Chicago Rescue Authority

05/09/2025

Amazing news from CACC!

Lost or found a pet in Chicago? This just got easier.

Our Lost & Found page include a powerful tool: an Interactive Map powered by Petco Love Lost!

You can see lost and found pets reported by the community, posts from Neighbors and Nextdoor, and animals brought into our shelter - all in one place.

Check it out here:

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/cacc/provdrs/care/svcs/lost_pet_recovery.html

Whether you’re searching for a missing pet or trying to help one get home, this tool makes it easier to connect.

03/09/2025

Starting the month off with over half of our population of dogs being transfers from Chicago Rescue Care and Control feels great, but we also know that that means most of our CACC fosters are full and we won't be able to pull more until these ones get adopted.

What is the different between a regular foster and a CACC foster? A CACC foster either has no other dogs or is able to keep a CACC dog isolated from their resident dog for a short time while they fight the upper respiratory infection that most CACC dogs leave with. Does that sound like you? Shoot us a message and get started on our foster team to help us save more lives!

02/09/2025

Small dog people, where you at? We got some cute pups in a variety of life stages needing a safe place to land ASAP! Send us a message if you want to learn more about how to become an approved foster family.

02/09/2025

Welcome to these 30 new faces that joined our CRA pack in August. Included in these numbers are 13 CACC dogs, 6 owner surrenders, and 11 KY street puppies.

Regrettably, Larry, an emaciated French Bulldog with a terrible skin condition and a host of other medical conditions that was found roaming the street right outside of CACC, was only with us a short time before we had to say goodbye to him. A tumor in his brain that we didn't know was there caused him to begin having back-to-back seizures, and not even medical intervention could stabilize him and stop the seizures once they started. Even though he was only part of our family for 3 short days, we felt his loss heavily and decided to rescue a paralyzed frenchie from CACC the next day in his memory. In addition to Larry, we've taken several long-term medical cases (Humphrey, Cami, Primrose) that are incredibly emaciated and will need lots of food and love to help them get to a point where they are healthy enough to find their way to the adoption page. Please check out our Amazon and Chewy wishlists to send them some stinky cans of food to help them pack back on the pounds.

01/09/2025

Congratulations to our 27 August families that became CRA adopters this past month! We're so happy for our sweet pups that found their forevers! Here's to another great month of adoptions ahead!

If you would like to learn more about how to join our adoption counselor team and help us make magical connections like these - send us a message and see how you can get involved!

28/08/2025

THIS SATURDAY! Adopt & Shop at Pup Social in Bucktown!

If you haven't visited Pup Social with your pup yet, now is the time! Most days are members only, but this event is open to the public and you can bring your dog with an entry fee (and proof of vaccinations)! They've got an amazing array of amenities, lots of beer on tap, a supervised play yard for the dogs, and some of the cutest adoptable animals (I'm biased because it's my rescue, but look at the pictures below if you don't believe me!)

Come tour the facility, shop with some local vendors, and meet our 20+ adoptable dogs! We have small breeds, big kids, puppies, and adults!

RSVP for any dog guests below! (No RSVP needed for humans not accompanied by pups!)

https://www.pupsocial.com/open-house-pup-up-events/adopt-and-shop

If you have any questions about the dogs in attendance, feel free to shoot us a message! If you're going with hopes to adopt a dog, throw an adoption app in on our website in advance to expedite the process! We're excited to see everyone and showcase our amazing pups!

21/08/2025

Sweet Humphrey.

We had no idea from the photo on CACC’s website how bad of a condition this boy was truly in, but we’re so glad we were moved to make him a CRA boy late last night.

Humphrey is a St. Bernard. He should be around 90+ lbs, but he’s only 55. Yet another terribly emaciated dog that deserved so much more from the human who failed him. He’s weak, barely able to stand for longer than a few minutes. He has so much muscle wasting in his legs and he was matted beyond belief and soaked in what was likely months of his own urine. I cannot even begin to describe to you the horrible smell that he carried with him. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to exist in that stench and discomfort for as long as we expect he had to endure.

