the pets safe near you:
For City of Austin cold shelter resources *with pet accommodations click here.
To read more about how APA! is keeping our pets safe during severe weather click here.