Tortellini went home!

May 20, 2025

A two-month-old kitten with two broken toes, Tortellini was a stray at Chicago Animal Care and Control before she came to PAWS. Tortellini had been unwanted her whole life until, one day, PAWS foster and adopter Anita Clifford saw a photo of her and knew they needed to meet.

By adopting a homeless pet, you’re saving more than one life—you’re creating a ripple effect. Every adoption opens space at our shelter to rescue another homeless pet from the streets. And every adoption makes a powerful statement: “I believe in building No Kill communities that respect and value the life of every dog and cat.”  

Hear from Anita Clifford about how she welcomed Tortellini into her home:  

I currently am a PAWS foster, so when I saw Tortellini’s photo on PAWS Chicago’s Instagram, I immediately reached out to the foster team to see if I could be her foster mom. She completely stole my heart from that singular photo, and from the first day of fostering her, I knew she was going to fit right into our family. 

She was in a cast for the first few weeks of fostering, but she never let that stop her. Her energy was infectious, and she is a big cuddle bug!  

Now that we’ve adopted her, she is fitting right in. She quickly became friends with our resident cat, Chilli (also a PAWS alum), and now they’re thick as thieves.  

We decided to keep the name Tortellini because we thought it fit her so well and could not part ways with it. But day-to-day, we call her Torti.  

She loves eating and she can play with a cat wand for hours. She also loves running up and down the cat tree with her sister. And she could lay on your lap for hours. 

She is truly the sweetest girl. I wake up in the morning looking forward to greeting her because it truly makes my entire day.