Animal Rescue Stories

Buffy

Buffy ran loose for 2 weeks before we caught her. She had shelter and water in a cave and a neighbor put food out for her every day. The day we caught her she had been hit and was in a ditch. After a visit to the emergency vet, she came home with us, not really injured, but very scared. This was 11 years ago and she has come so far and taught me so much about rescues and the importance of early socialization. Buffy now has a soft crate to sleep in....a far cry from a cold wet dark cave.

Pam Tynes
Springfield, MO

From Little Man to Laddie to Max

After our previous dog died due to a heart ailment, we decided to go to Mingle with the Mutts at the Franklin County Animal Shelter. Amid the chaos of kids yelling and dogs barking, this beautiful boy was just standing there taking it all in. My husband and I decided to take a closer look at him. Max adopted my husband by leaning up against him the entire time we were talking to his foster mom. He had been one of several dogs taken from a fenced in enclosure in Southern Ohio and when we got him, he didn't know how to play. He sure knows now!

Everyone who meets him falls instantly in love with his easygoing manner.

Jen K
Columbus, OH

Ziggy

Our paths crossed on a busy suburban street as I was walking to my car and he was chasing a squirrel. As I try to do with every stray, I called out to him; amazingly, he came, purring and swaggering. The second I picked him up, he started sucking my fingertips and my heart about broke at how starved he was - his spine knobby like knuckles and his ribs weak like cartilage. But luckily for Ziggy, I took him in, fattened him up, and (as I was unable to keep him in my college dorm room) I found a home for him with my nephew who throws mice for Ziggy and lets him sleep on his bed.

Cortney B
Houston, TX

Snickers

Snickers is a 30+yr large therapy pony at a NARHA (North American Riding for the Hanidcapped Association) center. For many years he was a lesson horse for many children in South Jersey. He wasn't always treated nicely. When we got him 6 years ago, he was just plain wore out. His eyes looked dead. His has never let his past rule his present. He is the most gentle of horses, always giving his all without complaining.

Last year he was chosen as NARHA Region 2 Horse of the Year for 2008.

What a long way my boy Snickers has come.

Chris Harker
Collingswood, NJ

Adopt a Purebreed, don't buy!

After losing a foster cat from a local rescue to a long battle with cancer, my husband and I felt that our home was just not balanced enough. Our other two cats seemed bored and our dog was looking for a friend.

Upon discussing available cats at shelters, my husband and I settled on making a visit to a rural animal rescue to visit an older, Persian kitty. We learned that our Tika had been abandoned in a field, left to fend for herself. She was found starving and matted, and was cared for by a kind man with terrible allergies until she was able to get into the shelter. She had been at the shelter for over a year, waiting for her new home, overlooked because she was not a kitten. According to the vet who spayed her, she had a 'well-used' uterus, meaning she was likely a kitty-mill breeding cat, caged most of her life and used to pump out "Persian-type" kittens to be sold at pet stores for profit.

Upon meeting Tika, we discovered she was sweet, calm and loving. We brought her home and she immediately took a liking to our dog, and our other two cats. In fact, shortly after her arrival, one of our other cats got terribly ill. Tika spent the first two days of our cat's return from the vet by her side, grooming her and comforting her.

Please consider adopting an older cat. In fact, if you are set on a particular breed, rescues in your state/province likely have pure-bred cats since they are treated like baby-factories for profit. When they are too old to breed, they are dumped like trash. These cats are wonderful additions to your home, and make great companions.

Erin M
Calgary, Canada

Scraps

It's been almost 2 years we lost our beloved Peanut. The year before we had lost our Toffee Dog, both due to age. Toffee was 15 and Peanut was 14. Both dogs had come from the Humane Society of Pulaski County in Arkansas. This past Christmas my oldest daughter (10 years old) told her daddy and me that if we got a new puppy she would give back all of her Christmas presents. Her younger brother (8) said he would do the same. We went to the county animal shelter and looked at all the sweet dogs and this lady asked if I had seen the dogs in her car. She opened her back hatch and there was Scraps in a kennel with another puppy. His name at the time was Felix. I told the lady I wanted to see the sweet brown one and in an instant he won my heart and my daughter's. My husband was still inside the shelter trying to find the perfect dog to fit our family. He came outside with the boys and I told him he had to see this sweet little guy and Scraps melted his heart just a fast. He's been with us 4 1/2 months now and he has been a joy to have in the house. We have 4 children 10, 9, 4 and almost 3. He may be a small guy, but he thinks he's as big as horse and gives the kids a run for their money. We feel very fortunate to have him in our family.

