Humane Society of Austin & Travis County

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Nonprofit Overview

Causes: Animal Protection & Welfare, Animal Training, Animals

Mission: The Austin Humane Society (AHS) offers comprehensive, humane, life-saving animal services, transforming the lives of animals and those who love them. Because we believe homeless animals deserve a chance to thrive in a loving environment, we offer innovative, nationally recognized programs that save the lives of thousands of dogs and cats each year. AHS’ approach to addressing animal homelessness encompasses both finding animals homes through adoption as well as preventing future homelessness through spay/neuter programs.

Community Stories

20 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

Writer General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

10/20/2016

Thanks to AHS, I added the absolute best addition to my family I could ever imagine! The staff there was absolutely amazing and thoughtful, and they really want you to find your best match. My boy, Burt, was well taken care of both in health and with lots of affection. I am beyond grateful for this organization and for being the reason I found him. He's now living happily in his forever home with his canine sister and best friend!

Writer Client Served

Rating: 5

10/06/2016

We're incredibly grateful to the amazing staff at The Austin Humane Society for helping us find our lovely child, Bunny. Our experience adopting our little girl was PAW-SOME! We can tell all the animals there are well-cared for and extremely loved by the dedicated staff. Thank you so much! Please find pics of Bunny - our 4 year old precious girl.

Writer Client Served

Rating: 5

10/03/2016

This place is truly fantastic. The people working here go far above and beyond their minimum duty and make sure the animals are taken great care of. They eliminated the stress of adding a new family member and made it very enjoyable! We've adopted both of our dogs from here and would never go anywhere else in the future!

Caitlin13 Client Served

Rating: 5

08/05/2016

We adopted our best friend, Arthas, from AHS over a month ago. They rescued him from a shelter in Houston, where he was next up to be euthanized, and we are so glad they did. Arthas is so well behaved, loving, and sweet. We found that he was already house trained, knew sit and stay, and doesn't chew anything up even when left home alone. We were also looking for a dog that would help with my depression and he's a wonderful match and gives lots of hugs when I'm down. AHS took good care of him, too; his kennel was clean, all the volunteers loved him, and they gave us lots of resources which were very helpful to us, as it's our first time getting a dog on our own. Many thanks to AHS for introducing us to this wonderful dog!

alli3300 Client Served

Rating: 5

07/28/2016

Had an absolutely delightful experience adopting my precious dog through the Austin humane society. The adoption staff was friendly and knowledgable and made sure I had all the information I needed in order to make an informed decision. Thanks AHS!!!

Sylvia18 Client Served

Rating: 5

07/28/2016

We have a grand-daughter that is disabled. She has encephalopathy. She develops mentally & socially at a much slower pace than normal. She is 4 & 1/2 years old but emotionally, mentally and socially she is about at 10 months of age. She does not walk or talk but is the light of our lives. She had a dog since the day she was born named Dodge. They were inseparable until she turned 4 and Dodge was gone. Dodge was a rescue too. We knew we had to get her another friend so after a while we decided to look. We came to your website and saw you had so many incoming from recent flooding so drove on up. We asked about a few of the dogs and listened to their history before asking to spend time with any of them. Then came Bud's story. First they said he was only 2 years old, house trained - but he had heart worms. They then asked if we wanted to hear any more because most of the time people do not want a dog with heart worms. We said we still wanted to sit with him and see how he did with our grand-daughter. As soon as we sat in that room with him we knew we could not send him back to his kennel. I stayed in the room with him while my husband went to fill out the adoption papers. This is the dog we saw being taken to potty when we pulled up. This was FATE! When you learn that a family member is ill - you don't abandon them - you try to help them. Bud was only 2 and our grand-daughter is 4. We were not going to turn our backs on either of them! They both are the most loving, adorable family members we have. No one is perfect but everyone and every dog needs a loving family! When my husband went to do the papers he said all the volunteers were so happy for Bud and they were surprised we adopted him. We have been home for about a month and started his heart worm treatments (which the Humane Society helped us find a place that works with you on the cost to where you only pay for the medicine). Bud was house trained and he tells you when he needs to go outside, he will even wake you up. He sits on his hind legs and waves both his front paws at you for attention and he will try to talk to you. He loads up in the truck to go bye-bye and will sit between his parents in the front seat. Him and our grand-daughter are both getting used to each others ways but as you can see they are doing fine! I try to make him sleep with me but he prefers his own bed. We are very blessed to have found Bud and we thank Austin Humane Society for all their help in finding the dog we needed and who needed us!

Writer Client Served

Rating: 5

07/15/2016

My family and I went to the Austin Humane Society last Saturday, July 9th, to their kitty adoption event in hopes of finding a new family member. We were lucky enough to find Oliver, Christian was his name when we adopted him. We've been there twice before to adopt two other cats on two separate occasions. He's made himself right at home and has been accepted by his two older fur-brothers. Our family is just in love with him! He loves to run around and play, and when he's worn out from that, he loves to snuggle with us and snooze.
Thank you for the opportunity to expand our family! Your volunteers and staff were so nice and caring! We are so happy with our little guy!

Cecilia B. Client Served

Rating: 5

07/06/2016

Working with the Austin Humane Society was a wonderful experience! They truly saved a dog named Moose who was in very serious condition when he presented to the shelter. Working with AHS was a seamless experience and they are very knowledgeable about each pet, their history and temperament. Moose loves to be under blankets and often you just see his nose sticking out :)
Cecilia Burnside, DVM

Nancy254 Client Served

Rating: 4

07/06/2016

I adopted Tigger 11/5/15. He’s doing great, has been to the eye doctor and no additional problems reported.

