Animal Rescue Stories

The Last Stop

Brady came to me as an "unadoptable" cocker spaniel named Bruno. I thought maybe his anxiety-based agression came from being misnamed; Bruno sure doesn't fit a cocker! So I gave him a new, similar-sounding name, which happens to be my mom's maiden name. He had been surrendered by his original dysfunctional family, where the teenage boys had been known to actually strike their own mother, when he bit one of them. He bit several people in his succession of foster homes, and he bit me, too, until I understood his possessiveness with food issues. That was before I learned what he needed.

We now share a special bond of respect and understanding, and he's turned out to be a joyful, intelligent little friend with so much love to give! He loves to cuddle, sitting like a baby on my lap, or with his paws around my neck. My dog of 14 years, Charlotte, died in Nov. 2008. I thought I'd never recover from losing my best friend, walking/hiking partner, and confidante Now, Brady has filled my life with sunshine and has me out walking even faster than before!

Patty Stroble
Sunbury, PA

Zuri the dog and Caesar the cat - Both Adult Rescues

I went to the pet store to get supplies for my two cats, saw a cat rescue group and asked to hold a big orange adult cat. Caesar head butted and rubbed all over my face. I took him home. Found out he was a lover and an eater, should have renamed him Hoover. That was over eight years ago.
Recently, I decided I wanted a dog, an adult or senior that would allow the cats Pishi, Kissa, and Caesar (18, 13, 10 yrs old), to live out their senior years in peace. Read a description on Petfinder of a smaller black dog that said "extremely cat tolerant". Found out she was a stray from the country, delivered nine puppies the day after arriving at her foster home and would let the foster Mom's cat clean her puppies.
I met her, fell in love, and after the puppies were weaned, I brought her home.
It's been over four months now. The cats are all very comfortable with her, in fact Caesar absolutely loves her (as do I). She is the sweetest, most mellow dog I have ever seen. Zuri (formerly Cricket) is now in level two obedience and we are looking into therapy dog training. She has never had an accident (result of the wonderful foster home and their fur kids). Zuri has learned to ring sleigh bells handing on the door if she needs to go out. The cats and I feel so lucky to have found her.
"Thank you", to all the rescue groups and the people that foster animals.
Please adopt a rescue/shelter pet and don't overlook the adult pets.

Judith Pritschet
Woodbury, MN

My Little Cuddler Precious

I found Precious outside my old apt complex 2 1/2 yrs ago. My other two cats had heard her & jumped into the window to get a better look. It turns out she was in heat! I ran outside to call her over & she came right to me. I kept calling her & she followed me right into the bldg, up the stairs & I carried her to the bathroom to keep her there until she got her shots & the vet gave her the OK to be around the other cats. The poor thing had a coating over her eye, is missing some teeth, had a cyst that we had to keep having drained (until it finally burst & she needed surgery to remove it!) AND has bad arthritis that she gets medicine for every other day....she LOVES the medicine! She comes running & opens her mouth & I just squirt it in! She loves hairball medicine too! All the things normal cats (my other 2 included!!) would fight you to get into them! This is the way she likes to sit very often which never fails to make us laugh. She also loves to have her ears cleaned & comes running & sits between my legs when she sees the q-tips. She's definitely a strange one but am so happy I brought her in to join my family. I'll never know where she came from but she's in the best home she could ask for & getting all the love she may not have ever had!

Andrea DelDin
Brewster, NY

Daddy's Boy, Momma's Baby

Buddy was my Christmas present in 2007. He is the life saver that we both needed. After losing my dog in August 2007, it became very apparent to my boyfriend that I was spiraling down from the loss. So he took me to the local shelter for my present. I have never received a more perfect gift. Buddy is such a joy! He has made a "dog person" out of his dad. His "sister" and "brother" call him the favorite child.

Cindy Bender
Yorba Linda, CA

Cody

I met Cody 2 1/2 years ago. He was a rescued Great Dane/ Rottweiler mix who needed a home because his owner could not keep him any longer, and was considering putting him down. The owner didn't know very much about him. His age was around 4-5 years. He didn't know where he came from either. Even though my family wasn't liking the idea, we had just recently lost our 12 years old German Sheppard, I brought him home anyway.
Cody made himself quite at home, taking over the couch. All 150lbs. of him! We found out some very interesting fun facts about him. Cody loves to watch Animal Planet and will try to chase other dogs on TV. If he can get behind the TV, he will....to see where the dog went. He also loves to sing to Steve Miller-Joker, and Peter Frampton- Do You Feel Like We Do.
Two days ago, he was diagnosed with bone cancer. He is on pain meds and prednisone to keep him comfortable. And that's all that can be done. The diagnosis was so unexpected since we thought at first it was just a sprained foot. I know that I have to make a decision, soon. One that I don't want to make, again. I just wanted everyone to know about Cody. We are grateful for the short 2 1/2 years he's been with us. He has been my therapy. He's a good boy, and we all love him very much.

