Animal Rescue Stories

Our "Goodiest Girl"

We were fortunate enough to be able to adopt Brea, nicknamed "Goodiest Girl" by my husband, from the Grayslake IL shelter almost 6 years ago. She is the sweetest and best behaved girl there is. She is a Chow-Terrier mix, and gets pretty fluffy if not groomed. She was an only child for about 2 1/2 years until we got our Heidi, a Mini Dachshund. She has mentored Heidi well, and both girls are our "babies". They stay in the yard without being tied up, and love to go for their walk twice a day. Brea is a great frisbee catcher, and dispite her age, ( about 8 or 9 years old), still runs fast enough to catch it about 90 % of the time.

We are truely thankful that we have her in our lives!

Linda Manlick
Union Grove, WI

Not a Calico!

2 years ago a dirty, skinny kitten got trapped in a warehouse between some boxes. The little girls who crawled in to get the kitten out wanted to keep it, but their mother said NO. A man standing there told the mother to just put the kitten in a box and he'd take it out and shoot it later, which made those sweet little girls burst into tears and made me very angry! I promised the girls that wasn't going to happen, that I would bring it home with me and told them to pick out a name for it.
They decided that the "calico" kitten should be named Butterscotch because its ears & tail looked like they had been in butterscotch pudding. When I got the kitten home, fed and bathed, it was NOT a Calico ... it was pure white with the butterscotch markings ... From later reading a breed profile, I think he is probably at least part Turkish Van. True to that breed, he is extremely vocal, loves to play in water and just keeps growing. He now is over 3' long nose-to-tail and weighs 21 lbs. If he keeps true to breed, he will probably not stop growing until he's 5 years old. He's a very loving cat who demands to be the center of attention. I'm certainly glad that I brought him home!!

Shari Howard
Milan, MO

Bestest Little Friends

This is Charlie & P.D. Charlie is the Terrier mix and P.D. is the Puggle. My husband and I rescued them from our local no-kill shelter last year. We got married in 04/2008, bought our first house ever in 08/2008 and all the while dreamed of heading to the shelter to get a dog. So in 09/2008 we did just that and first found our little Charlie. We fell in love with her gentleness and friendliness and her beautiful, sweet eyes and long eyelashes lol.

Next in 10/08, we headed back to the shelter because we wanted to get Charlie a friend and give another dog a new forever home. That's when we were introduced to P.D. We took Charlie out to the shelter with us so we could see how she would react to any potential candidates and P.D. was the only one that did the little "sniffy circle dance" with her, which we thought was so cute. But when P.D. lifted his little leg and peed on my husbands shoe, as if to say, "You're mine" that was the clincher and we made him our newest family member.

These two are inseperable - they wrestle and tug-o-war, they share the same doggie dish, they even share bones taking turns back and forth with an almost "mannered-like" quality, it's amazing how good of friends they are! Bestest little friends forever!

Camille
Ottawa, IL

Chihuahuas Rock! Especially Rescue Pups Like Mr. Monet : )

I had just lost a wonderful dog to cancer and decided that still, even with five big farm dogs, I needed a little companion dog to travel and snuggle with.

I looked at hundreds of small dogs on Petfinders until one day I saw the cutest little guy listed with Rohe Animal Rescue in Raleigh, NC. They had posted a short video of him acting sweet & tail-wagging friendly so I was very interested. I had made a list of things I wanted in a dog - very small, handsome, smart, well behaved - and it seemed that he was a match.

They bought Mr. Monet to my house for a visit and the moment he got out of the car it was love at first sight. We visited for a while and when they said I could adopt him - I was thrilled! He didn't want to leave his foster Mom, but he was very brave about it and my heart went out to him.

Over the next few weeks he got used to his new home, and now his personality has blossomed and he has claimed me as his person. I love all my dogs, but Monet is my baby. I had never been around Chihuahuas before and am amazed at how funny and smart they are - Monet and I meet a lot of Chihuahua owners everywhere we go and I'm so happy to have been able to "join the club".

Bringing people and dogs together is a labor of love.
I can never thank our rescue organizations enough for the work they do.

Jaye
Silk Hope, NC

Nammie

Nammie showed up at our house as a tiny kitten hiding in a fallen tree after a terrible storm six years ago. No one responded to our fliers about a lost kitten so we gladly added him to our family. The tiny kitten has grown to 16 pounds and still thinks he is a lap cat. He's the self-appointed king in our house of three other cats and two dogs.

