Support Chicago’s Kittens
Sep 26, 2025
The last wave of kitten season has peaked, and the numbers keep climbing.
Every spring, the number of kittens in Chicago begins to rise as feral cats crawl out of their winter hidey-holes and start breeding. But that’s just the beginning. All through summer, kittens continue to multiply, and now the final wave of cuteness is hitting us hard and from all angles.
For example, our Community Outreach team is continually encountering kittens on the street. Recently, one of our staff, Dolores, actually found a cat in the midst of labor.
“Dolores found Jambalaya in the middle of giving birth and was concerned, so she decided to take her home. Dolores cared for Jambalaya and her two kittens for a couple days until there was room for them at PAWS. It’s sad—Jambalaya is a healthy, nice stray, so who knows if she was put outside or what happened? But at least all the kittens are healthy and on the path to adoption,” says Prairie Scholl, PAWS Intake Program Senior Coordinator.
But kittens aren’t just coming to us straight off the street. Chicago Animal Care and Control (CACC), the city impoundment facility, is also being flooded with babies. As CACC’s largest transfer partner, PAWS is doing everything we can to protect these innocent animals.
Just weeks ago, a kitten named Ozzy came into CACC all alone, 2 days old, and suffering from pneumonia. Motherless kittens at this age need constant care to survive, including being bottle fed every two hours, keeping their body temperature up, and manually stimulating them to use the bathroom. PAWS Chicago is one of the few places where kittens like Ozzy can get a second chance.
The very same day Ozzy arrived at PAWS, we placed him with one of our most experienced fosters. Today, Ozzy is thriving and he’s almost big enough for spay/neuter surgery—the last step before his adoption search begins.
PAWS has many friends and partners beyond CACC who also look to us for help. When a Good Samaritan brought an injured, stray kitten to Veterinary Emergency Group in Chicago, they called us to heal her wounds and ensure she would be safe for life. Once at PAWS, we named the kitten Digit and got to work treating puncture wounds on her front and back legs.
It took lots of bandages and cuddles, but Digit fully recovered. Today, she’s happily adopted and, we suspect, getting fluffier by the hour.
Kittens are completely helpless—that's why your help is crucial to saving their lives. Here’s what you can do to support Chicago’s kittens:
Adopt: Adopt kittens in pairs! Not only will they have a built-in playmate to keep them out of trouble, but they’ll also develop into happier, more sociable cats.
Foster: Consider fostering mother cats with nursing kittens—they don’t need much, just food for mom and a comfy place to stay. Every pet moved into foster makes room to save more lives.
Volunteer: Kittens need lots of love and care, especially when they first arrive. Sign up to volunteer at the Kocourek Medical Center, the first stop for every PAWS pet.
Donate: Our No Kill mission relies on donations. By supporting mission-critical programs, like spay/neuter, you’re helping build communities that respect and value the life of every dog, cat, puppy, and kitten.