Las Vegas Animal Care Center

02/20/2025

♥️♥️ HPAB is the best!

4.4 ★ · Animal shelter

02/18/2025

Cupcake is now up for adoption! ♥️

Cupcake is approximately 3 years old and is such a sweetheart!

She will probably need some help with potty training but she is very smart and will learn quickly!

Cupcake is good with other dogs and loves everyone she meets.

We will take applications for Cupcake until Saturday 2/22. You can come apply in person or online (online application link is in the comments!)

For online applications, please be sure to specify that you are interested in Cupcake.

02/18/2025

Shelter Update: Water Issues

We've had quite a few people asking and wanted to share an update on how we’re managing the current water situation at the shelter.

Our team is working hard to keep the kennels clean while conserving water as much as possible. The biggest challenges come with essential tasks like washing dishes, cleaning wounds, doing laundry, and, most importantly, providing our animals with clean drinking water.

*How You Can Help:
If any of our supporters who DO NOT rely on city water are willing to help by doing a load of laundry for us, we’d be incredibly grateful!

Fortunately, we had bottled water in storage from last year’s floods, which helped us get through the first day. As soon as we received the first PSA about the water issues, our shelter manager immediately began planning and coordinating with staff to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

We’re incredibly grateful to Friends of San Miguel County Animals who stepped up and purchased a supply of water for us from Santa Fe yesterday. Additionally, Best Friends Animal Society and Animal Humane New Mexico are working with us to move some animals out to help conserve both cleaning water and drinking water. They’re also ready to assist us in securing more water if needed. ❤️

We continue to network with other organizations to find further solutions. Today, we had a water tank delivered to help sustain us.

*To Our Fosters:
If you need water for your foster pets, please contact our foster phone so we can make sure you have what you need!

Through all of this, we have to highlight how amazing our team is—always looking out for one another, both at work and in our personal lives. A few of us even took a trip out of town to get extra water for our own pets and families to ensure that every staff member had what they needed. ❤️

For now, we are continuing operations as normally as possible and will remain open Tuesday–Saturday, 11 AM–4 PM. If anything changes, we’ll post updates here.

A huge thank you to everyone who has reached out to offer help. The love and compassion from our supporters means the world to us. ♥️♥️♥️

02/14/2025

Love is in the air ... and in your local animal shelter! ❤

This Valentine’s Day, show some love to our amazing shelter pets! 🐶🐱 We’re excited to announce that we are now on The Treat App—making it easier than ever for you to send treats, toys, and support to our animals in need.

How it works:
1. Download The Treat App
2. Search for: Las Vegas Animal Care Center
3. Play games on your phone or tablet and earn treats, toys, and food for animals in our shelter!

Goodies get shipped to us every 4-7 days. The amount we receive is calculated by what is earned by all users who play to support our shelter within that timeframe.

Every donation makes tails wag and hearts purr.
Help us spread the love this Valentine’s Day! ❤️🐾

02/13/2025

Our clinic with Helping Paws Across Borders this past weekend resulted in 486 animals being spayed/neutered.

This number is AMAZING! We are incredibly lucky to have such an amazing partnership with HPAB. This team of people is so dedicated, knowledgeable, kind, and supportive.

We had a wonderful time serving our community members. We are grateful to each and every person who trusted us with their animals and is helping reduce the amount of unwanted puppies and kittens in our area.

If you need your pets spayed or neutered, call to get on our list!
505-426-3289

02/13/2025

Not our post but an important read. ❤

There are not enough words to express how sad this is. No one saw it coming, no one wanted this to happen, but it happens more than we like to admit. We are posting so that his life will not have been lived in vain with the hope that his story will prevent another unnecessary death.

Surrendered on 11/1/2024 with his littermates barely old enough to eat on his own, he was growing up in the shelter until we posted and someone was kind enough to adopt.

In the shelter environment, he caused no trouble and was thought to be sweet and friendly. This was his home, his world, all that he knew. He was thought to be a type of Malinois and probably 4 or 5 months old. We do not know the details but we do know that once adopted, he encountered another earlier adopted dog in the home, there was aggression of some type that caused him to be returned to the shelter. Now labeled aggressive, whatever happened was bad enough to fear it would happen again and consequently he was euthanized. Yes, he lost his life.

