Project For Awesome 2025!

West Suburban Humane Society is participating in Project For Awesome 2025! Our video submission was accepted, and we are featured on the Project For Awesome website alongside other nonprofit organizations from around the world.

We need your votes! Last year, the 30 nonprofit organizations with the most votes on the Project For Awesome website received $30,000 of grant funds each. The more votes we receive, the higher the chance that WSHS could receive grant funds. Please share the voting link with your networks, friends, and family to spread the word!

Voting is tallied between February 11-19, the Project For Awesome livestream fundraiser takes place February 14-16, 2025. You can vote on every device you have. Learn more at https://www.projectforawesome.com/faq

Bell Gets A Second Chance: Stray Thoughts Updates

On the Monday before Christmas, one of our rescue partners emailed asking for help with a dog named Bell. The pictures of her were heartbreaking. Bell had clearly been neglected and was in desperate need of medical attention. At West Suburban, we recently spent more than $18,000 on a litter of panleukopenia kittens and hesitated to take on another medical case. But one look into Bell’s beautiful, sad eyes, and we knew we couldn’t say no.

Bell was transported to our shelter on December 30. This poor girl arrived with little hair left on her body. Her skin was hard and saggy, her body was swollen, even in her ears, and she had a large growth on her paw. Bell has also had numerous litters of puppies and will need to be spayed, in addition to requiring a dental procedure. Despite everything she’s been through, Bell remains gentle and loving.

Our first step was to schedule an immediate vet appointment. Amazingly, Bell’s bloodwork results showed she is heartworm-negative and free of internal parasites. Her road to recovery will still be long and costly. We need to address her severe skin condition before removing the growth on her paw, getting her spayed, and performing a dental cleaning—all to give her a chance at the healthy, happy life she deserves in a home of her own.

On one of her skin appointments, the vet took a biopsy of a couple of lumps. Unfortunately, one of the lumps came back as a mast cell tumor. At her spay surgery this weekend, the mast cell tumor will be removed. Once it is removed, the tumor will be sent to be staged by an oncologist. Then, we will find out what kind of tumor it is and whether cancer treatment is needed.

Bell is currently in a loving foster home where she can recover away from the stress of the shelter. With the right care and time, she will heal and be ready to be adopted by a loving family.

At West Suburban, we go above and beyond for all the animals in our care, but we can’t do it without the help of our generous supporters. Please consider donating today to support Bell’s recovery and the lives of many other animals in our care. Every dollar makes a difference and brings Bell one step closer to her happy ending.

Thank you for believing in second chances and for being a hero to homeless animals.