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🚨FOSTERS URGENTLY NEEDED🚨In the past two months we have seen a 250% increase in the number of pets that owners are askin...
10/12/2026

🚨FOSTERS URGENTLY NEEDED🚨

In the past two months we have seen a 250% increase in the number of pets that owners are asking to surrender to rescue.

That is a huge number. Sometimes we're seeing 4-5 separate requests PER DAY. This time last year we would maybe have 1 per week. From what we're hearing, many rescues are dealing with much the same issue. As a foster-based rescue, we cannot continue to say yes to these dogs unless we find fosters willing to help us continue to push this mission forward.

So what does fostering entail? I guarantee it's much less than you think.

1. Be local to the Chicagoland area and willing to drive to one of our three vets (Barrington, Naperville, Irving Park) (BONUS if you know a vet in the South or SW suburbs that will match our rescue pricing from our other vets for spay/neuter services so we can expand our radius even farther!)

2. If you have a dog/cat in your home already they must already be spayed/neutered and up to date on core Chicago vaccines (distemper, lepto, rabies, bordetella).

3. Be willing to keep a dog safe and loved and communicate with our team about how they're settling in and what their personality looks like so that we can find them the best home possible.

Thats it. You don't need to buy food, pay for vetting, search for an adopter yourself, have a yard, live in a single family home, have years of experience caring for animals, etc. We have a super accessible orientation we busted our butts making so that all the information and tools you need are in one place and for any other questions, you'll have a direct line to our team for 24/7 support.

Transportation. Love. Communication. That's all we're looking for here.

Swipe through to see a few of the (VERY CUTE) faces that are hoping that you will see this post and consider it your sign to finally take the leap into fostering and join our team of lifesavers.

XOXO, the very tired CRA team

As animal rescuers, some of the most frustrating sentences we hear start with "I wish I could foster, but..." The realit...
10/02/2026

As animal rescuers, some of the most frustrating sentences we hear start with "I wish I could foster, but..."

The reality is, there are very few legitimate reasons for not being able to foster that are not based around self-limiting factors.

Take a moment and read through and leave some love for the featured foster families throughout to let them know how appreciated their hard work is.

If you've ever used one of these excuses to sidestep a conversation about fostering, please take a moment to truly reflect on what REALLY is stopping you. Ask us some questions about the foster process. Heck, ask our FOSTERS if thats more helpful!

Month after month we are faced with the inevitable problem of too many dogs and not enough fosters, leaving us having to make heartbreaking decisions about what dogs we can save, and what dogs we cannot save. YOU can be the bridge that allows us to say yes to more dogs. You can be 100% of the difference between a dog starving on the street, dying in a shelter, or not getting the lifesaving care it needs and then getting to live a full, happy life with an adopter. YOU have that power. If your reason for not giving fostering a chance is because you will be too sad, or it will be too hard to say goodbye, or anything like that -- please take a moment to consider whether your effort to protect your own heart from experiencing temporary sadness is more important than saving a living being from, in many cases, what amounts to an entire lifetime of sadness.

Help us help them. 🩵

What we'd love more than anything this October (which is National Pit Bull Awareness Month) is a little commotion for th...
10/01/2026

What we'd love more than anything this October (which is National Pit Bull Awareness Month) is a little commotion for the long-term pitties in our care. Our top 3 girlies are all amazing pitbull-type breeds from CACC and they have been with us going on two years now. Each have some quirks, but they are all three absolutely amazing dogs just waiting for the right people to find them. In a city so full of dogs that look just like them, being anything less than perfect seems to be a lifetime sentence of waiting and waiting and waiting. Please check out Zelda, Aviva, and Lola, and show our 5 new pitty-style babies (the Spice Girls litter) that being a bully breed does not need to mean a lifetime of being overlooked and considered "not good enough".

Slower month for intakes this past month, but the lives we did save were some of the most in-need we've ever taken. Welc...
10/01/2026

Slower month for intakes this past month, but the lives we did save were some of the most in-need we've ever taken. Welcome to the family, sweet babies. We got you. 💙

Another amazing month for adoptions! 19 more families complete, including long-stay lady Tina and 3 more of our Ridglan ...
10/01/2026

Another amazing month for adoptions! 19 more families complete, including long-stay lady Tina and 3 more of our Ridglan beagles!

Welcome to the forever CRA family to all of our new adopters. Thank you for choosing to adopt. ❤

You didn’t think when we said “it’s raining neonates” we meant just the one, right? Meet the Spice Girls! A local family...
09/28/2026

You didn’t think when we said “it’s raining neonates” we meant just the one, right?

Meet the Spice Girls! A local family had a dog give birth to a litter of puppies that she decided she had no interest in caring for. This is not an uncommon thing to happen with young, immature mother dogs, unfortunately, and without mom willing to feed and care for the puppies, her family sought out rescue support.

Fortunately these girls have a healthy appetite and have taken well to the bottle, so we’re rocking the round-the-clock bottle feeds and cleanup
s and juggling their care alongside our other, more medically needy neonate puppy.

