Austin No-Kill 3rd Anniversary Party

If you've read our blog for any amount of time you know that we are nuts about animals. I was a volunteer at the city shelter for 4+ years, Hank and I have fostered several dogs, and not quite a year ago we adopted our most recent addition to our fur baby family. We are most certainly advocates for animal adoption, and couldn't be more proud to live in a city that has truly set the standard for "No-Kill". We were thrilled to help celebrate Austin's 3rd year anniversary as a No-Kill city at the Austin Pets Alive! hosted event last night.

And while there was much to celebrate, it's still only the beginning and we have a lot of work left to do. The definition of No-Kill actually means a 90% or higher live outcome rate for shelter animals. So there are still 10% of animals who don't make it out of the shelter alive. Oftentimes those are animals with serious health issues beyond treatment, or behavior issues so bad that they aren't safe to adopt out in society. But included in that 10% are the animals who are sometimes just harder to find the right home for. And when the shelter and partnering agencies are full, those animals don't always make it out alive. It's sad to think about, but it's the truth.

Take this little guy for example, Al Pacino- he's been at the shelter for 500+ days. He was working the crowd last night like a rock star. He would show off his sit/stay/down for anyone who had a treat, and accepts pets from anyone who would give them to him. But he's a pit mix (and not deserving of the bad rap that comes with it) who needs to continually work on his behavior training, and should be an only dog. He just hasn't found the right home yet. But if not for an organization like Austin Pets Alive, he never would have made it 10 days at the shelter. It truly takes a village, and then some, to achieve the status that Austin has.

But back to the fun stuff. The party was a blast, and I'm so glad we went out on a "school night" so that we can continue to support this cause. We might not be able to volunteer/foster/adopt right now, but we're more than happy to financially contribute. And if there's a party involved, then sign us up! There was a silent auction and a raffle. Hank was convinced that we would walk away with this gigantic cat tree house...but no such luck.

We also bid on a custom pet portrait by the talented Coats & Tails. We were quickly outbid, but still plan to have a portrait made for each of our pups. Bryce, the artist, was on hand at the event working on a commemorative poster throughout the evening. It was fun to see the progress of his work- he really has a gift.

There was also live music, yummy bites by Pink Avocado Catering, and a super fun photo booth featuring live kitties (no kitties were harmed during the picture taking, I promise)!! Le Photo Booth had a great backdrop, fun props, and a digital set up that allowed you to either email or Facebook the photos right there. It was brilliant!!  Overall it was a great party benefitting a wonderful cause, and we're glad to be a part of the solution.