Chicago Animal Care and Control

Chicago Animal Care and Control

The City of Chicago's own animal shelter, at 2741 S Western Ave. If you remember one address from this directory, make it this one.

Adoption hours: daily, 12:00 PM – 7:00 PM, by appointment only, arranged by email.

Phone: 312-747-1406

Why this matters more than any other listing here. CACC is Chicago's open-admission municipal shelter — it takes every stray picked up in the city and every animal surrendered by a Chicago resident, and it cannot turn animals away for being old, sick, unadoptable or full. Every private rescue in this directory can say no. CACC cannot. That is what makes it both the hardest place in the city and the most consequential.

If your dog is lost, start here, and start fast. A stray picked up anywhere in Chicago is brought to CACC. Strays are held for a legally defined period before becoming available for adoption or transfer — go in person, and keep going, because photographs and online listings lag behind intake. Bring proof of ownership: vet records, licence, microchip number, photographs.

If you are adopting, CACC is where the dogs with the least time are. Adoption is by appointment, and the animals here are usually cheaper to adopt than at a private rescue.

If you need to surrender a dog, CACC accepts owner surrenders from Chicago residents only. It is also worth calling a private rescue first — several of them exist specifically to pull dogs from CACC before it comes to that.

Also here: dog registration and licensing, lost-and-found assistance, and on-site veterinary capability including laboratory, radiology and surgical services.

Volunteering and fostering. CACC depends heavily on volunteers and foster homes, and fosters are the single most useful thing an ordinary Chicagoan can offer it. Ask about the programme when you call.

Getting there: 2741 S Western Ave, on the Western Avenue corridor in Little Village, on the #49 Western bus.

Two caveats on the city's own page. It still carries mask and social-distancing instructions from the pandemic era, which suggests it has not been fully updated — treat the procedural details as worth confirming by phone. And the page gives adoption hours but no street address; the address above comes from the Animal Care and Control department's own services page.

Hours, phone and services verified from chicago.gov. Address verified separately from the department's own Animal Care page.