It starts with an unwanted litter, because someone was careless or did not care enough to spay or neuter their pet. The animals ALWAYS pay the price for human carelessness and indifference.
This poor pup paid with his life.

IF YOU ADOPT AND ALREADY HAVE OTHER PETS.
*BRING your pet to the shelter to meet whoever it is you would like to bring home. It will give everyone incite necessary to safeguard all involved. Introduction on neutral ground is critical for successful adoption.

*Prepare: Set up separate spaces for each dog with food, water, and toys.
*Meet in a neutral place: Take the dogs for a walk together on leashes.
*Introduce gradually: Let the dogs sniff each other from a distance, then gradually move closer together.
*Supervise: Keep the dogs' interactions closely supervised, especially for the first two weeks.
*Use positive reinforcement: Reward your dogs when they behave confidently.
*Watch for signs of stress: Look for signs of anxiety or discomfort, such as growling, snapping, or raised fur.
*Separate if needed: If the dogs get tense, separate them and continue monitoring their interactions.
*Establish boundaries: Decide where the dog will be allowed to go.
*Be patient: The introduction process can take time, and whether or not the dogs get along depends on their personalities.

Sound like alot? It is! THEIR LIVES DEPEND ON YOU

It is NEVER their fault only ours. RIP sweet boy. 😓

02/12/2025

🏡 Seeking Fosters & Adopters for Heartworm-Positive Dogs! 🏡

We have two amazing dogs looking for loving homes while they undergo heartworm treatment. ❤️ The best part? Our shelter covers all medical costs—you just provide the love and care!

🐶 What They Need:
✔️ A calm, indoor environment
✔️ Short, leashed potty breaks (no high-energy play)
✔️ Lots of snuggles and patience
✔️ Someone who can follow their medication schedule (nothing crazy, just pills 2x day at different points during treatment)

If you can take them to Santa Fe for their vet appointments (approximately 3-5 total visits in the next nine months) that's a huge plus, but not required. We're happy to help make the trips. 🚙

🐾 Whether you foster or adopt, you'll be giving a deserving pup a second chance at a happy, healthy life. Heartworm is treatable, though it does take quite a while to kill off all of the worms in their bloodstream. Heartworm is only transmitted through the bite of infected mosquitos, so having other pets is not an issue. ♥️♥️

We offer 24/7 support to our fosters, so you won't be alone at any point if you have questions or concerns.

Interested in helping one of these sweet boys? Reach out to us to learn more! 🐾

505-426-3289

We also want to take a moment to emphasize how important heartworm prevention is. We have already seen 4 cases within the last 3 months in dogs who have come the shelter and are tested upon intake. Local vets have seen quite a few cases as well. Preventing heartworm is easy, treating heartworm is not.

02/09/2025

Important update on microchips!

If your pet has a Save This Life’s microchip registered in their database, you MUST update your pets chip asap not re chip them, but re register the current chip with a different company. Mercy uses akc reunite, but there are other options out there too. If your pet becomes lost right now, and is scanned, there is no way for anyone to contact you or obtain your information to reunite you if you have a save this life chip. My personal dogs Timothy had one, and I had to re register him yesterday! Don't wait until it's too late.

We recommend the https://www.freepetchipregistry.com as it is connected to the AAHA database https://www.aaha.org/for-veterinary-professionals/microchip-search/ and once you register your pet the microchip number will be searchable again!

If you do not remember your pets chip number or company, feel free to message us and you're welcome to swing your dog by so we can scan, and give you the info you need to update your info ! We also offer microchips with lifetime enrollment for $25 for those without microchips ♡

Thank you and have a great weekend!

02/07/2025

We have a few openings at the clinic for Saturday/Sunday/Monday.

Stop by our check in van at the rec center to get on the schedule.

We will be here until 3:30pm today.

02/06/2025

The shelter will be CLOSED
Friday February 7th thru Monday February 10th
for the spay/neuter clinic with Helping Paws Across Borders.

We will resume normal business hours on Tuesday February 11th.

If you need assistance, feel free to message our page or call our office at 505-426-3289 and leave a message.

Thank you!

