PAWS Chicago Medical Center opens in Little Village

CHICAGO - Puppies can’t count on their cuteness alone to get adopted. They need to be healthy, too.

That’s where the PAWS Chicago Medical Center comes in, with a mission to save more animals from being euthanized.

"What's the next frontier of no kill? It's helping the animals that are sick because so many animals that are sick end up in shelters and get euthanized," said Paula Fasseas, PAWS Chicago Founder.

PAWS Chicago celebrated the grand opening of the new hospital in Little Village Wednesday. It’s 30,000 square feet, filled with surgery rooms, x-ray, oxygen therapy and more that PAWS says makes it the country’s most advanced and largest hospital for homeless pets. There are also 90 isolation rooms, separating animals that might have contagious conditions.

"The isolation suites are important because a lot of the things that cats and dogs have are so treatable if you're just able to isolate them and keep it from spreading to the rest of the population. And so a few weeks in this hospital can mean that a dog or cat goes on to live a great life in a home," said Susanna Homan, PAWS Chicago CEO.

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PAWS Chicago says their 24 years of getting pets adopted, plus spayed and neutered, has lowered Chicago’s euthanasia rate by more than 91 percent.

Comptroller Susana Mendoza spoke at the ceremony and said the efforts save lives and money.

"There is a financial connection, the more we can do to offset those costs for municipalities by actually doing the morally correct thing. It turns out that it's been a fiscally sound thing too," said Mendoza.

The new hospital is expected to serve 25,000 homeless and at-risk pets a year.