Hundreds of cats and dogs found warm homes last week as freezing temperatures rolled into town and the area’s animal shelters called for help.

Austin Pets Alive had approximately 200 dogs in need of foster homes, according to an email from Luis Sanchez, the shelter’s director of public relations and communications. The Austin Animal Center asked the public to donate dog sweaters and supplies to keep its pups warm last week. 

“During this week’s freeze, over 1,500 community members signed up to provide warm homes for the dogs and cats in our care,” Sanchez said. “On Wednesday, the shelter was peacefully quiet, with hundreds of empty kennels.”

April Peiffer, the Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter’s community programs coordinator, said she saw the lowest number of dogs at the shelter because of the foster families’ outpouring of support during the freeze. 

“I know that at one point over the freeze, we had 169 dogs in the shelter,” Peiffer said. “We hadn’t been at that number in literally over a year.”

Peiffer said the Williamson County shelter saw an increase in large dogs in the last two years. She said in that time, the shelter hosted over 200 dogs at once, almost double the ideal capacity of one dog to each of its 110 dog kennels.

“One kennel could hold a mama dog with all of her puppies, so that could have 10 animals in it,” Peiffer said. “When we get to these high numbers, then we have to rely on community support. Actually, we always have to rely on community support because nobody is saving these dogs except for the community.”

Peiffer said while shelter staff braved the weather and stayed overnight last Monday to care for animals, the need for foster families and adopters is constant, regardless of the weather conditions. 

“Our mission is to save as many lives as possible,” Peiffer said. “We never want space to be the reason that we have to let an animal go. We always want to look for the way to get that animal out of the shelter in a new, positive way.”

Kelsey Cler, the marketing and communications manager at the Austin Animal Center, said her shelter mainly asked for dog sweaters for its short-haired pit bulls. She said the shelter received “dozens and dozens” of sweaters, keeping the pit bulls “nice and warm during the freeze.”

Cler said her shelter also received plenty of interested fosters during the freeze. Both Cler and Peiffer said their shelters have flexible fostering programs where foster families can take a pet for as long as they can.

“We’ve had some great college student fosters,” Cler said. “A group of five or six guys that were renting a house co-fostered (a dog named Tajín). It’s a great opportunity for college students to get the love from pets and the companionship without making the commitment of adopting.”

Koda Mohr, an Austin Community College student, said she and her partner currently foster two guinea pigs. 

“Most people assume fostering means getting a dog,” Mohr said. “There’s a lot of pets that you can foster, and if you just have one, they’re pretty low maintenance. Just having a little critter to come home to is nice.”