It’s hard for us to continue to see more and more puppies like these brought into the world when their adult counterparts are waiting at the shelter for someone to give them a chance. These girls were lucky to land in rescue rather than in a shelter or in the hands of someone else who would move on to breed them and continue perpetuating the cycle, and as sad as we are that they had to exist, we’re happy that they’re here and committed to raising them to be breed ambassadors and finding them the best homes once they’re ready.

These girls are only 2 weeks old now, so we’ve got a long road ahead of us to get them all growed up and ready for a family of their own. They’re already going through puppy formula like it’s their job (and technically, it is), so if you’re able to check out our wishlist, and send them some supplies, we would be so appreciative.

It’s raining neonates! About a week ago, a friend of ours who was fostering with a different rescue reached out after he...
09/27/2026

It’s raining neonates!

About a week ago, a friend of ours who was fostering with a different rescue reached out after her foster momma accidentally caused him minor injury, resulting in her completely rejecting him and refusing to care for him anymore.

Hamburglar, as we’re calling him, has now been transferred to CRA and has been getting around the clock care with Megan and Craig including tube feeding, mobility exercises, and a substantial number of cuddles.

Unfortunately, it does look like Hamburglar has a long road ahead of him, whether due to the incident with his mom or something he was born with, one of his front legs is not cooperating and he is unable to walk like a normal puppy of his age (4w). He gets very frustrated with his limited mobility, and now that we’re sure it’s a physical issue instead of just a strength deficiency due to poor nutrition, we will be seeking out further diagnostics (X-rays, vet exam) and potentially long term rehabilitation support depending on what the diagnosis/prognosis is.

We’re obsessed with this tiny little angel and we will do whatever we can to help him have as normal of a life as we can. Send lots of good vibes his way! We’ll post updates about him periodically in our stories.

In the meantime, if you’d like to help us provide for this tiny gentleman, please check out our wishlist full of puppy supplies or drop a donation to help us with any diagnostics or treatments he’ll need. We appreciate the support in whatever way it arrives! (Links to wishlist in our linktree in bio and in stories!)

Tina, aka TT, has had a bum hand dealt to her and we're scratching our heads trying to figure out where her people are. ...
09/10/2026

Tina, aka TT, has had a bum hand dealt to her and we're scratching our heads trying to figure out where her people are. I mean, she's a pretty big dog. She's kinda hard to miss. I'm about a week away from plastering her gorgeous behind on a billboard until the people who were meant for her find their way to her.

Tina has a little bit of a tough time with transitions and a solid decompression period is super important for her in a new home. Her daily fluoxetine (puppy prozac) has absolutely helped her be able to manage these behaviors better and we're hoping her next transition will be her absolute last.

Once Tina is settled in, she is a goofy, energetic lover girl who is cat, dog, kid friendly, crate trained, potty trained, and generally checks every single box. We recently learned that though Tina looks like a straight up Great Dane, she is actually mixed with Great Pyrenees! So there you go -- two breeds with "Great" in the name - I don't know how many more signs you need!

Share Tina with the giant breed savvy dog lovers in your life and help us find her a forever home as incredible as she is.

You might look at Cricket and say "how to heck has a dog that sinfully CUTE been waiting for 160 days to find an adopter...
09/08/2026

You might look at Cricket and say "how to heck has a dog that sinfully CUTE been waiting for 160 days to find an adopter?"

To that we say -- valid question! She has definitely had adoption interest, but Cricket has a medical condition that requires a very special kind of adopter. Cricket was surrendered to animal control in pretty rough shape and it took a lot of time and collaboration with our vet team to get her nursed back to health. Cricket has chronic kidney disease. She's stable and doing well now, but she does require daily subcutaneous fluids, special food, and a medication and will require those things for the rest of her life.

Finding someone willing and capable of taking on a dog like Cricket is not an easy feat -- no matter how much she is worthy and deserving of it. We will always be super honest about the challenges for any of our dogs, and with Cricket -- that's literally it. She's friendly. She's fine with dogs (but she'd like annoying puppies to heck right off thank you very much), she's cuddly, she's crate trained, she's quiet, and she's incredibly chill. She's just a bit more medically complex than most people are willing to commit to.

If you know someone who is looking for an incredible companion who has the capacity to take on a dog who requires a little more of a strict routine, please let them know about Cricket. It really is her time.

Artemis is still available and to be honest? It's really making us sad for her. Artemis was found as a puppy abandoned i...
09/07/2026

Artemis is still available and to be honest? It's really making us sad for her.

Artemis was found as a puppy abandoned in a shopping cart at a PetSmart store and ended up at Animal Control through no fault of her own. She just celebrated her 1 year birthday and the fact that she hasn't found a home yet is just baffling.

Dog friendly? ✅
Cat friendly? ✅
People friendly? ✅
Kid frendly? ✅
Crate trained? ✅
Potty trained? ✅
Absolutely gorgeous? ✅

What the HECK is she still doing waiting around? She's the literal package. Do us a favor and tell your friends about Artemis asap and help her snag herself a forever home before the holidays. ❤

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