PAWS Chicago’s Paws for Life Community Outreach Program provides resources and awareness to residents in Englewood on how to help and care for their pets.

I’ve been volunteering weekly with program leader, Laurie Maxwell, and wrote about some experiences so far.

This is also where I met Alicia, who is caring for a colony of cats abandoned at her door in Englewood. I am so happy I met her and reached out to Hyde Park Cats on her behalf. To date, they’ve admitted four of the cats on her block into their adoption program.

In addition to meeting Alicia, we went to peoples’ houses that now have an ongoing relationship with PAWS Chicago as they receive help for their pets, with a specific emphasis on spay/neuter resources.

One house was a follow-up visit to see this little dog named Here We Go after her spay surgery. What a great name for a great dog. All she wants is pets. Here We Go was rescued by her owner. She found her down the block chained in a backyard, 24 hours a day in all kinds of weather. She convinced the previous owners to let her keep Here We Go instead. She did not have money for vetting, and was very happy with the services that PAWS was able to provide her.

On that same block, we visited another house who turned out to have fifteen small dogs inside, including two litters of puppies. These puppies were very young.

These puppies were a bit older and very playful.

Their owners were pretty overwhelmed and had plans to give the puppies away. They brought out the adult dogs they purchased from various breeders, but desperately wanted all of the dogs spayed and neutered. They just did not know how to go about it.

The story of which puppies went with which dogs was pretty confusing, and this is where it was fun to watch Laurie in action. She drew a family tree with all of the dogs’ names listed, so that they could all be sure that ALL of the dogs would receive vet care in a timely manner.

Amidst meeting all of the dogs, this cat came up to us for pets. She was visibly pregnant.

Turns out she belongs to the same house, and they let her in and out. She was perfectly fine amidst all of the commotion, and was friends with the dogs.

Because of her condition, Laurie took her that day to get spayed in PAWS’ clinic.

We also returned a colony cat that was treated for a head wound during his TNR surgery. This cat was trapped by a feeder named Johnny that cares for all of the cats that come to his auto lot. George from Chicago TNR has been helping Johnny for awhile now. When Johnny trapped this cat, he called George, who then called Laurie. Laurie came within the hour to pick up this cat and took him straight to the clinic for vet care.

I’ve been to this colony before. George took me around Englewood a few winters ago showing me all of her TNR work in that area.

One of the cats we met that day had an eye injury that was treated. I saw this same cat now. The wound is pink but healed now. These cats are pretty friendly and cared for by Johnny, but could also use indoor homes. There are many cats like this Englewood.

There are so many more stories like this, and so many residents requesting help for their pets. I plan on continuing to help in any way I can. If you are interested in volunteering, please visit the PAWS For Life Facebook page.

PAWS Chicago started a new community outreach program in Englewood last December to go door-to-door and help people help their pets.

I joined PAWS Chicago PAWS Outreach for Life last week for the first time and am still trying to wrap my head around what happened. It’s what I’ve been doing here and wanting in my own Humboldt Park neighborhood for years with TNR – going door-to-door and talking to neighbors face-to-face about the animals that they are seeing, and giving them the resources to help them. Being by myself mostly, my resources are obviously limited, but I do what I can with my neighbors’ support, your support, and utilizing the best of my own abilities, which is mostly TNR – Trap, Neuter, Return. When the neighbors have questions about caring for their indoor pets or other animal issues, I let them know the resources available elsewhere in the city.

PAWS Chicago is offering to help anyone with any pets in zip code 60621, Englewood, with whatever they need for their animals, and going directly to the source by visiting people’s homes. That includes spay/neuter services, additional vet care, animal behavior advice, transport, pet care supplies, working with landlords to help people keep their pets, TNR for outdoor colonies, admission for found strays and litters, on-site dog training classes, and more. They chose Englewood because it is currently Chicago’s most impoverished, underserved neighborhood, with a median annual income of around $11,000 per household. Additionally, there are very few local vet resources there. Last year I volunteered a few times with my friend George of Chicago TNR who does TNR and cat rescue all over Englewood and other south side neighborhoods utilizing PAWS’ Lurie Clinic. We saw a lot of outdoor cats there.