We’re beyond grateful that our incredible friends at Shelter Veterinary Solutions made time to squeeze him in today to give him some much needed care. His labwork was not where we want it to be for anesthesia, so we’ll work toward the rest of the diagnostics he needs over the next month while we help him gain weight and fight off infection. Today they were able to shave all the matting off of him and treat him for multiple skin infections that were infested with maggots.

Humphrey has a long road to recovery ahead of him, but we’re determined to see him through. Hopefully his gait improves with a good diet and nutrition and some built back muscle, but we’re highly suspicious that he may have something underlying going on with his hips. We’ll know more once we’re able to sedate him for hip rads. For now, it’s rest, food, and lots of love.

If you’d like to donate to help with Humphrey’s ongoing care, ways to do so are listed in our linktree in our bio. Any little bit helps. Special thanks to the Rosenthal Foundation for helping sponsor the start of this gentleman’s care, allowing us to confidently say yes to this gentleman.

20/08/2025

Sweet Humphrey.

We had no idea from the photo on CACC's website how bad of a condition this boy was truly in, but we're so glad we were moved to make him a CRA boy late last night.

Humphrey is a St. Bernard. He should be around 90+ lbs, but he's only 55. Yet another terribly emaciated dog that deserved so much more from the human who failed him. He's weak, barely able to stand for longer than a few minutes. He has so much muscle wasting in his legs and he was matted beyond belief and soaked in what was likely months of his own urine. I cannot even begin to describe to you the horrible smell that he carried with him. I can't imagine what it must have been like to exist in that stench and discomfort for as long as we expect he had to endure.

We're beyond grateful that our incredible friends at Shelter Veterinary Solutions made time to squeeze him in today to give him some much needed care. His labwork was not where we want it to be for anesthesia, so we'll work toward the rest of the diagnostics he needs over the next month while we help him gain weight and fight off infection. Today they were able to shave all the matting off of him and treat him for multiple skin infections that were infested with maggots.

Humphrey has a long road to recovery ahead of him, but we're determined to see him through. Hopefully his gait improves with a good diet and nutrition and some built back muscle, but we're highly suspicious that he may have something underlying going on with his hips. We'll know more once we're able to sedate him for hip rads. For now, it's rest, food, and lots of love.

If you'd like to donate to help with Humphrey's ongoing care, ways to do so are listed below. Any little bit helps. Special thanks to the Rosenthal Foundation for helping sponsor the start of this gentleman's care, allowing us to pull him with confidence.

PayPal: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/ChicagoRescueAuth...
Zelle: [email protected]
Venmo:
Shelterluv: https://checkout.shelterluv.com/donate/TCR
Amazon wishlist: https://a.co/40FsZYX
Chewy wishlist: https://www.chewy.com/g/chicago-rescue-authority_b119718161 -list&wishlistsortby=DEFAULT

20/08/2025

An open letter to her former owner: ��

Today, we brought home your dog. �

On the form you filled out at the shelter you left her at, you said her name was Ruby. She didn’t respond to that name. She seemed to have no positive association with it at all. We renamed her Primrose. A new name for her new start. ��

Were you sad when you left her behind? Did she try to follow you, or - like her name - did she have no positive associations with you to cause her to experience a fear of separation? �

She’s full of milk. Did you let her puppies stay with her for the full 8 weeks, or did you yank them away from her as soon as you thought you could sell them? How much money did you make by selling her puppies? How many litters did you force her to have? Was she not a good enough mom? Did she not produce big enough litters? Why wasn’t she good enough to be loved by you? ��

Did you know that she loves car rides? She loves sticking her head out the window and feeling the wind in her face. Did you know that she loves hugs? And nuzzling her head into your neck? Did you know what a lovely dog she was before you discarded her like trash? ��

Did you know that underneath that matted fur we could count every single one of her bones because she was so skinny? Did you know that she couldn’t shake her head or even relieve herself because the matting spread so far across her body? Did you know that she has painful infections between her toes and in her ears? Did you care? ��

Did you know that despite her obvious neglect at your hands, she still greeted everyone at the groomers with a kiss and a tail wag? Did you ever realize that she has the most soulful eyes? ��She is worth so much more than her ability to produce puppies. I’m sure you’re not worried, but in case you are — she’ll be ok. We’ll make sure of it. ��

Signed, Exhausted Rescue Workers.

