Monthly Giving Saves More Lives
Oct 07, 2021
Enrique was a stray puppy who got hit by a car. After being taken to Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC), he was diagnosed with a pelvic fracture. At this time, CACC was struggling with a particularly high population of dogs and having a difficult time transferring out medical cases.
PAWS Chicago makes regular visits to CACC to pull animals and help free up space for more homeless pets. While getting a dog from a nearby cage, Senior Manager of Intake Lauren Osborne spotted Enrique. She gave him an initial assessment, got x-rays, and brought his records back to PAWS. Chief Medical Officer Emily Swiniarski examined his case and gave the team the thumbs up to go back and pick him up.
Once here, Dr. Swiniarski examined Enrique and found that his femur had been displaced from his pelvis. Thankfully, our recent Medical Center remodel and expansion included the addition of advanced surgical suites, making it possible to treat Enrique in-house.
In early August, PAWS Chicago’s distinguished veterinary team successfully completed a surgery to put Enrique’s femur back in place. After a couple weeks of healing under the watchful eye of medical staff and volunteers, Enrique was placed with foster parent Sharon Cech who provided a loving environment where he was able to gradually get back to his energetic, affectionate self.
After making a full recovery, Enrique spent just four days at our Lincoln Park Adoption Center before meeting his perfect match in Emily Stutts on September 8, their official “gotcha day.” Enrique is now enjoying his first weeks of pain-free living as part of a family.
Monthly giving is crucial to our day-to-day work as well as planning for, executing and maintaining long-term projects, like our Medical Center expansion. From injured on the streets to happily adopted, every step of Enrique’s journey was made possible by your generous donations.
Steel, Stephenson, and Stephanie were found in a trash can and brought into PAWS Medical Center by a construction worker. This was the third group of neonates dropped off in a single week, 11 in total.
Preventing overpopulation is key to building a No Kill Chicago. A single female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 kittens in seven years. For dogs, over 96,000 puppies. Free and low-cost spay/neuter surgeries are the solution, and as such, are at the core of PAWS prevention initiatives.
These weeks-old orphans needed a safe place to grow. Luckily, longtime cat colony caretaker and PAWS for Life partner Dolores Sanchez was on the phone with PAWS staff that day and heard the kittens crying in the background. She immediately said, “How many are there? I’ll take them.” For over a month, Dolores has kept these babies healthy and watched them get stronger.
Soon, it will be time for vaccinations, spay/neuter surgeries and beginning the search for a new home. With the help of our ComPETibility quiz—a personalized survey that helps identify pets best-suited to an individual’s household and lifestyle—and skilled Adoption Center staff, we’ll make sure each animal finds their perfect match.
But our support doesn’t end at adoption. Throughout their lives, PAWS Chicago will be there for Steel, Stephenson, Stephanie and their new families, making sure they get the veterinary care and behavioral support needed to thrive.
Lifeline donors, like you, provide the reliable resources needed to invest in preventative spay/neuter efforts that help keep infant animals from wandering the streets. And for homeless animals who have already been born, your support helps fund their care at PAWS from intake to adoption and beyond.
Thank you again for your commitment to PAWS Chicago. Your participation in the Lifeline Monthly Giving Program is critical to our success and allows us to save more lives. Please feel free to call 773-475-3320 or email lifeline@pawschicago.org with any questions about your donations or about PAWS Chicago.