Austin Animal Shelter Starts a Matchmaker Program to Help Animals at Risk Find Homes

An animal shelter in Texas called Austin Pets Alive has created a new program that is really saving the lives of many pets. Their super awesome program? Matchmakers for the pets!

Walking around shelters and finding the pet for you based on the animal's demeanor can be nice and easy for the friendly dogs and cats, but not so great for the more shy and troubled pets. The Austin shelter specializes in helping animals most at risk of euthanasia find the perfect family for them.

Ellen Jefferson, director and veterinarian at Austin Pets Alive says they can make the shelter as nice as possible, but it's still not a home for the pets. Luckily, matchmakers including staff and volunteers are trained to help folks connect with pets who have a hard time finding getting picked.

The matchmaking program includes the type of home set up pets are looking for, personal history and all the good qualities the animals have to offer. As a result of this incredible program, there have been dozens of success stories.

A 12 year old lab named Izzy who had a history of tearing things up found the perfect understanding family to reside with.

A four year old pit bull, Tuffy, was so overwhelmed by the stimuli of the shelter that he didn't show his best face, but was later adopted.

And a very sweet feline named Helena, spent four years in the shelter. She has a rare disease called stomatitis which is a condition that lead to her teeth being removed and also has a feline leukemia virus. Helena was adopted but shortly returned to the shelter. Thanks to one matchmaker, she has found her forever home in the arms of a very loving owner.