Special thanks to our incredible friends at who always come through for us when we need them.

16/08/2025

Come see us this weekend at Live Like Roo Foundations Pet Fest at Hideaway Brew Garden in Hoffman Estates from 11-3 and at the end of the month at our adoption event with !

Thanks WGN TV for featuring our rescue pups! ❤️

Adopt-A-Pet: Chicago Rescue Authority

07/08/2025

What do we have to do to convince you to foster a dog? We got fluffies, non shedding smalls, houndy mix babies, fancy breeds that people fight over, old retirement-home-bound seniors, active youths, polite middle-aged coexisters, the list goes on. If we can find committment for enough of these dogs, guess what? THERE ARE MORE! There are always more dogs dying in shelters or on the side of the road in some rural under-resourced town.

What is stopping you?

Is it the money? We cover everything financially.

Don't have a yard? Don't have a stay-at-home job? We don't care. Those things are not a prerequisite to saving a life.

Traveling too much this summer for a long-term commitment? We can work around your prior commitments. Even just a 2 week period of time with a foster dog is a huge help.

Never had a dog before? We'll be available to you at all times for any questions along the way! We're professional dog people, I promise, we got you.

Is it the fear of falling in love and not wanting to say goodbye to your foster animal? I guarantee you the heartbreak of watching your foster get adopted by a different family is nothing compared to the heartbreak these animals feel sitting in shelters waiting for their time to be up or fighting for trash on the streets just to survive. Can you handle a little sadness in exchange for saving a life? (But also, we love it when fosters turn into adopters! No rules against it here!)

Get to swipin' and find yourself a friend to enjoy summer in the city with. We need you. The dogs need you.

➡️➡️➡️➡️

(or check out our foster's needed page on our website!) -

https://chicagorescueauthority.org/foster-application -375d-4bf0-a31d-32baa75592ce

04/08/2025

Let's talk about Bertha.

Bertha came to us after her previous owner dumped her, after having FIVE c-sections and producing them likely close to 100K in puppies. They let her suffer for months with an unchecked UTI that resulted in pounds of bladder stones developing, and then abandoned her like she was trash.

Bertha's story is incredibly sad, but she is not a sad dog. She is a resilient dog. She never complained about the giant stones she was passing, and I know they must have hurt like hell. She is happy to be with people and happy to be involved. She loves love.

But you know what else she loves? Making her foster mom cry. I've never before had such a toxic relationship with a foster dog. Bertha is resilient, loving, and has so much life left ahead of her -- but what she doesn't have is manners. Respectfully, lovingly, she's a giant as***le. To get back at us for not letting her farty, rank butt in our bed at night, she poops on our walls. Not directly, but she s**ts on the floor and then KICKS IT ON THE WALLS. Sometimes the ceiling. We have had to budget time in our morning routines to have a cute little menty b while we scrub s**t off our walls while Bertha watches from the couch or the chair (that she's almost definitely used as toilet paper at some point during the night) happy as a clam while her human servant suffers.

She recently had surgery to remove all of the stones in her bladder and to spay the everloving crap out of her because she's done being a baby factory. I naively hoped that once she felt better physically, she'd get her attitude in order and show a touch of gratitude, but JOKES ON ME - she's still out here making me cry like it's her job.

I'm terrified to put this dog on the website because "adoptable" is not ever a way that I would describe her. She's holding me hostage in my house. Maybe she's not meant to be a house dog? Maybe she just needs the right (crazy) person who has the time to dedicate to her and look past her need for a minor exorcism. Maybe once she feels that her love debt has been paid, she'll stop poop-casso-ing on the walls?

Anyways, adopt Bertha, I guess. Or foster her. Or donate to Megan's therapy bills.