San Antonio has one of the country’s largest populations of stray cats and dogs in the country.
Our city is also home to many amazing organizations trying to change that. Previously, many of these cats and dogs would have been euthanized in an attempt to reduce stray populations. Now, San Antonio has changed its tune, and we officially reached our goal of becoming a no-kill city in 2016.
The beneficiaries of our Fur-Ever Paris Gala in February are just a few groups that are working to keep San Antonio a no-kill city, finding permanent homes for stray pets and safely returning lost pets to their owners. We’ve rounded up some of the most impressive statistics from the last year to demonstrate the amazing work San Antonio Pets Alive and the San Antonio Humane society are doing for dogs in San Antonio.
Lost Pet Return
In the first half of the year, the city of San Antonio returned almost two thousand lost pets to their owners. This was a 66% increase from the previous quarter and 150% of the goal the city set out to accomplish! That’s a lot of happy pets and happy owners reunited.
Organizations like San Antonio Pets Alive work hard to find a dog’s owner before they enter them into the system. The more resources they have to find pets and safely return them, the more happy families don’t have to live without their beloved cat or dog.
Almost Every Pet Finds a Home
Since 2010, San Antonio has more than doubled the number of animals it takes in and cares for, and it has significantly increased the number of animals that are either adopted or fostered out of the shelter.
A record 93% of all animals that entered a San Antonio shelter in 2016 were released alive. Compared to 49% in 2010, that’s an incredible increase in pets that are either fostered or adopted when they leave the shelter.
This significant increase is partly due to the resources organizations like San Antonio Pets Alive now has to treat sick pets that come to a shelter. Illnesses like heartworms, once a death sentence for shelter dogs, are now treated for free upon adoption. This helps dogs find homes, even when they’re ill because SAPA covers the bill for treatment.
Increasing Spaying and Neutering and Offering Free Programs
San Antonio offered 30,000 free or low-cost spay/neuter surgeries to dogs in San Antonio, up 22,000 from the previous year. These surgeries help ensure that the stray population in San Antonio stays low, and all puppies born in the city are wanted and adopted.
Programs like the Spay-Neuter Assistance program help pet owners to keep their pets happy and healthy, without any surprise puppies. Spay and neuter programs are the best way to proactively reduce stray pet populations, and San Antonio has done an amazing job of offering this safe, low-cost surgery throughout the community.
In addition to resources like those offered by DaisyCares, responsible pet ownership doesn’t have to be expensive. This helps more animals stay at home with their family, instead of ending up in a shelter.
Information about the San Antonio No-Kill Initiative can be found here.
San Antonio has done a lot for the pets we have in our community, but there’s still more to be done. If you want to give back, and have a great time doing it, email fur-everparis@weloveyourdog.net and inquire about tickets for our Fur-Ever Pairs Gala benefitting San Antonio Pets Alive and DaisyCares. Learn more about the event here: pawderosaranch.com/fur-everparis.
