Animal Rescue Stories

Lonely Ol' Guy

Now, keep in mind that I was not looking to take home a dog. Our son moved away and took his dog with him. My husband and I were heart-broken, but also figured that they would both be back. At the same time we thought that this was our time to start living for ourselves; our children are grown and moving on with their lives, we have no other responsibilities; this is our time! I went to an event to sponsor and help our local Shelter, but it wasn't long before I saw out of the corner of my eye this quiet Ol' Guy curled up on a blanket. When someone passed by, he would stand up and wag his friendly tail. He was waiting for someone to pay attention to him but probably because of his dull coat, kinda skinny body, and most likely his age, people would just look and pass him by without even a "good boy" or a little pet on his head, walking around him so he couldn't even make contact with them. After they passed by, he would just hang his head and curl back up on his blanket. This happened several times before my soft, sap-sucker heart gave in. I went over to him. His name is Mickey! Mickey curled up on my lap and just sat there with a big smile on his face and his tail wagging so fast that I thought he was going to take off - rear end first (LOL). He just sat there so happy. Obviously I started asking questions about him; how old is he, where did he come from, how long has he been in the shelter, is he kid and cat friendly (we have grandkids and cats), how is he in the house...all the normal questions. Well, Mickey is about 10 years old, loves everyone, loves to go in the car, is crate trained, walks like a champ on a leash and is good in the house. He was found roaming the streets one evening during the summer. With the heat we were having in Upstate New York, they don't know how he was surviving with most likely no regular source of water. He was in the shelter about 5 - 6 months. I started falling apart. How could someone just let this happen, letting an animal roam the streets of town? Well, you know what happened. I put in my application for Mickey. I was the first and only applicant he ever had. When I went to pick Mickey up a few days later, (they don't have instant adoption), I was informed that his $250 adoption is paid. For Mickey's entire stay at the shelter, some kind sole from another state paid for his care and adoption fee. I am so grateful for this person. I still gave the shelter a donation! Well, here it is February 2019 and Mickey has been traveling with us. He has been to the New York State Fair, went to a football game 247 miles from home...ok, he stayed at the hotel when my husband and I went to the game. His biggest travel was 1,965 miles one way. We took him to Texas, as well as many other places including local visits to family and some friends' homes. Once a month Mickey goes to Doggie Daycare - who ever thought :) This gives him a day to play with other dogs and get out of the house during the winter. The short of Mickey's life now is that he has most of the house to run in, I come home for lunch during the week to break up his day and let him out to "do his business", he has 4 days a week when someone is home because of our work schedules, and he sleeps on a hammock instead of a cold, concrete floor. Our son's dog is home for now so Mickey has company. He is a happy guy and willing to please. We know that he is old and our time with him may be short but at least he has a family who loves him and will be there for him no matter what!

