How did we get started?
Lost Paws Rescue of Texas was founded in 2005 with a mission of finding new homes for shelter dogs and cats as well as breeder release and owner surrender animals. After volunteering for years at local rescue organizations, Yvette Garza decided to create her own rescue starting with $150,a dog and a cat. Seventeen years later and over 8200 animals adopted into new homes, Lost Paws Rescue of Texas is very well established as a zero-salary organization with no debt and an extremely close and reciprocal relationship with three north Texas PetSmart locations in Southlake, Frisco and Lewisville for adoption events 52 weeks a year.
Why do we do this work?
Our job is to just make the connections and then love does the rest. For each dog or cat in our program, it is everything for them. All these years later, we still look at each animal as though they are the most important for us and we do all we can to help them find their perfect new family. We receive multiple updates each week from owners who feel like we are part of their adoption story and WE LOVE hearing about their pet children. The photos the families send are what keep us going. These animals are HAPPY, some maybe for the first time in their life. We have a large percentage of repeat and tri-peat adopters who come back to us when they are ready for another pet. This speaks volumes of the relationships we desire to cultivate with the north Texas area pet lovers.
What does your donation fund?
We are a 100% volunteer organization with no paid staff and not one cent goes to salary for anyone. All donations go to the direct care and wellbeing of the animals. The adoption fees cover most of the medical expenses, however, the total cost of each animal in our care for weeks, sometimes months averages about $80-$100 more than our adoption fees. This gap is covered by all donations, grants when we receive them and this North Texas Giving Day event. Our costs are more than food and veterinary, they include a multi-building, multi-room large foster farm and all utilities associated as well as our supplies for cleaning, pee pads, beds, turf maintenance and then our three transport vehicles for vet trips, shelter collections and the travel to events at different sites each weekend. We are very frugal with our money, we know this money must stretch far. As an example, we buy our transport minivans used and keep them until they hit at least 250K miles.
Lost Paws Rescue of Texas was organized to prevent animal suffering, animal cruelty and to help educate the public about spaying and neutering their pets as well as responsible pet ownership. We dedicate ourselves to helping the homeless animals in the Dallas-Fort Worth area find permanent, loving forever homes.
Our aim is two-fold: 1) we want to reduce the number of adoptable dogs and cats that are euthanized each year before being given a true second chance. We are that second chance helping with socializing, health issue corrections, visibility at events and adding more time to their window of adoption opportunity 2) do everything we can for dog and cat owners, especially those who have adopted from us to keep the animal in the home with their owner by helping with temporary solutions if we can.
All donations help cover the gap between our adoption fees and the actual veterinary costs. On average we spend about $80-90 per animal during their 2-4 week stay with us. Some stay longer, especially pregnant females and puppies. Support has wained since late 2020 and 2022 has been particularly hard. Our ability to pull from shelters is directly impacted when donations decrease. We usually average 500-650 animals adopted per year, however, 2021 was at the low end of that range and 2022 is trending to be similar or less, so any dollar figure directly helps our adoptions go up, one more dog or cat can be pulled, vetted and fostered until they find a new home.
From a practical perspective we have the following needs that would also assist by allowing us to reduce our spend on care by receiving these supplies:
Gift cards from Amazon, Walmart, Petsmart or any gas station.
Donations via shipping us products from our Amazon page for cleaning supplies, bleach, antibacterial wipes, detergent.
Adult pee pads from Walmart for the puppy room. The xtra large go in the play pool enclosure for the moms and nursing pups. We cannot have enough of these and they are not cheap. Email us for a shipping address if you would like to send some.
Commercial washer and dryer.
Organization name
Lost Paws Rescue of Texas
Causes
Animals
Operating Budget
$100,000 - $249,999
Counties Served
Wise, Tarrant, Somervell, Rockwall, Parker, Palo Pinto, Navarro, Montague, Kaufman, Johnson, Hunt, Hood, Grayson, Fannin, Erath, Ellis, Denton, Dallas, Cooke, Collin
Address
PO Box 116256