Laurie Maxwell runs the program for PAWS. She came from The Humane Society of the United States, HSUS, and modeled this after their own Pets for Life program in Chicago’s West Lawndale/Garfield Park area that has been running since 2011.

Laurie explained that instead of building a shelter and expecting people to come, they are bringing the shelter resources directly to them. It’s very ambitious and it seems to be working. So far over 95% or so of the people they talked to want these services and are working with PAWS to get them. That success rate was very obvious last week when we visited everyone.

I met up with Laurie and another volunteer named Dee at Kusanya Cafe and we hit the ground running. Laurie took us on follow-up visits to homes that she already has a relationship with, as well as visiting new homes.

The first stop was visiting two kittens that were spayed the previous week at PAWS Chicago’s Lurie Spay/Neuter Clinic. Their owners had questions about kitten care, and had expressed concerns the week prior about litter box issues. So Laurie came prepared with litter box supplies, kitten food, and cat behavior advice.

The next stop was visiting a female pit bull named Precious that now had kennel cough after being at Chicago Animal Care and Control, CACC. Someone turned Precious into CACC as a stray, but the owners paid the fees and got her out. They could not afford the vet services for the cough, and there was alo something wrong with Precious’ skin. Laurie made arrangements to pick up the dog the following week for vet care, and provided dog food. In addition, while we were talking to Precious’ owner, a cat wandered into the room to check us out. When we found out the cat was not spayed yet, Laurie made arrangements to also pick up the cat and take her to their vet.

We visited a home with a pit bull family. The owner came out with a shoebox full of puppies. The puppies were only five days old.

The owner agreed to keep the puppies until they’re weaned, and then PAWS will admit them into their adoption program, and fix the adult dogs. This man touched my heart. He is raising his two daughters, nine and ten, by himself. He was so grateful and gracious while talking to Laurie.

In between, we knocked on doors, and found a home that neighbors told us about that was “filled with cats and dogs.” We managed to talk to the owner on the phone, but did not go inside because she wasn’t home yet. Laurie made arrangements to try again the following week.

We also saw at least eight cats outside in various places. This one was obviously friendly, and we found her owner. She agreed to have the cat picked up to be spayed the following week, in addition to her two dogs.

We visited another man who is caring for his English bull dog in the basement of his old apartment. He had to move to a new place and his new landlord does not allow pets. He visits his dog five times a day in the old place. Laurie also gave him supplies, and is working on getting his landlord to allow him to be together with his dog. We all took his dog out for a walk together, and it was clear they were family to each other.

One of our last stops was with a young man named Nick and his rambunctious six-month old pit bull. Laurie has been giving him on-site dog behavior lessons, and Nick showed us his progress. The dog was also spayed by PAWS. The other week Nick also found a chihuahua abandoned for three weeks in his stairwell. PAWS admitted that dog into their adoption pgroam.

Nick bought his pit bull from a breeder in Indiana. He tried to adopt another dog from an open intake shelter, but was turned down because he didn’t have a fence. So he bought a dog instead, from a breeder all too willing to give it to him. He said his friends also want to breed his dog, but he refuses now, and is an advocate for spay/neuter for all peoples’ pets. Perhaps now his friends will be calling PAWS as well.

There was so much more that happened within these few hours. I wish I had taken more photos but there was so much going on. I am planning on returning again to volunteer this Thursday. For a list of their events and volunteer opportunities, please visit the PAWS Chicago PAWS for Life Outreach page.

Mama Skipper is a colony cat that was TNR’d by Heather a few years ago. She was trapped by a Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC) Officer last week.

Since Skipper was microchipped to Heather, we were able to pick her up from CACC.