He is a joy every single day. He loves my dog Buddy, also an adoptee from Austin Humane Society. Buddy is good with him, but doesn’t want to be best friend – yet.

I talked with one of the volunteers who gave me some information about Emmett (previously Tigger), as she had seen him since he had been brought in. One thing she said was that he didn't seem to want to play - but he does now!

Thanks to the staff and volunteers at AHS, especially for taking in special needs kitties like Emmett.

Susan149 Volunteer

Rating: 5

10/16/2013

I have been a volunteer with AHS since March 2009, after being a financial supporter for many years. I now train new volunteers in the CAT program, and think that AHS is one of the best shelters anywhere. The staff is incredible, the volunteers amazing, and the animals, well, of course the animals are so very deserving of all we do for them. I am so proud to be part of this incredible group. I love helping people find the perfect pet, and love helping the animals find forever homes. Hooray AHS!!

Previous Stories

Volunteer

Rating: 5

10/29/2012

I have been a volunteer with AHS since March 2009, after being a financial supporter for many years. I now train new volunteers in the CAT program, and think that AHS is one of the best shelters anywhere. The staff is incredible, the volunteers amazing, and the animals, well, of course the animals are so very deserving of all we do for them. I am so proud to be part of this incredible group. I love helping people find the perfect pet, and love helping the animals find forever homes. Hooray AHS!!

rexellen Client Served

Rating: 5

02/10/2013

AHS is the best! This group spays or neuters our feral kitties at no charge. We do donate to them and also leave a donation at the time they fix our kitties in our neighborhood! This group is helping to lessen the tragedy of animal overpopulation!

glitterbunny Client Served

Rating: 5

03/15/2012

Got one of the greatest kitties ever from here. They were very patient with me and allowed me to meet as many kitties as I wanted to! They have small rooms where you can spend time with the animals and get to know them. They are also very knowledgeable about the animals, and were a great help in matching me up with a kitty whose personality was just what I was looking for (very loving and friendly!). I have visited to drop off donations, and also volunteered there in the past. The space is always clean and inviting, the animals are in great shape, and you can really tell they care very much. Can't say enough good things about them!

Previous Stories

Client Served

Rating: 5

03/15/2011

I went to this Humane Society looking for a new cat friend in my life. I had looked over their web site and had a few cats in mind when I got there. I spent time with the cats I had "previewed" - but they weren't the right fit for me. I spoke with several people there (I am thinking one was an employee, and one a volunteer) and the woman I believe is a volunteer spoke with me for a while to talk about which cat they had would be the right match for me. There was one cat that I had not looked at really, but they brought her to meet me, because her attitude seemed to be the right fit for what I was looking for. Well, the match was perfect, I couldn't have asked for a better cat. Not only did they assist me in finding the perfect ani-pal, the building was VERY clean, the cat in perfect health (I had her looked at by a vet shortly after adopting, just in case!) and everyone there loved the animals. You could just tell by walking in there they all believed in what they were doing and were helping all of their customers with a smile and great advice. Wonderful experience!!

Tracey Client Served

Rating: 5

08/03/2011

I am so happy with the employees of the Austin Humane Society! They helped me to find a wonderful dog. They are very professional and happy to please. They also seem to know the personality of the animals in their care. AHS will always be my recommendation to anyone searching for a new four-legged family member.

Leslie M. Client Served

Rating: 5

08/02/2011

We just our third cat from AHS. He is a special needs kitty as was our previous one. We received his complete medical history before we completed the initial paperwork and asked AHS to send his x-rays to our vet before we finalized the adoption. This let us all know what we might expect. The vet partnerships the AHS has established gave us much more information ahead of time than we had on our last adoption just 18 months ago.

Jeanette Donor

Rating: 5

08/02/2011

The Humane Society not only helps animals find forever homes, they help the people do a better job caring for their pets. We've had at least 3 of our dogs go through the Humane Society obedience classes. These classes were helpful especially with one dog that was a bit of a b*tch. We've supported the Humane Society and their great work.

Wyleen C. Donor

Rating: 5

08/02/2011

My husband and I are very happy to be donors for this awesome caring group. We have been down there several times to check out their cats . I like to know how they are being treated and where my money is going. I am very proud of the fact they are a No kill shelter and hope to make and keep Austin a no kill city.

I will continue to give for many years to come.

Shannon M. General Member of the Public

Rating: 5

08/02/2011

I started using the AHS feral cat TNR program from it's inception in 2007. Shortly thereafter I stopped doing trapping until recently. Wow - the free feral TNR clinic at AHS has evolved into a very smooth and well oiled process!!! I was so impressed at how they had made changes and updates until the procedure was easy, effortless and quick!! AHS seriously needs to write a procedure manual for other shelters, rescues or clinics to follow when starting up their own feral TNR clinics. MAJOR props to Leticia who was there when the program started in it's infancy and went through all the growing pains to get it to the grand product it is today. Amazing!!! Austin is truly lucky to have AHS and to have the free feral TNR clinic.

Buffworkoutchick Client Served

Rating: 5

08/02/2011

I web for the Fathers Day special for a kitten. They were very knowledgeable and kind. Their judgement call the only one for a first time pet owner was perfect! I plan on adopting again soon! I highly recommend AHS!

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