Samantha
FONDA, NY

My Big Beautiful Kissie

I already had 6 cats, so when I saw a posting on NextDoor of a "beautiful, long-hair cat" who had a pretty tragic abandonment story, with the notation on the post, "does anybody have room in their home or heart for this cat?" I thought to myself, "What a beautiful cat. But I'm full up." So I replied that I had room in my heart, but not my home. Then came the posting that if nobody could adopt this precious fur-baby, it would be taken to a shelter. This was in May (kitten season), and I know an adult cat has very little chance of surviving or being adopted from a shelter at that time of year. So I bit the bullet and replied that I would adopt it. Then the lady who found the cat told me the whole story. She was driving past an empty corner in her housing development and saw what looked like a nice duffel bag sitting by the side of the road. She stopped to check it out. It turned out to be an airline-approved, soft-sided cat carrier with this poor cat sealed up inside - in May, when temps are in the 80-degree-plus range - a bag of stuff next to the carrier, and no note or indication whatsoever that there was a live animal inside. Once she realized there was a cat in there, she checked out the bag of stuff next to the carrier. There was a 3/4 full bag of prescription urinary tract cat food, four brand new scratching pads, and 7 or 8 cat toys. Lord only knows how many days the poor thing was sitting by the side of the road, in a black carrier, with no food, water or litter tray. She took the cat to the county shelter to check for a chip, but there wasn't one. They told her it was an unspayed female. She brought me the cat the next evening, along with all the stuff that had been left with it. Since I had 6 other cats, I didn't want to allow them all to interact until I'd taken the new cat to my vet to be checked for diseases. That night, I put the new cat in my bathroom (I live in a trailer, so we're talking SMALL bathroom) and slept on the floor with "her" because she'd already been abandoned once, and I didn't want her to be psychologically traumatized even more. During the night, every time I turned my face to her, she'd respond by "kissing" my face, so I named her Kissie. The next day, she got a clean bill of health from the vet, but she was so dehydrated, they couldn't draw enough blood to test her general health. They also asked me, "How did the shelter know it's a female? They didn't shave her." I'd wondered the same thing. The shelter told the lady who found her that if they did anything other than a cursory examination, she would be legally obligated for one year as the "owner" of the animal. Anyway, I'd noticed Kissie's beautiful, long fur was quite matted. She did NOT like being combed or brushed, clawing and nipping when I tried, so after a couple of weeks I took her back to the vet for sedation and shaving. I asked them, "While you're there, can you shave the pertinent parts and find out for sure if it's a male or female?" Later that day, they called to give me the blood test results, saying, "He has nothing abnormal on the blood test." I said, "HE?" They said, "Yes!" So my Kissie had a sex-change overnight. Since the blood tests were fine, I decided that everybody was going to change from the dry food they were currently being fed to urinary tract food, since Kissie had been given a prescription for that, so he must have had some kind of testing to determine that. My vet also told me he was neutered and had recently had his teeth professionally cleaned. They estimated he was about 7 or 8 years old. Adding it all up - the several hundred dollars the carrier would have cost, the prescription Royal Canin urinary tract food, the professional teeth cleaning (also several hundred dollars), the neutering - my only conclusion was that SOMEBODY had really loved this cat. The lady who found him guessed that his previous owner had died, and the family didn't know what to do with him so they just LEFT HIM BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD. He has some personality issues - he claws and bites when I do anything he doesn't like - but that's how God made him, and I love him that way. I just have to pay close attention to his body language. He is a supreme cuddler, putting both his arms around my neck every time we cuddle, which is pretty much any time I hold still long enough for him to climb on. I thank the Lord every day for allowing this wonderful, beautiful, loving soul to come into my life, and I think all the time what a horrible waste of this incredible amount of love, had my Kissie been sent to the shelter.

Ms. Fred Boucher
BRIGHTON, CO

My Joy

A few years back I was going through a very difficult time. I was praying to find joy in my life. The depression put me in a very dark place and I just couldn't get away from that dark cloud of depression that looked over me. We starting talking about getting a dog and my husband thought it might be just what I needed. But at the same time we wanted to rescue a dog. We wanted to be what a dog needed too. So I began my search on Petfinder. When I saw her picture I fell in love immediately. This poor girl had been through so much in her young life. She had been running from who knows what type of situation and was hit by a truck and left for dead. She was put in a cage basically to die. Her time was up. But THANKFULLY our dear friends at Susie Q Dog ResQ saved her precious life just in time. Little did they know they were saving mine too. She had some deep lacerations and a broken leg. A pink cast was put on her leg and they took her home to heal and to get her ready for her forever home. When they posted her on Petfinder I immediately saw her and inquired. They insisted she would need extra TLC to heal. I was ready to take care of her. But as much as she needed me, I needed her. Because she was such a happy girl during this ordeal she was given the name Joy. It's perfect. My prayers were answered. I found my Joy. They insisted she needed lots of care while she was recovering. I was ready to take care of her. We have bonded in a way that my husband describes as unlike anything he has seen. She needs me and she is there to lend a helping paw or 4 when needed. She is what I call my "soul mutt". A couple years ago she received her CGC title which I am very proud of. There's a saying, "who rescued who?" I'll let you decide. :)

Jennifer Wright
AUBURN, NY

4 trailer scamps

One day I was talking to my sister, when I looked out and seen 4 kittens in our trailer where we threw our trash to take to the farm and burn. As I was talking to her I jokingly gave them all names. 1 orange kitten Pumpkin, 1 multi-colored Baby, 2 all-white - 1 Ghost and 1 Spook. It took me a year to tame all but Spook; she never did come around. Then neighbor behind trapped them and got rid of them. I had found Pumpkin before her and brought him in the house, where he became a house cat and spoiled. I was heartbroken when he passed away 5 years ago.

