CACC's New Outdoor Cat Policy
Oct 31, 2024
Chicago’s Cats Are in Crisis!
Last week, Chicago Animal Care & Control’s (CACC) new intake policy for healthy, free-roaming cats went into effect. The city impoundment facility will no longer take in healthy outdoor cats from the public. Instead, they are urging people to leave them where they are.
We serve as a partner to CACC and understand that, between January and October 2024, intake at CACC has surged by 17% compared to last year due to post-COVID and economic issues, and that healthy cats are vulnerable to contagious disease at CACC. However, this policy can lead to unchecked growth of outdoor cat populations if all cats are not spayed/neutered. We have grave concerns about cats outdoors in Chicago’s urban, high-traffic environment, especially with harsh winter weather. We recommend that cats be kept indoors for their safety and well-being.
As a community, we can all support the solution to pet overpopulation: spay/neuter and trap/neuter/return (TNR) services like those offered at PAWS Chicago. These programs are needed now more than ever.
In response to these changes, PAWS Chicago will:
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Prioritize and increase spay/neuter surgeries for feral cats and owned pets in under-resourced communities. Last year, PAWS performed 11,278 free and low-cost feral and domestic cat surgeries and we are increasing our capacity to do more.
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Continue to grow our Rescue Ready program, which provides free and subsidized spay/neuter surgeries for pets at CACC to encourage adoption and transfer by other rescue groups. In the last 14 months, PAWS has provided spay/neuter surgeries and veterinary care for nearly 1,000 CACC cats and dogs to make them ready for adoption by the public or transfer by other rescues. PAWS provided 747 of these surgeries at no cost to CACC cats and dogs, and 243 were at the highly subsidized rate of $65 for local rescues that received PAWS veterinary services when they transferred CACC cats and dogs into their adoption programs.
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Host virtual workshops to teach caring community members how to help when you find outdoor cats in the winter months, including constructing winter shelters and how to integrate outdoor cats into your home. These workshops will begin on November 19.
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Increase our focus on helping Chicago citizens who partner with us to save community cats. The PAWS “Chicago Citizen Cat Care” program will prioritize taking in outdoor cats from people who are fostering stray cats in their communities and add them to our intake list.
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Continue to build innovative programs at Chicago Animal Care & Control – we will have more announcements soon.
We need to come together as a community to help cats. PAWS and animal welfare shelters cannot do this in isolation – we need you! Here's how you can help:
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Join our Citizen Cat Care Program and care for cats in your community.
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When we find friendly cats among the feral population, we make every effort to bring them into our adoption program – please consider adopting.
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To learn how to participate in our TNR program.
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Open your home to a foster pet.
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Build an outdoor cat shelter that will help during the cold winter months.
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Make a donation to support our free and low-cost spay/neuter and TNR for cats.
Together, we will make a brighter future for Chicago’s animals.