I went exploring the layout of the groom shop my sister worked at. I saw this precious little face... The ower was looking for a home for, Hope. I took her home for the weekend to see how our other 2 pets, Stoli Miester & Sissie Coo would interact...Wow, Shadow Hope has been with us ever since & she is now 8, & the sweetest joy in our hearts !!!
Thanks to John & Karen ! Starr Johnson
Easley, SC
We found Pandora and Isis at our local animal shelter after much consideration about what kitty would be the perfect match to our 3 children home. My boyfriend saw the white and multicolored one, later named Pandora, and knew he had to have her. I always waned a gray cat and the one in the cage below Pandora, later named Isis, was perfect! We found out that they were turned over by the same owner just two days before and were supposed to be put to sleep because the owner couldn't afford the fee to adopt them out. Apparently it's cheaper to turn them over and put them down that to have them adopted out. We are so happy the people at the shelter decided to keep them rather than kill them because they have made a wonderful addition to our home. Pandora has learned to say "mama" just as if she was a human child and Isis loves to perch up high and watch everything that happens in the house. They team up to chase "dragons", geckos, along the window sills and love their laser lights. Both of the cats love us each in their own special way and know who to go to for whatever attention they want at that moment. Even though I haven't gone to the bathroom alone or taken a bath by myself since Pandora came home and we haven't eaten a meal without the weirdness of Isis sitting on "her" china cabinet watching and waiting for something to fall for her to claim it's never a dull moment with them around and we couldn't imagine our home without them. We are considering adopting another cat or kitten from the same shelter sometime in the near future and think everyone should do the same.
Miss Dixie had been in two homes and returned to foster care each time. She looked like a lap dog but did not want to be held or hugged. She gave lots of Grr-r-r-r in those situations but no bites.
At the time, we had Bandit, a 15-year old Cairn Terrier who was a curmudgeon to say the least! Very grumpy! So Miss Dixie looked like Miss Congeniality compared to him and has been with us since. You still get a Grrr-r-r once in a while, but she is a very loving dog. Don' let the tough veneer fool you when looking for a forever friend. There's love hidden in every one of them.
Jack started showing up on our back porch in TN after dark. For two weeks, I thought he was a racoon who was stealing the cat food I would leave out for the stray cats in the neighborhood. After weeks of coaxing, he finally grew to trust us. He had been left behind when his owner moved away, so he became a member of our family.I took him to the vet for his check up, shots and to be neutered.He only weighed four pounds when we got him. Now he's a healthy 16 pound bundle of love who fits in great with our other cat,Leroy, our pitbull, Rocky and our cockatiel named Turdbird.
Bud came from our local shelter. We fell in love with his blue eyes at first sight. We don't know how he ended up in L.A. from Texas where his microchip said he came from. He is intelligent, loving and loyal and he is ours for keeps. Most people have not heard of this rare breed, not even the vet. Discipline is a constant challenge. He has us trained well.
We moved into our new house and my husband, Mark, noticed a cat that kept coming around. The cat was feral, was missing an ear and walked with a limp. With a lot of patience and determination, Mark would literally lay down on the ground with a small saucer of canned tuna a few feet from him and stay very still, and the cat would cautiously, slowly make his way to the tuna to eat. Mark would bring the saucer closer to him each time but would not move when the cat approached to eat. He would talk to him in a very calm, assuring voice but not move toward the cat. Eventually the cat approached the saucer with more confidence and trust. One day the cat slowly came closer to Mark to sniff and check him out. Needless to say, it took Mark several days and a few scratches along the way, but Mark gained a very sweet Buddy and they are almost inseparable these days. That was 9 years ago and Buddy is a very special part of our family now. When I took him to our vet for his shots and to have him nutured, our vet even said Buddy is one of the most loving cats he has ever seen! He may only have one ear and walk with a limp, but he is perfect to us!
Our neighbor, a young vet assistant, knew we were devastated over the recent loss of our dog. She stopped by our house one evening with an injured dog that had been dropped off at their clinic. Her boss had said, "He's an old dog, and needs to be put to sleep." She asked if she could find him a home. She brought him over to our home. He was pitiful looking. One eye was gone, and the other eye was badly injured. We told her we couldn't take him because we never wanted to go though the pain of losing a pet again. Two nights later she showed up with him, and waved his paw, and said, "We just came by to say goodbye. He's going to be put to sleep in the morning." We reached out and took him. Our vet said he was already blind from the injury, and his eye had to be removed. It took three surgeries due to complications. We named him Bill because the first thing we had was a $1,000 vet bill. He never saw us, but he knew we loved him. We taught him to get around by clapping our hands. He soon learned his way around the house. We had him for 12 years, so her vet was wrong when he told her Bill was an old dog. We miss him terribly. Maybe we'll meet again on the other side of the rainbow.
Four months after his death, we got a white pekingnese puppy because he was so cute. Our thoughts were that our Bill must have looked like the puppy when he was little except the puppy had eyes. We named him Bill Jr.
My daughter and I went to the aninmal shelter to see if they had any guiena pigs for adoption. When we arrived, a volunteer was standing at the door with a little dog in her arms that looked scared. I inquired about this little dog. The volunteer said that she had been abused and needed to be socialized and that they were trying to find her a foster home at the time. My daughter and I went on in the building to look for guiena pigs. When we discovered none available, I went back to the front of the building and inquired about the scared little dog again. The volunteer let my daughter and I take this scared little one to a place to sit down with her. We sat and talked to her for a little while and offered her some food. She took the food from my daughter's hand and ate it. The volunteer said that they hadn't been able to get this scared little girl to eat. The volunteer told us that if we wanted to adopt her, she was ours. We went through the adoption process, took her home, where she still is this day and very happy.
I had dogs growing up, but when I started my own family, I decided I didn't want a dog, even though my husband and kids really did. Two years ago, my son went to a shelter with a friend who was looking for a dog and he fell in love with a mixed breed (mostly bulldog), that snorted and made other funny noises. She was found wandering the streets, and they really didn't know anything about her. My son said he really wanted the dog for his birthday and (of course) would take care her. I said no, but after a lot of persuading, I went to the shelter to see her. If I was ever to get a dog, I pictured a cute little dog that I could put on my lap and carry around with me, but after seeing this 70 lb. dog, making all the snorting sounds and being so excited to see us, I fell in love instantly. On our way to pick her up, we were thinking of names and when we saw a Lexus driving by, we decided on Lexi. She has not given us any trouble, well maybe a little, like the time she jumped in the pool after my son, or when she found a way out of the backyard and was brought home by a friend who recognized her. But mostly, she just gives us unconditional love. She snores loudly when she sleeps, she snorts a lot when she gets excited and she sleeps with her tongue sticking out. All of which make me smile every time! I don't know why her previous owner didn't look for her, because she is such a good dog, but I am sure glad they didn't. She is a beloved member of our family now!
Pepsi, what an odd name for a cat. Not really, let me tell you why my name is Pepsi. I was born in Marietta, Georgia and had it really bad for the first four weeks of my life. One night though everything changed. There was this "bum" (big, ugly and mean) guy that took me for a car ride. We went to the local strip mall where he stopped the car. The next thing I knew, he threw me out of the car and drove away. Well, I was scared to death, sick, and didn't know what to do. I needed to find a hiding place and ended up behind a soda machine, hence my name - Pepsi. What I didn't know was that there was this other guy that saw what happened. This other guy, now my dad, got me out from behind the soda machine and he and my mom adopted me and nursed me back to health. I am now seventeen years old and live in Vienna, Virginia. I love my mom and dad very much, but don't want to have much to do with anyone else.
