AAC overwhelmed by dogs, preparing for kittens

This Saturday, Austin Animal Center is getting ready for “kitten season” with a kitten shower that aims to inform about fostering and collect donations for the on-site nursery. The shower will be held in AAC’s conference room from 2-4 p.m., and city officials are asking for things like “gallon ziplock bags, meat-based baby food, baby blankets, hand warmers, and Kitten Milk Replacer,” according to a press release about the event.

But it’s not only cats that are crowding the city shelter. On Wednesday, Austin Animal Shelter received a seizure of 20 large dogs, pushing it well past its capacity, which is 272, into housing 344 medium or large dogs. To help alleviate the crowding, which forces dogs into crates and nonpublic kennels, the shelter is asking the community to consider fostering dogs for at least a month, or adopting. At the moment, adoption fees are $25 through Bissell Pet Foundation’s “Empty the Shelters” national adoption event and waived entirely for any dog that is in a crate.