Our biggest CACC Spay Day of all time

Jul 24, 2025

On July 1, PAWS Chicago’s medical team, clinic team, community outreach team, and volunteer team came together to pull off our biggest CACC Spay Day of all time. Initially, we set out to do 100 surgeries in one day, but we joyfully surpassed that goal, completing 128 in total.

With limited resources and a constant stream of incoming animals, Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC) simply cannot keep up with the demand for spay/neuter. Pets legally can’t be adopted without the surgery, and many rescues without in-house medical capabilities can’t pull pets until they’re fixed. The result is overcrowding, which is always dangerous. 

This CACC Spay Day was special because we focused on one of the most vulnerable groups of the homeless pet population: large dogs. Due to their size, these pets are more challenging and expensive to care for, which puts them at risk through no fault of their own.  

After receiving spay/neuter, vaccines, microchips, preventative medicine, ear cleanings, and nail trims, we got to see the impact immediately. A few Spay Day pets already had pending adoptions, but an additional 21 pets were pulled by rescues, another two kept by us, and now all of them can be adopted right away when someone falls in love. 

At PAWS, spay/neuter is our focus day in and day out because we know it’s the most effective way to a No Kill Chicago. Every week, Big Fix provides spay/neuter for 10 CACC dogs who have adopters waiting; we’re always chipping away at overcrowding. But it’s especially satisfying to make a big dent at all at once.  

Spay Day is a great reminder of what we can achieve together. Rescuing animals isn’t something we can do alone; it takes the whole community. When we act together, incredible things are possible—like 128 life-changing surgeries in one day.