The situation is confusing, and it usually is, because really, there is no set process in Chicago for these cats. I have found every situation to be different throughout the years. In this case, CACC does need to respond to people’s calls about outside animals, but they are supposed to leave ear tipped colony cats outside. Last week it was very cold, so perhaps the officer did not want to leave her. Also, she may have shown signs of friendliness, and since more and more ear tipped cats are now being adopted into indoor homes, the officer could have thought she was lost outside. But, once inside CACC, it is up to whomever the cat is microchipped to get that cat out of CACC.

*(As a side note, I need to make sure the contact information for any of the colony cats originally chipped to me is changed to the people around here that I know who have adopted them, let them in/out of their homes, etc. These are no longer colony cats that can just be put back outside, they are pet cats that should be vetted and cared for by that person now for the lifetime of that cat.)

The other explanation given by CACC is that the cats need to be brought in regardless so they could make sure that the cats are updated on their rabies shots. But, part of the TNR package for colony cats is a rabies shot (good for three years), so chances are most ear tipped cats are updated. Also, in this case, CACC did not give her a rabies vaccination. They gave her a distemper vaccination.

So, Skipper needs some additional vetting to be ready for adoption, including the rabies shot, Revolution, and a snap test for FIV/FeLV.

Skipper has been in Melissa’s foster room for over a week now, and is healthy and doing well. She started to explore, and in true cat form, loves boxes.

She is still pretty shy and needs someone to spend more time with her, so another foster is lined up. Heather went back to Skipper’s territory and found that the home she hung out at has since been torn down. So she’s pretty lucky girl to be inside – she’s out of the cold, her outdoor colony home is gone, and the microchip saved her life at CACC.

Last night we picked up a colony cat from Chicago Animal Care and Control. She is a TNR’d colony cat microchipped to my friend Heather W, who has done a lot of TNR south of my area.

Heather got the call from Tree House on January 6th that her colony cat, Mama Skipper, was at CACC.

Heather TNR’d Mama Skipper a few years. She also trapped her kittens at the time, which were admitted to Tree House. Mama cats outside don’t do very well – they spend all of their time and energy being pregnant and caring for the kittens. Usually mama cats always look the most disheveled and skinny in the colonies. TNR stops the breeding cycle and the cats flourish. You can see that Skipper looks pretty scared here in CACC, but healthy.

Someone in Heather’s neighborhood called CACC about cats. An Animal Control Officer – ACO, came out and ended up trapping Mama Skipper on January 4th. She’s pretty visible because she likes to hang out on people’s porches.

ACO’s are not supposed to trap ear tipped cats, but it is being done at times. Per the paperwork, there looked like there was some confusion as to whether they thought she was ear tipped, or had frostbite.

We were kind of confused at first also. It looks like both of her ears were tipped.

This is her left ear, which is always the ear that is tipped for identification that the cat was TNR’d. And this is her right ear, which looks damaged from first bite, probably from last winter because it was healed. Here’s the view of her ears from the top. Her damaged right ear looks even smaller than her tipped left ear.

The pick-up at CACC went very smoothly. Tree House had put a hold on the cat, and we showed up with a trap. The ACO went in back and got Skipper for us. There were a few people there looking to adopt, which was great to see. But the adoption room only had three cats. Later we learned from the CACC Cat Transfer Team that the facility currently only has 12 cats. Normally CACC is overloaded, but it is freezing outside, so perhaps less cats are coming in.

The weather is definitely concerning this week. We are at below freezing temps, and there was a quite a bit of snow since Mama Skipper was picked up. Our friend Melissa agreed to keep Mama in her bathroom for a few days and let her rest. She definitely has a thick feral fur coat to brave the cold, and Heather has an outdoor cat shelter for her outside, but she wanted to also make sure Mama did not catch an upper respiratory infection – URI, which is common at CACC.

Also, Mama is showing to be somewhat friendly, which makes sense since she was picked up. She was so calm, from CACC, to the trap, to Melissa’s bathroom. Perhaps the neighbor that called thought she was a lost pet. Who knows? We are trying to find out which neighbor called. In the meantime, please let us know if you’re interested in fostering her to see if she belongs indoors.