Gale Bristlin
MINNEAPOLIS, MN

The Last One Left

I was going through a difficult time in my life. My husband of 50 years had died a year earlier after a several year battle with Parkinson's and having quit my job a couple of years before to care for him full-time, I was left alone with only our dear dog, Jack, for company. Jack was elderly, a couple of months short of 17, but he still seemed to be going strong and at his recent visit to the vet had been pronounced in good shape. But on the very one-year anniversary of George's passing, not long before Christmas, Jack developed a bad cough and wouldn't eat anything. I rushed him to the vet where x-rays revealed no lung problem but a large tumor in his abdomen that, at his age, they didn't recommend operating. A couple of days later he died peacefully in my arms.
Still doubly heartbroken two months later, I took the suggestion of a friend that I go with her husband to a showing of a Met opera, "Madame Butterfly", using her ticket as she was unable to go.
I knew that Butterfly was doomed to off herself at the end, but even so I burst into tears. Embarrassed, I explained to my friend, Alfred, that I had become very weepy after first George, and then Jack, had passed away. He said he thought I should get another pet and on the way back to drop me off at my condo, he suggested we stop at a pet food store that often operated as an adoption center for area shelters.
"Where are all your cats?" Alfred asked when we entered. "We had an adoption event and they all went but one," the owner, who knew Alfred, explained. "Everyone wanted kittens and the one left, who was picked up as a stray in Virginia, is not a kitten. But he's a very nice cat." Well of course my heart went out to the poor rejected pussy and when I saw him lying on a shelf behind the cash register, I knew we were meant for each other.
Jeeves is a short-haired black cat with green eyes and a white vest and tummy - a "tuxedo cat" is how he is commonly designated, and so I named him after the famous butler in the hilarious P.G. Wodehouse stories. He had clearly been pre-owned, having been neutered, and was used to a lot of attention including from household dogs. He sometimes complains that it is awfully boring in my now-empty condo and he much enjoys visitors and even my large annual holiday party. But he sleeps curled up beside (and sometimes on top of) me at night, and does a lot of purring and so I am sure that he is as pleased as I that I found him on the shelf.

Jodie Allen
WASHINGTON, DC

THEY ARE ALL MY HEART

I have had animals my whole life! A couple years ago, I started working with a Rescue as a Foster while I had 10 dogs of my own. This past year and a half, I started out on my own venture to be a boarding facility for other rescues, thus never boarding one animal for another rescue. All I could do is Rescue, Rescue, Rescue, animals keeping my kennels full, relying on strictly my paycheck and few donations. Today, I have rescued over 250 dogs while on my own - and I HAVE LOVED EACH AND EVERY FUR-BABY WITH ALL OF MY HEART! I currently have 28 dogs in my care and they keep my heart full!!

