Lockhart Animal Shelter in Lockhart, Texas Needs Your Time and Donations

I've often thought about volunteering my time at the Lockhart Animal Shelter, where many of the unwanted or stray animals of Lockhart, Texas, and Caldwell County end up. But it wasn't until my teenage stepson needed to put in some community service hours for his junior high honor society that I finally did it.

One Sunday afternoon in December 2006, my son and I headed out to the Lockhart Animal Shelter on Old McMahan Road just off Highway 20 East. There we met Sandy, a Lockhart Animal Shelter employee, who said that while the cleaning and feeding were done for the day, we were welcome to pet, walk and give some needed attention to the dogs and cats.

According to the City of Lockhart's Web site, the Lockhart Animal Shelter houses up to 70 dogs and 30 cats, with an average of 180 animals passing through the shelter each month. We found quite a few dogs there, mostly larger breeds, and there were several litters of puppies. In the "cat cottage," we met some beautiful adult cats with amazing green eyes and some extremely playful kittens. They were all happy to see us, dogs wagging their tails and cats purring loudly while we petted them and wished they would be adopted soon.

Unfortunately, adoptions from the Lockhart Animal Shelter aren't as frequent as shelter staff would like. On average, about half of the dogs and puppies that come to the shelter are adopted; 30 percent of the cats and kittens find homes. The number of adoptions fluctuates with the seasons. "There are slower times of the year with animal adoptions," says Cheryl Schneider, Lockhart Manager of Animal Services. "Winter time is slow generally due to the weather and busy holidays."