Fifteen years ago, I went to a yard sale where the man was getting rid of everything, including his pets. Crystal walked over, jumped up on my shoulder, and that was it! She slept next to me that night, and that was the first good night's sleep I had had in six weeks. She rescued me! She purrs me to sleep every night, even though at sixteen, it is getting harder for her to jump up on the bed.
My neighbor saw a black Chihuahua running loose along our street for several days. He finally came to her and she enlisted my help because I already have a Chihuahua. Corky (a name we gave him because of his curly tail) wasn't neutered, collared, or microchipped. Our only option was to keep him safe while we tried to find his owner. Fruitless efforts over the next week brought us no closer to Corky's original owner, so we began advertising for a new home. Many callers were screened out. FInally we found Corky a wonderful new home with a ten-year-old girl who is crazy about him. I am blessed that I could help him and that he is now in a loving home with lots of people and other animals to play with.
He was trying to catch the birds on our porch, and was very thin with patches of missing fur. I made a safe place with food, water, and a bed on our porch until we gained his trust. We cannot imagine life without him. He is both handsome and smart; he rules the house. We call him Boonty.
We found Bjorn in early spring of 1998. Rail thin, he was running loose on the busy streets of Seattle's University District. We followed him to a Safeway parking lot, where he was approaching and talking in his signature howl to shoppers -- we figured he was hoping for a handout. We finally caught him, brought him home, cleaned him up, and fattened him up (but not too much!). Despite "Found" ads posted in and around the neighborhood, no one came forward -- which was just as well because he belonged with us.
That was 11 years ago. In all the years since then he has been our family's number one ambassador -- he's kind to everyone he meets. And, as evidenced by the photo, he's quite comfortable with his golden-years couch potato status.
I have been rescuing animals since I was six years old. I have rescued well over fifty animals of all kinds. My permanent ones that I have adopted amount to nine cats, two huge dogs, a rabbit, and fish. I love all of them dearly and are all special in their own way. I have many stories that I could tell, but one in particular is pretty special. It is a story of a tiny kitten named China.
One afternoon, my mother happened to call me in a panic. A fellow teacher from her school had brought in a tiny two-week-old kitten that had been abandoned in a field. The kitten was cold and hungry. The kind lady took her in, but had no idea how to raise a two week old kitten, so my mother called me for help. I rushed over with a can of kitten milk and a bottle and we tried feeding her. She didn't want anything to do with the bottle. I had to resort to getting some milk in her before she became anemic by way of a syringe. She eventually learned to like bottles and even hold them herself!
Fast forward to many nights of waking up and feeding the "baby", who seemed so delicate and helpless. She was much like a little china doll, and this instantly became her name, China! Watching her grow and learn to walk and even to jump was amazing. China is now a strong and healthy kitten and even quite bossy when it comes to the other cats in the house. I love her dearly and she will be a beloved member of my family forever!
I am a volunteer at a charity animal shelter in Spain, called "PAWS-PATAS". While working one evening, I heard very loud yelping coming from the lower area of the property. Upon investigation, I discovered a tiny puppy that had been thrown over the fence. As she was so young, I fostered the puppy for the shelter, and gave her the name "Mini-me" because she looked a lot like a miniature version of our other Jack Russell. Well, to make a long story short, Mini-me became part of the family, and we adopted her for ourselves. She's a great companion to us, and we are so happy that we kept her. I wish everyone would adopt a shelter dog.
