Adopt a pet? PAWS Chicago hopes to find homes for 125 animals over the holidays

With temperatures forecast to dip below zero over the weekend, the city’s largest no-kill shelter is hoping 125 of its animals will soon be in warm, forever homes just in time for the holidays.

PAWS Chicago’s annual Adopt-a-Thon kicked off Friday at its Lincoln Park shelter, with more than a dozen people lined up outside the center’s doors.

Inside, some of the animals were decked out in holiday outfits. Some zoomed around, playing with toys. Other napped.

“Having a companion animal is so rewarding, and bringing that pet into your home, it’s life-changing,” said Celene Mielcarek, PAWS’ chief program officer. “It gives you such joy, such unconditional love. And this is such a great time of year to do it. The holidays are a time of joy and festivity.”

The adoption center, 1997 N. Clybourn Ave., is open until midnight Friday and between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. The center accepts both appointments and walk-ins.

For 18 years, the center has hosted an adoption drive each December.

This year, there’s been an uptick in the number of pets taken in by the city’s animal shelter. Mielcarek said it’s risen to around 50 intakes per day. PAWS frequently take animals from the city’s shelter to prevent them being euthanized, she said.

“We can only rescue more animals if we have the community fostering and adopting, so that space clears up in our shelter for more,” she said.

Some of the people who came to PAWS’ adoption event Friday were looking for a new pet. Others brought fosters they hoped to adopt.

The Rileys from Lincoln Park were the first family to adopt a pet: a cat named Sprinkle Belly that the family had been fostering.

Five-year-old George Riley thought up the name. He said Sprinkle Belly is his favorite among the cats they have fostered.

“He’s so cuddly,” George Riley said.

Over eight years, the Rileys have fostered 27 cats from PAWS. In that time, they have adopted two of them.

“We are big animal lovers and PAWS supporters,” Lori Riley said.

Her husband, Phil Riley, added: “We foster every now and then — and try very hard to give them back.”

Fostering helps give kittens a good start to life and acclimates them to being around people, Lori Riley said.

“There’s nothing like having a pet, nurturing them and building a family with them,” she said.

The shelter has overseen nearly 5,000 adoptions this year, said Paige Krueger, a 10-year PAWS volunteer.

It was hard for Krueger to pick a favorite, but Ambrosia, a 2-month-old terrier mix, stood out. The doe-eyed puppy, who has five siblings all named after apple varieties, was wearing a red cape as her holiday outfit.

“We are seeing intake increase across the country. That means public shelters, like Chicago Animal Care and Control, are overpopulated,” Krueger said. “It’s so important that adopters come in, adopt these pets, and that’s really the only way we can save more lives.”