CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — The grand opening for Chicago’s largest medical facility for homeless dogs and cats is scheduled this week.
Work has been underway for the past four years to expand the PAWS Chicago medical facility in the Little Village neighborhood to 30,000 square feet.
The ribbon-cutting is scheduled for Wednesday at the facility at 3516 W. 26th Street.
PAWS Chicago CEO Susanna Homan said one of the biggest features is going from having 30 isolation suites to nearly 100. She said that allows PAWS to save even more animal lives.
“A lot of conditions that animals are suffering from in shelters that result in euthanasia are actually things that are very treatable, but they’re very contagious, so if you’re able to contain the spread, then you can save a lot more animals,” Homan told WBBM Newsradio.
Along with the isolation suites, the facility also has surgical suites that are important for animal recovery.
“The isolation suites are a really critical component but we also have surgical suites where we can do all sorts of things like tumor removal, mass removal. We can do eye surgeries, limb surgeries,” she said.
The expansion cost $9 million, which came from donations, Homan said.
The PAWs Chicago medical facility treats roughly 25,000 pets a year and in its 25 years of existence, it has completed about 280,000 spay and neuter surgeries, either free or low-cost.
“That’s huge because, for every pet that’s spayed or neutered, that means there’s not going to be an overpopulation of strays,” Homan said.
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