Healing Hands
by Ingrid Kallai | May 01, 2009
The PAWS Chicago Admissions & Recovery Center
For many animals in the PAWS Chicago program, it is a long road to adoption. Some are ill, suffering from chronic conditions or infectious diseases. Others are injured from abuse or neglect. For all, the care provided at the PAWS Chicago Admissions & Recovery Center can mean the difference between life and death.
Regardless of their age and health, animals of all breeds and sizes are taken-in, provided medical and rehabilitative care, and found forever homes by PAWS Chicago every year. Some are strays that have been picked-up on the streets by Chicago Animal Care and Control before being transferred to PAWS Chicago. Others have been relinquished to PAWS Chicago by their owners because they can no longer care for them. The Admissions & Recovery Center on 26th Street in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood is an animal’s first stop at PAWS Chicago. It is here that animals are evaluated, examined and treated by medical staff; spayed or neutered; and paired with foster homes, if necessary, until they are ready for adoption.
In addition to the Admissions & Recovery Center, the 26th Street building is home to PAWS Chicago’s Lurie Spay/ Neuter Clinic, Humane Education Center and Foster Care Program.
Admissions
When dogs, cats, puppies or kittens arrive at the Admissions & Recovery Center, they are examined by a PAWS Chicago veterinarian. Depending on the outcome of the exam, a customized treatment plan is developed to address each animal’s unique medical needs. While many animals are effectively treated by the medical staff at PAWS Chicago, others are sent to medical facilities that are capable of providing specialized and critical care.
Medical Treatment
After an initial behavioral assessment and medical exam, animals are spayed or neutered, vaccinated, micro-chipped, and treated for any illness or condition diagnosed during their initial exam by the medical staff at PAWS Chicago. Treatment decisions are made and protocols are designed specifically to meet the medical needs of each animal. Such a customized approach to care helps to ensure that the most positive outcomes are achieved for every dog or cat whose treatment is being managed by PAWS Chicago.
For animals that have presented with a contagious condition such as upper respiratory infections, isolation rooms in the Abbott Wing keep them from infecting other animals at the Center. Special air ducts push the air directly to the outside from the isolation rooms, preventing recirculation of contaminated air throughout the building. Foot baths, set at the threshold of the door to each isolation room, are meant to minimize cross-contamination by staff moving from room to room.
While some animals require isolation, others might need surgery. The PAWS Chicago Lurie Spay/Neuter Clinic not only serves pets and their owners in the surrounding community but also supports PAWS Chicago’s animals. Equipped with four surgical stations, the clinic staff spays, neuters, and performs a variety of surgical procedures every day.
For animals that require more complex surgery, an examination by a specialist, or round-the-clock care, the Admissions & Recovery Center turns to a network of carefully chosen veterinarians, animal hospitals and veterinary universities from all over the country for help. The medical professionals in this network regularly collaborate on cases, often sharing their diagnostic skills, surgical talents and state-of-the-art medical equipment to deliver the best possible care to PAWS Chicago animals.
Recovery & Foster Care
Depending on the severity of an animal’s condition, recovery can last a day, a month, or even several months. Animals with special needs or prolonged recovery times are entrusted to volunteer caregivers to foster them back to health.
The volunteer caregivers that open their homes to these animals are given careful instructions and provided with support and medical care. On average, animals are fostered for two to four weeks in a caregiver’s home. Timing, however, varies by case. In addition to sick animals, healthy puppies and kittens that are too young to be adopted are generally cared for in foster homes until they reach eight weeks. The foster caregivers provide an invaluable service to PAWS Chicago. By fostering animals with special needs, animals recuperating from surgery, and litters of puppies and kittens too young for adoption, they make available those internal resources that would have been used, thereby freeing space at the Admissions & Recovery Center, enabling PAWS Chicago to save more precious lives.
Adoption
Animals ready for adoption are transferred to the Adoption & Humane Center at 1997 N. Clybourn Avenue in Lincoln Park. This is an animal’s final stop before finding a loving and forever home. The first cageless, No Kill shelter of its kind in the Midwest, the Adoption Center expects to find new families for more than 3,600 homeless animals this year.
Greta Von Barken’s Story
Greta Von Barken (formerly Zelda), a six-year-old, unspayed German Shepherd, was surrendered by her owner to Animal Care and Control and subsequently transferred to PAWS Chicago in September 2008. She was diagnosed with two mammary tumors, severe hip dysplasia, and excess tartar build-up on her teeth. Greta received a dental cleaning and had her tumors removed by the veterinary staff at PAWS Chicago.
The surgery necessary to treat Greta’s hip dysplasia, however, was more complicated than the PAWS Chicago medical staff typically performs. Greta needed the skills of a specialist with access to specific orthopedic surgical instruments to correct her hips and alleviate her pain. She was sent to Care Animal Hospital of Arlington Heights, where Dr. Arathi Vinayak performed the procedure, first onGreta’s left hind leg, allowing it to heal before operating on her right side.
After several successful surgeries and two foster homes, Greta came to stay with Jessica Hiltner, a PAWS Chicago volunteer caregiver since January. Jessica had experience fostering puppies, but it was her first time caring for an injured adult dog. It turned out, though, to be a perfect fit for both dog and woman – Jessica was at a place in her life where she wanted to put her energy into something positive. And Greta, with everything she’d been through, needed a little extra care and special attention that Jessica’s home could provide.
Jessica brought Greta home on May 11 and recalls, “What was supposed to be 10 days, turned into five weeks!” At first, Greta was unresponsive, using only three legs. She had a hard time going up and down the three stairs in Jessica’s home without support, which might persist for her entire life. And she didn’t seem comfortable walking, much less navigating, the hardwood floors in her new foster home.
Within a short time, Greta’s body and spirit began to mend. She started to respond to Jessica, wagging her tail and pushing her muzzle into Jessica’s arm to be rubbed. “I think that her spirit was a little broken until she found our home,” says Jessica.
Today, Greta is no longer intimidated by the hardwood floors, eagerly making her way across them to awaken Jessica every morning. And only having had the stamina for three 10-minute walks per day when she first arrived, Greta now walks four times daily for up to 30-minutes. According to Jessica, “She’s become somewhat of a celebrity in the neighborhood. I can’t take her for a walk without someone stopping me to ask about her.”
With her medical history, Greta will likely face additional challenges as she ages. She is expected to have less mobility than normal due to her hip surgery. She also faces the possibility of her cancer returning. It is precisely these challenges, coupled with her age, that drew Jessica to Greta.
Jessica officially adopted Greta on June 22, nine months after she was first admitted to PAWS Chicago. “Greta has stolen the heart of my family. She’s a very sweet dog – quiet, but with a huge personality. She just wants to chill-out and has a lot of love to give. She’s definitely my dog,” says Jessica.