By Edmond Ortiz
Three San Antonio-area governments are wrapping up 2025 by pledging to improve various animal care and control facilities and offerings.
San Antonio
Touting a Fiscal Year 2026 budget that includes more funds for animal care and control, the San Antonio City Council voted Dec. 11 to award a $15.3 million contract to the construction firm F.A. Nunnelly Co. to build a veterinary hospital at the city’s Animal Care Services (ACS) facility on the West Side.
In addition to the 14,500-square-foot veterinary clinic, the contractor will renovate the existing 3,000-square-foot clinic space at the ACS campus, which will give the entire facility more space for operations and amenities.
Those planned amenities include a surgical suite with specialty operating rooms, a central treatment wing with an x-ray machine, animal holding rooms and kennels, a laboratory testing room, an over-the-counter spay and neuter clinic, and field operation intake and triage counters.
The ACS campus improvement project, which is funded by the city’s voter-approved 2022 bond, will also yield outdoor upgrades, such as a surgical drop-off area, field operation intake driveway, and foster drop-off driveway.
According to local officials, these improvements are designed to help to meet increasing demand among pet owners, and more directly serve pet owners at the ACS facility at 4710 Texas Hwy. 151. Construction on the 18-month improvement project is slated to start in February 2026.
City data shows a live release rate of 87% at ACS through October 2025, with the facility taking in more than 2,400 dogs and cats during the same month. ACS adopted out 660 animals, transferred another 900 with area rescue organizations, returned 400 to their owners, and euthanized 350. Data showed 600 cats and dogs leftover in ACS’ care by the end of October.
“We know the needs of ACS are great, and when they don’t have the resources to perform the work that our community expects and needs, it’s a detriment to morale, trust and community safety,” District 2 City Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez said.
Bexar County
The city of San Antonio’s decision to move forward with building a new ACS veterinary hospital came one month after Bexar County commissioners voted to award a $10.9 million contract to Catamount Constructors to develop a new county animal care facility.
Located on the far West Side at 6841 Cagnon Road, the new 17,000-square-foot animal care facility will triple the amount of space that the county has to shelter stray cats and dogs, and will feature room for animal examinations, vaccinations and sterilizations.
Dan Curry, director for county facilities management, briefed commissioners on Nov. 18, saying that the idea of building a new animal care complex originated more than three years ago.
Over time, what was initially a $5 million project grew in terms of cost and scope largely because county officials sought to address a rising need for more kennels, the potential of suburban cities partnering with the county, and the existing Kirby animal facility reaching capacity.
The new capacity, which will sit close to Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, will have space to house 132 dogs. The Kirby animal care complex currently has 60 kennels.
According to Curry, elected county leaders as well as operators of partner pet rescues are worried that the growth of unincorporated county areas is sparking an increasing need to adequately handle the number of stray or abandoned animals.
“We’ve heard from the court that capacity is an issue,” Curry said.
Guadalupe County
Guadalupe County, too, is seeking to get ahead of an increasing amount of animal care and control needs that are sparked by population growth immediately northeast of San Antonio.
Commissioners voted Dec. 2 to have county staff negotiate a contract with the highest-ranked firm that answered a request for construction manager-at-risk qualifications regarding the remodeling of the existing animal control facility.
Fort Worth-based firm Muckleroy and Falls is the highest-ranked firm, according to county officials; the same company oversaw construction of an animal care complex in Fort Worth.
Guadalupe County officials said renovating the current, Seguin-based, 3,200-square-foot animal care facility will be upgraded with various improvements, including the ability to be expanded up to 8,000 square feet in order to keep pace with needs across the growing county.
The county has budgeted $3 million for the remodeling project.