Deborah Mechlowitz
Saratoga Springs, NY

The Sweetest Thing

My wife Alessandra and I are from Brazil. The company that I work for relocated me to South Florida 7 years ago. Alessandra and I have three cats. Two of them -Jeremias and Salsicha- are from Brazil. We adopted the third -Pingolinha- from a rescue shelter in Florida.

Today Pingolinha is happy, joyous and free. And Jeremias, Salsicha, Alessandra and I can't image life without her. She is the sweetest thing, a precious gift of God.

Hugo M.
Hollywood, FL

Judge Roy Bean, they named him...

12 years ago we lost our 6 yr old Walkerhound, Stanley, to cancer. Stanley lived a difficult 9 months longer - long enough to mentor Stefany our Goldie. Stefany over the past 10 years has mentored our other fur babies till they all passed on. At age 10 we knew it was time for Stefany to mentor her successor while she was till active & sharp. So we peeked in the American Black & Tan Coonhound Rescue site & saw Judge Roy Bean - Just like our Stanley who mentored our Stefany 10 yrs ago. Judge's Mother was hit by car raised the three pups in the woods till they were all rescued. The Mother was adopted by a Dr., had leg surgery & doing well... two sons -one I wanted - were already adopted. But no one was looking at Judge Roy Bean... his markings were not as perfect as his brothers. I also said no thx. - until I went to sleep & realized I wanted him more than ever - he was like our Stanley of 13 years ago! We adopted him -flew him to Florida from Texas and DeJa Vue - Now 3 years later Stefany successfully tamed and mentored her own little Walker/Coonhound. We know she thinks of Stanley who mentored her.. and now the roll is reversed. Judge is now mentoring Lacy our newest baby Goldie and he is a wonderful mentor and big brother. He hides the bones and he decides who gets one and when. He has many survival instincts that stem from his puppyhood. Stefany now 13 is happy watching Judge Roy Bean and Lacy - reminiscent of herself & Stanley. She is the Alfa that made it all possible! Do good, adopt!

Hanna
Hollywood, FL

Rescue within a rescue

My handsome Cowboy came to me before he was even born - when I rescued his abandoned and starving mom. I took her (Stickers, named after the clingy burrs found in her coat from homeless canyon roaming) to a vet. During the exam to determine when she could be spayed, I was told she was pregnant. All five kittens went to wonderful forever homes, including Cowboy staying in mine.

Jennifer Yizhar
Murrieta, CA

Kaito the Kat

Adopted Kaito from the North Shore Animal League this past August at the Long Beach boardwalk. His origingal name was "Velcro" because he stuck to everyone. Kaito was a spontaneous adoption, he fits in well with the other kats in the house and is constantly chasing them and causing havoc throughout the house. Kaito loves to bite the tails of the other kats as they sleep and than run away. His greatest claim to fame so far is one day he was on top of a corner curio cabinet about 6' up when he decided it was time to bolt, but he couldnt go back down the way he got up, so he decided to knock over a lucite sculpture which broke and took a chunk out of the hardwood floor. He was fine, but the other kats weren't too pleased.

Katman
long beach, NY

Tucker's here to stay

I help do Bulldog rescue in Northern Nevada and Tucker was an owner surrender because of behavior issues, which we didn't see the month he was with us. My husband fell in love with him but we can't keep the dogs we foster, it would defeat our purpose so Tucker was adopted out. We were told he wasn't getting along with one of the dogs in his new home so we got him back, he was fine with our dogs. Once again my husband wanted to keep him so I said we would try one more home and if he came back he would stay. Well he came back and he's here to stay. It turns out Tucker has misplaced aggression and when he gets frightened or very excited he will bite whoever or whatever is within reach. He has learned the command crate, so when he gets scared or overly excited he is told to crate and this works fine. When he calms down he is allowed out of the crate. Many rescue's have problems or issues but with time, patience and understanding they can be dealt with. We love our Tucky.

Karen
Reno, NV