(Courtesy of PAWS Tinley Park’s Facebook page)

Fourteen cats and two dogs showed signs of respiratory distress, according to PAWS Tinley Park. The shelter expects all the animals to make a full recovery.

Lex, a Lancashire heeler, sits at attention, Friday, Dec. 29, 2023, in Morristown, N.J. The Lancashire heeler, is the latest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club. (Michelle Barlak via AP)

Say hello to the Lancashire heeler, the latest breed recognized by the American Kennel Club.

A dog in a kennel at Chicago Animal Care and Control on the Lower West Side on Nov. 8, 2023. Euthanasia is up 25% at the city animal shelter as it sees more stray animals come through its doors. (Eunice Alpasan / WTTW News)

“Any animal that walks through our door can be a candidate for euthanasia due to the population and everything that we go through here,” said acting executive director of the city of Chicago Department of Animal Care and Control Susan Cappello.

In 2015 Jamie Dalton started Aquarium Info, a blog to share information and tips to help others to start building their fish tanks. During the pandemic she decided to go a little further and transformed her second bedroom into a full functioning fish studio. (WTTW News)

Have you ever wanted to get a fish but had no idea where to start? We head to Wicker Park to meet Jamie Dalton, who began creating educational aquarium videos during the pandemic which led her to a new business venture.

A dog in the care of The Anti-Cruelty Society. (WTTW News)
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Illinois’ eviction moratorium is in place for one more month, but many residents fear they’ll be out of a home once that ban lifts. And now animal shelters are preparing for what could be an influx of pets in need of homes, too. 

The Anti-Cruelty Society is participating in the national Clear the Shelters campaign and hosted a pair of events at the end of August. The agency is seeing an increase in the number of pets coming in after a drop-off in 2020. (Courtesy of The Anti-Cruelty Society)

Animal shelters across the city are seeing an increase this year in the number of pets coming through their doors. What’s behind that trend — and how shelters are trying to keep pets in homes.

A dog models apparel from Pittie Clothing Company, founded by Erin Crowley of Humboldt Park. (WTTW News)

A Humboldt Park woman is on a mission to break the stigma surrounding pit bulls — one colorful outfit at a time. How Erin Crowley’s line of dog apparel aims to help change people’s preconceived notions about the breed. 

This June 13, 2021 photo provided by the Forest Preserve District of Will County in Naperville, Ill., shows a tree at Whalon Lake Dog Park in Naperville that dog owner Asher Thomas sprayed, along with over a dozen other trees, with a pruning sealer that he thought would prevent further damage after another dog owner's German shepherd had gnawed away the bark. (Anthony Schalk / Forest Preserve District of Will County via AP)

A man who said he sprayed trees in a Naperville park to protect them after an anxious dog chewed off the bark has been ticketed by authorities.

A couple walks their dog in Los Angeles, on Jan. 24, 2021. (AP Photo / Damian Dovarganes, File)

In the eyes of the law, pets are property when it comes to divorce, but new ways of working out custody of the dog, cat or parrot have sprung up with special mediators and “petnups” to avoid courtroom disputes.

Veterinary personnel keep a cat named Miller calm as he has blood drawn, Monday, April 12, 2021, at Veterinary Specialty Hospital of Palm Beach Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo / Wilfredo Lee)

Approximately 12.6 million U.S. households got a new pet last year after the pandemic was declared in March 2020, according to a COVID-19 Pulse Study by the American Pet Products Association.