Erika Kallas
FORT GIBSON, OK

I FOUND THE LOVE OF MY LIFE: MY SWEETHEART LUCKY

My family and I went to the North Shore Animal League in NY searching for a puppy to adopt. When we got there everyone was rushing to the tiny puppies, but I wanted to see all the other dogs first, so I passed by the adults and then the sick ward. As I was passing by, my eyes came upon the most adorable 3 1/2 month old black & white with red brindle heeler mix puppy. He was named Scottie by his previous family who returned him at such a tender age. As I looked at him, he put his paw on my shoulder and gazed at me with the most loving and soulful look. From that moment on, I knew he was meant to be my pup. So I went to find my family, who had all been looking at the tiny puppies, and an adoption counselor to put a hold on my Sweetheart. When I got back, someone else had already put a hold on him, but I didn't lose hope even though my family wanted me to look at other pups. I just knew this little guy was meant to be with me; so I waited around and in about 30 minutes I went back and as I knew would happen, he was now available again! The other family probably decided not to take him because he was being treated for a parasite called giardia (which dogs get when they drink stagnant water). He also had a heart murmur which I didn't find out about until I was at the adoption window. When I was told he had a heart murmur, they asked if I still wanted him, and of course I said YES! So he was finally going to be my pup. We finished with the adoption interview and as we were leaving the building, Lucky as I renamed him, was so traumatized that he would not walk out the door, so I carried him and held him close to reassure him that I was here and would never let him go. Lucky was hyperventilating and drooling on me as he lay in my arms in the back seat as we drove home. Then as soon as we got in the front door, he became the happiest, most loving, sweet, caring and funniest dog I've ever known. He is the Love of my life! My Valentine! My Sweetheart Lucky!

Gussie Moore
STATEN ISLAND, NY

Best of Friends

We found our big girl Aja (lab/Dalmatian mix) in a shelter In Thornton, Colorado in October, 2004. She was very timid and frightened as we walked past barking dogs to the play yard. I couldn't possibly take her back through the chaos to that kennel, so we adopted her on the spot. Five years later in April, 2009, I found Bo (Bichon Frise) outside our home. He looked like he had been on his own for some time, very dirty and matted with a few bumps, scrapes and a torn ear. The vet checked his chip for an owner but was not registered, so I immediately registered him to us and had him groomed. They were best buddies for 9 years until Aja went to doggie heaven October 8th, 2018. She's now waiting at the Rainbow Bridge for us to join her. And Bo, in the meantime, is very spoiled and loved!

Debbie Gauer
MESA, AZ

Bam-Bam's miracle

Bam-Bam belonged to some friends of my daughter. We had a call from the neighbor trying to reach Bam-Bam's owners as he had been very sick for a while, and she was worried he may pass and did not want the young daughter to walk in and find him deceased. My daughter reached her friend on the phone and could hear the father in the background indicating when they got home he was going to "put that dog" out of his misery as he was tried of dealing with a sick dog. My daughter begged me to go and get Bam-Bam, which, with permission, we did. Bam-Bam was so sick, emaciated, and we had to carry him to the car. He could not eat or drink, so I had to get pedialyte down him with a syringe. I slept with him that night with my arm around him in case he passed. We took him to the vet the next day thinking we would be told the kindest thing would be to put him to sleep. We instead ran blood work to check for valley fever, and took him home waiting for the results. Later that day he throw up the biggest part of a worm I have ever seen. $13 in worm medicine was all he needed. That has been 13 years ago and Bam-Bam has been the greatest dog we have ever had the pleasure of having in our home. I am so glad we were able to rescue him in time - he has repaid us millions of times over with his love and companionship.

Crystal Arnold
MESA, AZ

Wood Pile Kitty

Three years ago around Thanksgiving my husband noticed a small kitten spending a lot of time in our wood pile behind our house. He would see it every day. We started putting out some food to begin with along with a house that my husband made. Eventually we were able to move the dish up onto our deck closer to the house and with in a day or two we were able to pet her. One day we were in the basement and she's looking in our window at us... like... let me in? lol :) The next day we brought her in the house for just a little while to see how she would act. This went on for a few days. We have always had dogs and we had just lost our second one a year before this all happened. We were pretty much decided that we would have no more pets for awhile. The weather was getting really cold and I was worried about our little friend. We brought her in again and decided to get a litter box, food etc. Within a few minutes she was in the box doing her thing. Well, needless to say she never left the house! We both feel that God had something else in mind. The way that it all happened was like she was meant for us and God knew that we needed her as much as she needed us. She has been the best cat anyone could ever ask for. We love her so much. We named her "Keeper." She is our little blessing from above.

Kathleen Brehm
WISCONSIN RAPIDS, WI