No Kill Workshop 70% sold out

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Barktoberfest 2010 set for September 18

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Austin Pets Alive! has found new building

from austinpetsalive.org

Our new building
by austinpetsalive • Posted in: Fundraising

Yes, you read it right. After 2.5 years of looking, we have finally found a building. (Actually, it’s 2 buildings on a few acres.)

This building will allow us to save more dogs and cats – at least 1,000 more this year, and of course, we’ll be working hard to grow that number quickly.

We will house pets there and it will be open to the public for adoptions. (We will continue to operate many off-site adoption events because we believe it’s an important piece to getting as many pets as possible into their new homes.)

The building gives us room to do things like care for more bottle babies and parvo puppies, who are usually euthanized immediately at TLAC if a rescue partner can’t pick them up, because TLAC doesn’t have the staff to give them the round the clock care they need.

We will also be able to save more pets for whom we didn’t have space in the past, like high energy dogs (wait until you see the yards!) and shy cats.

We plan to start moving in animals as soon as possible. This will not be a long term fixer upper project. Our plan is to move in the animals as soon as it is sanitary and safe and then continue fundraising and building out catteries and dog runs, etc. We figured we should start with saving lives and then build what we need, not the other way around.

Of course, we need the community’s help. In the short term, we need help with services (like plumbing and electricity), dog runs, and cat condos. We’ll be publishing a full list of what we’ll need and sponsorship opportunities soon. Contact donate@austinpetsalive.org if you would like to get involved.

The building is located at 2805 Manchaca Road, just off S. Lamar. Stay tuned for an invitation to our Open House in a couple weeks.

Cops break into pickup to rescue puppy left in hot vehicle

from kxan.com

AUSTIN (KXAN) - A puppy was rescued Friday afternoon from what could have turned into a deadly situation in the intense Texas heat at a Whole Foods parking lot .

The three-week-old dog, found locked in a hot pickup just one day after its owners got it, was taken to the Town Lake Animal Shelter while police decide whether to return it to its owners or press charges.

Austin police officers rescued the little black puppy from underneath a seat inside the black Ford pickup, which was parked at the Downtown Austin grocery store, after someone heard yelping coming from inside the truck.

Unable to find the source of the yelping after several minutes, the passerby called police.

Authorities broke into the truck with a slim jim after they couldn't find the owner and removed the puppy, which witnesses said seemed dehydrated, from the hot vehicle. Witnesses said they couldn't believe a puppy so young and vulnerable was left in a dangerous situation. Dogs usually aren't weaned from their mothers until they're at least six weeks old.

A bystander said the truck had been in the parking lot for at least 20 minutes, and some witnesses said they'd seen it there for longer.

All Day No Kill Workshop in Austin September 28

Planned speakers include:

Bonney Brown, Executive Director of the Nevada Humane Society
Susanne Kogut, Executive Director of the Charlottesville SPCA
Mike Fry, Executive Director of Animal Ark of Minnesota
Nathan Winograd, Executive Director of the No Kill Advocacy Center
Dr. Ellen Jefferson, Executive Director of Austin Pets Alive!
Michael Mountain, Co-Founder and Past President of Best Friends Animal Society
Dr. Linda Wolf, Veterinarian and Expert Behaviorist
Mitch Schneider, Director of the Washoe County Animal Services

For more information click here.

What downsizing can do to a big cat: former Texan in big city considers the leash

from Salon by Sarah Hepola:

Bubba wakes up every morning at 5:39. Meow. He pads around the bed while I snore, puts one paw to my face. Meoooow. He slinks over to the nightstand, starts shoving stuff off the side -- a magazine I've been reading, a rubber band woolly with hair, the doorstop of a novel that falls to the ground with a bah-thunk-thunk.

Lately, Bubba has been a real dick.

He wasn’t always this way. Ours has been a breezy courtship forged by a mutual love of long naps and inertia; there was no mewling misery in him that wet food or cardboard couldn’t fix. But a few months ago, I moved to a Manhattan studio perfect in every way except for one: its size. Everyone knows New York apartments are tiny, but you never quite realize how tiny until your closet looks like a game of Jenga and you start eyeing your stove for storage. Downsized to a yuppie shoebox, my good-natured 13-year-old tabby has turned insatiable at dawn. I stumble out of bed at 5:50 to scoop out his breakfast, but he will not be satisfied. He pouts by the front door, crying his despair to the heavens. He hops up on the windowsill and stares longingly out into the courtyard below. Meow, he despairs. Meoooooow.

"Maybe he's lonely," a friend said.

"Maybe he's sick," said another.

I had a better idea: Maybe he needed a cat leash.

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Statesman reports: Meatball gets furrever home