02/05/2025

Ryder update ❤

Luckily, Ryder doesn't seem to have any major neurological issues.
He is walking so much better, getting along with other dogs, and making friends with everyone he meets. He is such a gentle giant. 🥰

Unfortunately, he does not have any feeling in the front leg so an amputation was recommended to keep him from tripping on it when he is trying to walk. He is still a little wobbly and off balance but is improving daily with exercise. He is even trying to run and play, now. 😍

Ryder's leg amputation is scheduled for next week. We would love to find him a foster home where he can recover and have some extra TLC while he heals.

If you are interested in fostering (or adopting) Ryder, please contact us!
505-426-3289

02/03/2025

Remember Goldfish?
This little orange lady came to us with her hind leg broken so badly, there was nothing to do except amputate it.

Goldfish (now Goldie Hawn) was quickly adopted and now has a family who absolutely adores her.

Here's what her new family has to say about her:

Goldfish is thriving. When she first got to our home she couldn’t care less about the other animals and walked in here like she owned the place. She quickly took comfort in my office and would only get up to go to the bathroom. After about 5 steps she would have to stop because the journey was just too much for her. Now, she is comfortable roaming around the house, walking longer distances, and loves to have snuggles, cat treats, and most importantly cat nip.
She likes to lay in bed with you, especially if she has a heating pad to cuddle up on. She and my daughter have become the best of friends and that is who she spends majority of her time with. She is very chatty and will meow at you many times when talk to her. She loves to find you when her bowl is empty. When she wants to play she will find you, meow, then try to run away until you chase her to the office chair where she will lay down and want tummy rubs.
She is a light to our family. Though she came to us named Goldfish, we renamed her to Goldie Hawn and she responds well to the name. We are so happy to have her in our lives and now can’t picture it without her.

We at the shelter are so grateful for the opportunity to help this wonderful cat and get her to a family who will give her the life she deserves. Stories like this keep us going through the worst days.

Concatulations Goldie! 😭❤️

01/30/2025

THEY DID IT!

Our sweet Meadow, who escaped from her foster home earlier last year has been running around on the east side of town since.

For months, officers had been trying to get her. Meadow is just too quick and too evasive, she was even hesitant to enter a trap. Meadow is a silly and friendly dog but is super shy and would not come to anyone, making the last few months quite difficult when it came to picking her up.

Today, ACO Ortega, with the help of Officer Perea, was finally able to trap her and she is back with us!

We are so happy to have her back, safe and sound after such a long time of trying to catch her. ❤

01/29/2025

01/29/2025

We have a few dogs who need help finding their families.

If you know where any of these dogs belong, please contact us ASAP!

Phone: 505-426-3289

Thank you!

01/28/2025

Attention Las Vegas residents:

We invite you to join us in a discussion regarding changes to the current animal ordinances.

Our goal in revising our current ordinances is to better protect members of our community and the animals who reside here.

There is so much work to do when is comes to battling the animal welfare crisis and our community's input is very important.

We are looking forward to working with everyone to come up with solutions to the issues we face every day!

01/25/2025

A little update on Ryder. ❤

He is trying to stand a little more each day. We've noticed he is having a hard time with 2 legs specifically. On front, and one back.

Ryder had a recheck appointment with Brainerd Animal Health Center this week. They did more x-rays and ran some bloodwork on him, specifically looking at heartworm and tick borne illnesses.

Ryder has definitely improved and the wound on his leg is healing, so Dr. Brainerd told us to keep doing what we are doing and did say it was a good idea to keep him on the schedule with the neurologist in Albuquerque.

Ryder's neuro appointment is Tuesday the 29th. It will just be a consult and they will then give us a better idea of what he may need and the potential costs.

Julie Hart, the president of Friends of San Miguel County Animals will be picking him up on Monday and taking to him to the appointment for us. FSMCA is also collecting donations for the neurology appointments and hopefully can raise enough for whatever is needed after the consultation on Tuesday.

Keep an eye out for more updates on Ryder. We are all rooting for him and hoping the neurologist feels he has a good prognosis. ❤

01/25/2025

The City of Las Vegas and San Miguel County at a joint meeting last week agreed to pursue a joint powers agreement in regards to animal control, with the hope