Pet Owner Support is an important pillar of our 360@CACC program, helping people who come to Chicago Animal Care & Control (CACC) keep their pets instead of surrendering them to the city impoundment facility.
Pet Owner Support provides resources like spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, or medical treatment for acute conditions like eye, ear, or respiratory infections. And, when PAWS has surgical capacity, we are able to offer Extraordinary Care for pets who need more intensive surgeries to save their lives. That’s how we met Koko.
From the other side of her backyard gates, Koko was tragically shot by a passerby. Her owner rushed her to an emergency vet, where x-rays showed the bullet had passed through her front leg, shattered her back femur, and was now lodged in her back leg.
Vets informed her owner that Koko’s options were amputation or euthanasia. Heartbroken, but unable to afford the cost of surgery, Koko’s owner searched for low-cost clinics to save her dog’s life, but was out of options. She took Koko to CACC - and there she was connected with our Pet Owner Support Team. Koko got the only yes she needed through our 360@CACC program.
Koko found us at the perfect time, as we had capacity to provide her surgery at our Medical Center. While she enjoyed our company, nothing makes Koko’s tail wag harder than her mom, her best friend. We are grateful to know Koko and her mom, and to know that they will spend this holiday season together, and many more to come ❤️
For more info on 360@CACC, visit pawschicago.org/360
CACC, Chicago’s animal control facility, is facing new budget cuts and fewer resources on an already strained system, which means they’ll need to lean on their rescue partners to save more pets.
We will be there to face these new challenges, we just need your help.
It’s the perfect time to lend your support, because your gift goes twice as far with a donation match! Giving Tuesday is December 3rd, but we have a $20,000 Matching Gift Challenge active NOW from animal advocate Nancy Aversa and our friends at the Robert and Mayari Pritzker Family Foundation ❤️
Have your donation matched right now at https://donate.pawschicago.org/campaign/641662/donate?c_src=social&c_src2=givingtuesday
An accidental litter of 3-month-old puppies was brought to CACC while our team was onsite. We got to bring these four back to PAWS with us, while the others went to other rescues for their own bright futures. After reportedly being kept in a crate for their whole lives so far, they are reminding us how resilient puppies are. New people, spaces, toys, and experiences were daunting for them at first, but every day we’ve seen them blossom a little more, ready to let love into their lives. They arrived at our Adoption Center yesterday, and already Baron and Knight have found loving homes! Duchess and Prince royally await your arrival now 👑
A little bit of fun was had by this crew 💕 When pets are brought to animal control as strays, there’s a lot of unknowns. What have their first months of life looked like? Are these their first toys, first beds, first nights feeling safe? What we know for certain - they are silly, curious, can’t be kept from a good time, and have very bright futures ahead! We will help them get adoption ready with vaccines, spay & neuter surgeries, and anything else they may need to prepare for loving homes!
Mama dog Candy arrived at PAWS with five sweetest little pups 🍬After a cozy, quiet foster stay to finish nursing her babies, the whole family returned for a check-up, and with a glowing report from our veterinary team - they’re one step closer to adoption day! After all her hard work, Candy got scooped up quickly at our Adoption Center, and we think her puppies will have the same luck after their upcoming spay/neuter surgeries. And how sweet to see a shy mom be the first to find her loving home ❤️ Keep an eye out at pawschicago.org/adopt for the arrival of Hershey, Twizzler, Whoppers, Starburst, and Tootsie!
After 1,074 days as a PAWS pet, Orion was officially adopted yesterday! Back in 2021, Orion was picked up as a cruelty confiscate. He was underweight, had skin abrasions, dermatitis, and was understandably shaken up by his past experiences. We got to work to heal him physically and heal his trust in humans too. Spoiler alert - inside this big, handsome hunk was a big, open heart more than ready to accept all our love. Then in 2022, Orion had a CCL tear (similar to a torn ACL in humans) in both of his back legs. He would require a specialized orthopedic surgery known as a tibial-plateau-leveling osteotomy (TPLO), followed by months of physical therapy afterwards to recover. After a successful surgery and nearly a year of hard work in physical therapy later, Orion was finally adoptable again! His amazing foster family continued to be his champion as he did his adoption search from the comfort of their couch, but Orion was getting overlooked. Maybe it was his 100lb+ size that was getting him passed up, but our gentle giant needed to show off his heart of gold in person. Sure enough, a couple months of swooning volunteers later, a great fit came through our doors. They took Orion home as a foster-to-adopt in October, and yesterday made things red-banana official! Of course, they first brought him back for lots of goodbye hugs and well wishes from all our staff and volunteers who have loved him and rooted for him all these years. Congratulations, Orion!! ❤️❤️