Becky Sater
Eads, TN

My Boys, Gus and Gibson

When I lost Tory, I didn't think I would be able to have another cat in my life. I had decided to get brothers if I did, but it was so painful to lose Tory that I refused to even look at pictures of kittens.
Despite this, one Friday almost 2 years after losing Tory, seemingly against my own wishes, I went to Petfinder.com, searched for male kittens, and saw Button. I fell in love. And, when I read that he had a brother also up for adoption and I saw his brother, Mr. Bigglesworth, I fell doubly in love.
I couldn't stop thinking about them. The next day, I called the number listed, and drove an hour away to pick them up.
Now named Gus and Gibson, my boys have filled my life with laughter. Gus is my joy, and Gibson is my heart. Together, they are My Boys, and I couldn't love them more. One and a half years later, they have grown into beautiful and loving cats, but they will always be my babies and I will always strive to be worthy of them.

Yvonne
Tulsa, OK

Hurricane Katrina survivor

I love cats & never imagined a Siamese would enter my life. I already have 3 shelter darlings & thought I'd go to North Shore Animal League to help with survivors they had brought to my area. Yang is just beautiful & filled with love and gratitude. He moved right in & I'm so glad I took him home. Lynne

Lynne Veitch
New York, NY

"Thief of my Heart"

Thunder is a 12 year old Westie who loves chasing squirrels and being outside. He loves going to the park and exploring the mountain trails at his Granny's. His pet peeves are baths and not getting to patrol his yard.

This is our Story

I moved to Myrtle Beach 4 yrs. ago and was so lost and lonely. One day, about 2 wks. later, I looked out my window and saw a little white dog tied outside laying in the sun. I flew out the door & went over & started playing with him, this went on every day for about 2 wks. Then his owner an older gentleman in his 80's came out and introduced himself (Wendell), he was no longer able to walk his little dog (Thunder) so I immediately volunteered for the job. We became fast friends, really good friends and as Wendells health declined I took over the care of Thunder. Wendell passed away Sept. 07 and he left me with his most treasured companion,Thunder. I like to say we saved each other, they saved me from depression, I saved them from loneliness. Thunder and I definitely have a special relationship, it's one that God put in the making especially for us. :)
Thunder truly is the "Thief of my Heart"

Tamara Sherrill
Myrtle Beach, SC

Muad Dib

When I lost Muad Dib I at age 14 (white Black Forest cat with gray tail and gray "mouse" shape on his head) I was devestated. But several weeks later, I felt the urge to find a red kitty, and a friend's sister had a cat who had had 4 boys. We went to see them, and she brought out 3 of the boys, 2 "siamese", 1 tabby, no red kitty. When I said I wanted a red baby, she reluctantly brought out a small bundle of screaming red kitty! The moment she put him into my hands he stopped yowling, and nuzzled for two hours asleep at my neck. She couldn't believe it, as he hadn't stopped howling since he was born. Needless to say, we brought Muad Dib II (the Red) home, and he's been my constant Reiki companion ever since -- Muad Dib I returned, with the same behavior patterns, and the same big heart and sweet personality. He's my treasure, along with my other 4 babies (we took 3 of the boys home with us, Sebastian (Siamese look-a-like), and Belgarath (the tabby). He sits each day with me when I send Reiki healing to animals in need, and he sleeps at my head or on my chest every night. He's my dearest companion.

Dr. Elizabeth King
Las Vegas, NV

Nora and Alexander

It began with a chance sighting of what looked to be my neighbor's white cat running in the bushes... upon closer inspection, we saw two mottled kittens with her. I took a picture to my neighbors and they confirmed their cat had kittens. (She was an outdoor cat) They said the mom had taken the two darker kittens away and abandoned the two all white ones that looked like her in their backyard. She stopped visiting them when they were about 2 1/2 weeks old!
I offered to take the kittens. They were SO TINY The girl would try to nurse on the fuzzy cushion I made for their bed. They never did care for the tiny bottle I bought to feed them with, but would lap kitten formula from a saucer. They've been the most wonderful babies. We had them altered of course, and they live contentedly indoors.Alexander is very snuggly, out "arctic lion" and Nora is Princess of the manor, regal as any queen.

Renee Adams
Arlington, TX