Austin Pets Alive!
The Austin rescue that helped make Austin the first major American city to reach no-kill status, now operating one of the largest transfer and adoption pipelines in the country.
Austin Pets Alive! — often shortened to APA! — was founded in 1997 by a small group of Austin animal advocates who began intervening in the city's municipal euthanasia pipeline. The organization grew slowly through the early 2000s, then dramatically through the late 2000s and 2010s, ultimately becoming one of the central institutions of the American no-kill movement and a meaningful piece of why Austin became, in 2011, the first major American city to consistently maintain a 90%+ live release rate.
The main APA! adoption center sits on Cesar Chavez Street in downtown Austin, in a converted city water utility building that was repurposed for the organization in 2011. The site has become a recognizable piece of central Austin's infrastructure.
How they work
Austin Pets Alive! adoptions are open-hearted and structured around speed and fit. The application is short, the interview is conversational, and the goal is to get the right animal into the right home as efficiently as possible without compromising on placement quality.
Adoption fees vary by animal and time of year and are listed on the website. Fees include spay or neuter, age-appropriate vaccinations, microchipping, and a starter pack.
The organization operates as no-kill in the strictest sense. Animals are not euthanized for space, time, or treatable medical or behavioral conditions. The medical capacity to support this is substantial — APA! runs its own veterinary clinic and rehabilitation facilities.
Beyond standard adoptions, the organization runs:
- Animal transfer programs that pull thousands of animals annually from Austin Animal Center (the municipal shelter) before they face euthanasia. The transfer pipeline between AAC and APA! is one of the largest such programs in the country.
- The Parvo Ward — a dedicated parvovirus treatment program that has saved thousands of puppies who would otherwise have been euthanized as untreatable. The Parvo Ward methodology has been replicated at shelters across the country.
- Bottle baby and neonatal kitten programs that handle some of the most fragile animal welfare cases nationally.
- Behavior and rehabilitation programs for dogs with significant behavioral issues — including dogs from cruelty cases, hoarding situations, and dogfighting operations.
- A foster network of thousands of Austin-area families who handle a significant share of the animals at any given time.
- A national disaster response arm that deploys to hurricane, flood, and wildfire zones across the country.
The organization also operates Austin Pets Alive! Boutique, a small retail and bake shop near the main facility that contributes to fundraising.
What "Austin became no-kill" actually meant
When Austin reached 90%+ live release in 2011, it was the first major American city to do so consistently. The shift was the product of multiple organizations working together — APA!, the Austin Humane Society, Austin Animal Center, and a broader network of breed-specific and small rescues — but APA! was the single largest contributor by volume.
The methodology that worked in Austin has since been documented and exported to other cities. The "Austin Model" of municipal-shelter-plus-transfer-rescue partnership is now in use, with variations, in dozens of American cities.
APA! itself has expanded into national consulting work through its American Pets Alive! initiative, helping other municipal shelter systems implement no-kill operations. The organization's national reach is now significant.
You can support APA! in the standard ways:
- Adopt from the Cesar Chavez location.
- Foster — the foster network is constantly recruiting.
- Volunteer — multiple shift types from kennel care to event support to disaster response.
- Donate — APA! publishes detailed financials and maintains strong charity ratings.
Field & Era at Austin Pets Alive!
The Cesar Chavez coordinates appear in Companion Edition orders shipped throughout Austin, Cedar Park, Round Rock, and the broader Hill Country. If you adopted from Austin Pets Alive! and want the address set on archival paper, see the Companion Edition. 10% of every Companion order supports a rescue partner.
Last verified May 29, 2026. Facts about hours, intake policies, and adoption fees can change. Confirm with Austin Pets Alive! directly before visiting.