I met up with Chicago TNR again over the winter to help with trap-neuter-return, TNR, for outdoor cats in Englewood, a neighborhood in Chicago’s south side. My friend George started Chicago TNR by herself last year and has been humanely trapping colony cats all over the south side. She started trapping the Englewood cats last November in partnership with PAWS Chicago’s low-cost spay/neuter clinic.

By mid-December, in just six weeks, Chicago TNR Trapped-Neutered-Returned 93 cats in Englewood. 32 additional cats were Trapped-Neutered-Relocated to farms and warehouses that contacted PAWS Chicago looking to help pull cats off the streets and also for rodent control.

I joined George again one day in December in Englewood, where we trapped eight of those cats in less than two hours, just by driving around. George typically drives the PAWS’ van loaded with Tru-Catch traps, pet carriers, cat food for donations and bait, and other items needed for TNR projects, including newspapers, paper plates, and sheets to cover the traps. The cats are everywhere outside there, and we decided just to go to places where we knew there were community cats.

I met up with George at this TNR’d feral cat colony.

These cats are well fed and have shelter under the front porch. We moved on to an alley right around the corner where we saw a few cats, including this orange and white cat with a flea collar. We asked around but no one claimed him as theirs, so we decided to try to trap and take him to the clinic.

He was suspicious but clearly hungry. So we set up a trap.

And got him a few minutes later. 

We quickly moved on to another block where George knew of a colony and visited the feeder’s house. A well-endowed male cat was hanging out on her front steps.

After a quick consultation with the feeder, who claimed him as one of her indoor/outdoor pet cats,  we got him into a carrier to be neutered as well. 

Around the corner from there we placed a Rubbermaid bin cat house for shelter.

It is well concealed from the street and you would hardly notice it, but hopefully it will help keep a few cats warm in the winter.

From there we moved even more quickly. The feeder told us about a few cats down the street, and we saw them right away. We placed two traps baited with tuna near another feeder’s front steps, and two cats obliged by going in them immediately. These cats were hungry.

The woman that was feeding them was moving out of the neighborhood that day and was very grateful for our help. She told us that there were other feeders on that block so these cats are cared for.

George and I decided to split up at that point and she drove to another spot while I continued TNR on this block.

A few doors down this long-haired beauty came running down the steps and out of the gate to greet me on the sidewalk.

I talked to her feeder as well, who said she was friendly, but they could not let her permanently into their home.  She followed me down the block once she smelled the food.

She was easy to gently push into a trap.
George came back at this point fairly quickly with two more cats in traps, and another pet cat in a carrier. So now we had eight cats. It was freezing outside and we decided to wrap it up.

She wanted to show me Sabrina’s Colony. This is a colony of over a dozen cats. Sabrina feeds diligently, and rescues friendly cats and kittens all the time on her own.

The cats are gorgeous and well fed. They all came running when they saw us.

This tabby cat appeared to be the ringleader.

We were out of paper plates, but we fed them anyways on the ground.

These cats have ample shelters on her front porch.

From there we took all of the cats to PAWS Chicago’s low cost spay/neuter clinic. We met up with a few other feral cat trappers who were also dropping off their cats. We made sure each cat in a trap was fed.  Every trap was lined with clean newspaper for the cats to sit on, and each trap was covered with a sheet so that the feral cats would be calmed in the traps. Here they are ready for their spay/neuter surgeries, vaccinations, parasite treatments, and ear tipping.

Once the cats are fully recovered from their surgeries, usually within 24 to 48 hours, George then returns the cats to where they were trapped. In this case, the pet cats were returned to their owners, and three of the cats in traps, including the long-haired beauty that ran to greet me, were relocated into companies requesting cats for rodent control in their warehouses, while also feeding and caring for them and providing shelter.

I look forward to helping George in this neighborhood again. There are too many intact cats running outside here and the residents welcome any help they can get.