Animal Rescue Stories

Found by the library.

I was returning a book at the drop off on a Sunday after Thanksgiving 2017. It was cold and gray out, and I thought I saw a brown paper bag being blown by wind. Then I turned and saw what I thought was a ferret, but as it came quickly to me it was a Siamese cat. She climbed up my leg and I picked her up and she just nuzzled into my neck. I thought, ok you are coming with me, and I drive home with this cat stuck to my neck hugging me and purring. She was emaciated. We went to the vet the next day and she was ok, but 3.5 pounds and just needed some TLC. Coco, as I named her, was a gift. I was heartbroken after losing a cat recently. She is our furbaby now, and she is so loving and sweet. We were blessed when she found me.

Kate C
PUTNAM VALLEY, NY

Dumpster Darling

My baby was found with her littermates in a dumpster in La Jolla California. When she was small she had distinct tiger points, but she’s pretty much outgrown them. Otherwise she is demonstrating pure Siamese traits to me. I couldn’t love her more.

Dr. Sarah Young
SAN DIEGO, CA

Magic mikey

My name is Magic Mikey. I adopted my senior humans in September of 2014. I am what you would call special needs, as I had a terrible life before I was rescued. Someone purposely broke my wings and was very cruel and neglectful towards me. I picked these two humans because they immediately understood that I am the king.

We the perfectly imperfect have so much love and cheekiness to give.

Thank you to A Helping Wing, the sanctuary that connected me to Karen Lyons Kalmenson and her hubbysito Mel, the pair that serves me well and obeys without question.

Karen Lyons kalmenson
GREAT NECK, NY

Charlie blu

Rescued my darling Charlie, he was 2 months old, he was in a cage in the barn. At nearly 1 year old he got very sick with bacteria, nearly lost him, and I was so scared. He is going on 2 years old in July, he is my darling.

Gisele Desjardins
Gatineau, Canada

Miss Lily Munster Taber Lee

I had been feeding some stray cats in our local grocery store parking lot.
I had become extremely attached to a female kitty I called BaBy Girl...BBG for short. And we all know what happens to female kitties... along came 3 kittens. Well, my boyfriend and I decided we had to end this cycle of endless breeding and would turn our master bathroom into a little rescue room, and catch, acclimate, and take them to our local no-kill SPCA.
So on Halloween afternoon, we went to the parking lot and caught the black mommy kitty and her tiny daughter (we think it was her daughter but we're not sure). Being Halloween, we named the mommy Lily after the beautiful Lily Munster. Because she had been feral for at least a couple years that we knew of her, we thought she was going to have an extremely hard time acclimating to indoor life.
We couldn't have been more WRONG! Miss Lily Munster is the sweetest, gentlest, happy, beautiful girl that anyone would ever have been lucky enough to have as family! We love and cherish her so much... and she'll never have any more babies in a parking lot ever again! We knew we couldn't let Miss Lily go from our pack of 3 kitties we had already.. so she became our forever baby girl... and a very good friend adopted her daughter, Little Girl Tiddles... so we didn't have to take them to the SPCA! Yay!!

Aili Taber
LARGO, FL

Feisty Little Miss Moon Pie

After we returned to Florida from evacuating to TN for hurricane Irma... there appeared a tiny, scrawny, starving, little skeleton of a kitten in my work parking lot. I went home and told my "no more cats" boyfriend that there was a little starving, scared to death kitten in the parking lot... his first reaction was, "YOU FED HER DIDN'T YOU?!"

I always carried food to feed the 2 resident cats... and always had extra.

Fast forward to that Saturday and our cat carrier in the truck and some cans of food... off to catch this little "thing." We put the carrier down, food in the back, she walked all the way in but one tiny back foot... AND A RACCOON CAME OUT OF A BUSH AND SPOOKED HER AND SHE DARTED OFF ACROSS THE STREET LIKE A LIGHTNING BOLT! Well ... after that she wasn't letting us get near her what-soooo-ever.

So every day before work I would feed her breakfast and every evening feed her dinner. Every weekend I went and fed her. I worked from September all the way to December.. and one Friday, it was a VERY rainy and stormy night, I told my boyfriend she's too tiny to survive this cold weather and torrential rain... it HAS to be tomorrow.

