Austin Animal Center (AAC) will provide free microchips and vaccinations for City of Austin and Travis County pets this Saturday. The free vaccines are made possible through Petco Love's new national vaccination initiative, which is providing one million free pet vaccines to existing animal welfare partners, including AAC, for family pets in need.

The drive-thru event will be held Saturday, March 25 at Shoreline Church North (15201 Burnet Rd) beginning at 9 am. The first 300 pets are guaranteed service. Dogs must be on leashes and cats must be in carriers. Optional pre-registration can be completed online at bit.ly/aacmegaclinic.

“We are very excited to continue to offer free microchips to our community, especially on this scale,” said Rebekha Montie, Field Services Manager for AAC. “Microchips not only are essential to helping pets reunite with their families but are also lifesaving. A pet has a much greater chance of making it back home if they are microchipped.”

Microchips are small electronic chips about the size of a grain of rice that are inserted under the skin on dogs and cats. They serve as a permanent form of identification and places like animal shelters, veterinary clinics, and pet stores have scanners that read the unique number which can then be used to search microchip registries for owner information.

"The microchip clinic is one of the Austin Animal Center's most popular programs and I'm happy this public service will be made available to District 7-area residents," said District 7 Council Member Leslie Pool. "Microchipping is key to reuniting pets with their families.  I encourage all owners of non-microchipped pets to take advantage of this opportunity." 

In addition to microchips, AAC will be providing free rabies vaccines, and vaccines distributed through the Petco Love initiative will be the DAPv Canine and HCP Feline vaccines.

Parvovirus and distemper in dogs and panleukopenia in cats — the most prevalent deadly diseases affecting pets — are preventable with a simple vaccine. An estimated 30% of pet parents do not take their pet to a veterinarian annually for preventative care. To ensure the health and wellness of our beloved pets and to address this critical need, AAC and Petco Love have partnered to make pet vaccines free and accessible.

“It is heartbreaking when any pet suffers or dies from a disease that could have been prevented. It is further exacerbated when unvaccinated pets come into busy shelter kennels, where these deadly diseases can spread quickly, resulting in multiple deaths, skyrocketing expenses, and hindering saving pet lives,” said Susanne Kogut, Petco Love President. “By creating greater awareness and making this crucial preventative care more accessible to pets not currently receiving these lifesaving vaccines, we can prevent the dangerous spread of disease.” 

For more information about AAC microchip and vaccine event, visit austinanimalcenter.org or view the calendar event listing. Learn more about Petco Love’s lifesaving impact at petcolove.org or freepetvaccines.org.

About Austin Animal Center

The City of Austin Animal Services Office operates the Austin Animal Center, and is the municipal shelter for the City of Austin and unincorporated Travis County. Austin Animal Center provides shelter to more than 11,000 animals annually and safely places more than 95% of all pets. Our goal is to keep pets with their families and in their communities, provide a safe place for homeless animals, promote responsible pet ownership, and preserve the human-animal bond. Learn more at austinanimalcenter.org.

About Petco Love

Petco Love is a life-changing nonprofit organization that makes communities and pet families closer, stronger, and healthier. Since our founding in 1999 as the Petco Foundation, we’ve empowered animal welfare organizations by investing $330 million in adoption and other lifesaving efforts. We’ve helped find loving homes for more than 6.5 million pets in partnership with Petco and organizations nationwide. 

Our love for pets drives us to lead with innovation, creating tools animal lovers need to reunite lost pets, and lead with passion, inspiring and mobilizing communities and our more than 4,000 animal welfare partners to drive lifesaving change alongside us. Is love calling you? Join us. Visit petcolove.org or follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn to be part of the lifesaving work we lead every day.