Mary W
The Woodlands, TX

My BEST Friend, "Oreo"

I rescued "Oreo" on a cold and rainy day in December 1999. He was huddled up against the apartment building under some shrubbery tying to get out of the rain. I have always loved cats, and I could not believe that anyone would dump such a beautiful and special little animal out into our parking lot in the rain. I checked around with neighbors in my building and, also with the apartment complex to see if anyone had reported their cat missing. I left my phone number with the office, and I even posted a note at the mailbox kiosk. I brought Oreo inside and held him on the couch to warm him and dry him off. He was probably no more than a year old. Since I had not had a cat in a long time and had no food for him, I opened a can of real tuna and fed him. I was careful not to give him very much. I went out later and bought a litter box, litter and some dry and wet food. Most nights he sleeps with me. When I am ready to go to bed, I say "Oreee, want to go to bed?" He jumps down from the couch or from his window shelf, and meanders down the hall to the bedroom and jumps up on the bed. I have a 2009 Cat Calendar which my daughter gave me for Christmas, The April page has a picture of a black and white cat. The caption on the page reads, "The more people I meet, the more I like my CAT." I hope you enjoy "Oreo," my best friend.

Jim
Summerville, SC

My Lovely Don Cacho

I don't speak English very well but I need to spread the word. About 2 years ago I lost my female cat named "Gatin" here in Miami, and I put signs everywhere trying to find it, and 30 days later a received a call from the animal rescue, and they said that they had my cat Gatin. When I went there it wasn't - it was Don Cacho, this beautiful male cat, that was too old to be adopted (everybody it's looking for kittens) and I thought that I still had the place that Gatin left, and I adopted him as my new little kid, 2 days later Gatin was found and now they are very good friends, and they are making me happy everyday of my life... It's your turn to open your house for this great experience!

LaTati
Miami, FL

Sodapop has Come a Long Way

IIn 2000, I was working with our local TNR group, when we got a call from a bottling factory where a feral cat had got inside. It was January and so bitterly cold (-25) that the cat had sought shelter inside the huge noisy building, piled high with crates of soft drinks. I can only imagine how terrifying it would be to a cat to be lost inside there. Workmen described the cat as a large and vicious.
We set a trap, and caught a small skinny terrified little grey kitty, not the wildcat they described. She didn't make a peep as we drove her to the vets. She was vaccinated and spayed and we brought her home to recover. We put her into a bedroom (with food and litter) and she hid under the bed in the darkest corner.
There was no colony nearby, and since it is difficult to integrate a cat into a colony that they are not from, we decided to keep her and named her Sodapop. After many weeks of much coaxing and gentle talk, and therapy visits from our other cats, she came out from under the bed and let us pet her. It was a full year before Soda felt brave enough to leave the bedroom and 2 more years living upstairs (there are 4 large bedrooms) before she ventured downstairs to join the rest of the household. Now she is fully adjusted, and plays outside in the summer with our cat family (we have 9 rescues) in our cat-proof fenced backyard. Soda is the sweetest gentlest little kitty and after 9 years of love and cuddles she is a happy little girl. We love her dearly and can't imagine our lives without any of our amazing little loving and playful furkids.

Joy
Charlottetown, Canada

Rocky's Love For Us

We met Rocky through the Great Dane Rescue League of El Paso, TX. His 'other family' drove thousands of miles and decided they couldn't keep him. So, in a very unfamiliar place and now very unfamiliar people, Rocky's heart was broken and confused. He was also found to be very sick, but kept his happy little soul moving forward to everyone he met. Turns out Rocky was in need of "Happy Tail" surgery because his heart is so big, he cannot contain his excitement to be here with us. The Vet found a pretty serious underlying infection as well, so Rocky got the all the top notch care he deserved. Thank God he came to us! We are military and I get involved all over the country with various shelters. This rescue league is bar none, the greatest and hardest working group of big hearts that I've ever seen! This dog captured our hearts the minute our eyes met. He was like having a 120# puppy in the house! No manners were ever introduced to him. He is in training and is going to be ready for his 'Good Citizenship' approval. We will be forever in debt to this hard working organization who brought this remarkable animal our way!

Angela Pagotto
El Paso, TX