So the next day we went down to the parking lot. I petted her and kept her back turned, and my boyfriend snuck up behind us... I scooped her up and SHE GOT AWAY! I carefully approached her again... AND THIS TIME WE GOT HER!!!

She's now the tiny, feisty, runner, plump, happy, beautiful, spoiled, Daddy's girl... Little Miss Moon Pie - because Moonpies are made in Tennessee!

Aili Taber
LARGO, FL

My cat snowy

14 years ago I started feeding a feral cat who wouldn't come closer than 10 feet to me. I put an airline cage under my deck for her to sleep in, and one day I found her in there. She made no attempt to run when I approached, so I closed the door and took her into my garage. 30 minutes later she had 3 kittens. She was a good mommy and nursed them until 7 weeks. I took them to our no-kill animal shelter and they found homes within 10 days. I took Snowy, a white Persian, and had her fixed and kept her in the house. It took a couple of years before she would let me pet her but slowly she came around and trusted me. Now she sits on my lap and jumps in bed to snuggle under the covers. Last year I found out she has kidney failure, and she has lost half her weight, but I give her moist food and plenty of water. She is the sweetest cat ever and I will miss her when she passes, but I am so happy she has had many years of being loved and cared for.

Howard
COEUR D ALENE, ID

Pretty Girl

We lost my Dad in 2013 and my mom was extremely lonely. Her health did not permit her from adopting a dog, which she wanted; so my sister talked her into adopting a cat. They went to the local PetCo on adoption day for Friends of Felines. She adopted Venus, and immediately changed her name to Pretty Girl. As part of the adoption process, because of her age and health, she had to name who would take Pretty Girl if something happened. I said I would. At the time my rescued tuxedo was 17. She passed away at 23 years old. My mom passed away in 2018, and Pretty Girl came to live with me. She is the most loving and curious cat I have ever owned. I lost my husband of 44 years in January. Pretty Girl has been my saving grace. By my feet or in my lap and on the bed with me, I don’t know what I would do without her.

Connie
PRINCE FREDERICK, MD

Little J

J came to my wife and me as a kitten, through a friend of our daughter's who was working with Animal Allies. Her facial coloring resembled the letter J. We had 2 dogs that we eventually lost, and she was our only pet for a short time. We eventually rescued 2 other cats, a sibling group, and 2 beautiful collies. She adjusted to all the changes, and we always said she was the perfect cat; never fussed or caused problems. She was especially good around our grandchildren. One by one our other pets passed away, and eventually J became once again our only pet. She developed a stomach disorder that caused her food to go through her very quickly, and she didn't get the nutrition she needed. She got down to less than 5 pounds. The last few months of her life she loved to be a lap cat, and every evening she sat on my lap for a couple hours sleeping and looking for comfort. Little did she know she was giving me the same thing. I loved the time we got to spend together before she left us. She was a sweetheart, and her passing has left an empty spot in our hearts. We had the pleasure of having her in our lives for just short of 17 years. She is forever in our hearts and memories.

Tom
SUPERIOR, WI

Psycho Dog Has Left the Room

My neighbor rescued him. He kept sneaking into my yard to play with my much older dogs (and me). One day I looked out my kitchen window to see rescue aid at my neighbor's house. Went over there and they were taking my neighbor to the hospital but Pinto, aka Psycho dog, was not going to let that happen. He allowed me to pick him up and I told Don not to worry. I would take care of Pinto until he came home. He never came home. The daughter brought me an envelope with Pinto's history. He had been turned into a kill shelter in a city far away at 6 months of age. Spent the next 6 months mostly in a cage because he would bark and growl when anyone came near him, even when given tranquilizers. Was rescued by an agency near here days before being put down to sleep and then transferred to Don. The rescue, in spite of a signed contract, did not want him back. There were days when I would have driven him to the kill shelter gladly. Then I realized, he growls and barks when he is scared or when someone yells or threatens him in any way. So I started to only speak softly to him even when I would have preferred a loud scream, and praised him when he even tried to behave. He is very intelligent and I can tell when he is considering whether to go with plan A (destruction) or plan B (do what I am expected to do). I have learned a lot from him.

Annie
SILVER SPRINGS, FL