Animal Rescue Stories

Sparky's Di Carluccio's Story

We are the Di Carluccio's, a family of 7 now! We have four kids: Florence-18, Vincent-11, Sarah-9 and Marilda-2 1/2. We live in the country in our own 4-bed, 2 bath house with 3 cats and 4 goldfish. Our dog Rex died in 2007, he was 13 1/2 and we wanted another dog but were waiting to teach Marilda how to treat animals, she loves them and helps feed the cats. Now, she has a best friend Sparky because she was lonely when the kids went to school. Sparky is a great puppy! He doesn't wine or whimper, he is almost completely potty trained. He sits for treats and is starting to fetch already. He stays by my side outside off the leash in the yard and comes when called. He travels in the car with us and sits for baths. His foster mom Marilyn must have been great with him, because he is great with the kids and cats and most of the training was done before I got him at 3 months. Jill, who set up the adoption, answered all my questions no matter how many emails I sent her. On top of getting a great new family member for my family, I am friends with Jill and Marilyn now. We send emails to each other and they really care to see how Sparky grows up. What an easy and great experience it has been. I got a great dog and best friend for Marilda and made two new great friends. Thank you so much! P.S. I've posted your site on my Facebook and tell everyone about how I got Sparky.

Louise Marie Di Carluccio
Ellenville, NY

MY GIRL

When my husband and I wanted to add to our life we decited to get a puppy. We ended up finding my girl...She was 8 weeks old and covered in sand. She was one of 11 puppies and 1 of 5 that surived...they were found so covered in fleas that most of the puppies died of blood loss. How sad. She made it though (sadly she lost a toe) but Sandy is 6 now and has become one of the biggest parts of our life. Shes a spoiled rotten beach bum that is still covered in sand.

Rose
Hampton, VA

DaiseyMae is a chewer!

Daisey was taken to a kill shelter by her owners because she chewed. She had chewed up a few of the kid's toys. Her previous owners paid to have her put down. She was a year old. I'd be willing to bet these are the same type of folks that rush right out and purchase another pet.

I was working with a border collie rescue when Daisey came into my home. Daisey wouldn't come out from under the bed for three months! The only time we could get her to peek out was when my 5 year old grandson came over. She bonded with him right away. She must have missed her kids :(

So, my dtr adopted Daisey. Daisey and my grandson are the best of friends. She doesn't leave his side. She's gotten a lot better with the rest of us. She now allows us to rub her belly . She has a wonderful home now and back with a kid.

To date, Daisy has chewed 1 cell phone, 3 headsets,1 wiinter coat, 2 pair of tennis shoes, multiple toys. But she's loved and there's no way she's going anywhere. My grandson has learned to keep things picked up!

Kelly O'Rourke

kelly
waterford, MI

Charlie

OK one day I opened my door and this pathetic, sick looking orange tabby tried to come in. I had been seeing an orange cat but not close. He looked horrible! I already have a former rescue in the house Buddy, so I fed him on the porch and then proceeded to go through the neighborhood to see if anyone owned him. With some help I got a trap and set it up and caught an orange tabby BUT this cat looked OK ?? Well could not find this ones owner so vetted him and placed him at a local no-kill shelter. Paid over $400.00 for that cat and then 3 weeks later the "owners" go get him!!!

Then a week later there was the sick one again!! I KNEW I caught the wrong one. Horrible condition! Very hard to handle, hissing all the time! Thankfully a wonderful woman brought him to a clinic to be fixed and checked. Well he is doing much better now and has won over all our hearts, so he is staying! Mo other rescue Buddy is being pretty accepting of him and Charlie is an absolute doll! Very affectionate now! Still needs some things (dental work) and he seems to have a problem with one of his legs. Vet thinks he was hit by a car and was out for a few years. The ears are OK now, no more worms, all the ticks removed, and a nice clean coat.

I hope we have a lot more years with them!

Kristine
Auburn, MA

Feral Lap Cats

I was volunteering at a shelter that took in feral and domesticated cats. I started noticing an orange tabby cat coming out to me.Â I asked the owner about the new cat and she asked me "What new cat? We didn't get a new orange cat". I had her follow me over to watch as this orange tabby approached. The owner exclaimed "No way! I haven't been able to get near Mai-Lyn since she's been here." Mai-lyn had been feral for about four years and no one could approach her.Â A few years later and Mai-Lyn is nearly a lap cat.Â

Phoebe was adopted shortly after.Â She was also feral and unapproachable.Â Still no matter how much she lunged, hissed, growled or spit, she'd purr when I put her in my lap.Â Now there isn't a moment Phoebe isn't in my lap or following me room to room.Â I couldn't imagine my life without the love these two cats bring me.

Christine
Manchester, NH

Midnight

This is my cat named Midnight. He is all black. He used to belong to my daughter. I had saved his life a few years ago when he had a very bad urinary infection that he almost died. He was close to death at that time and I felt that I wanted to try and save him. He pulled through that and he is on a special cat food by the vet. I took him in my home last Aug. My daughter got a pit bull that was tearing him up and chewing him up all over. My grandaughter Sam that lives with me talked to me on the yahoo messenger crying that his head was all chewed up and bleeding. And she wanted him to come and live with us. So we took him and he is a very happy cat now but when I got him here I had to put medicine on his head so his head could heal up and his fur was a real dull black and he wasn't a happy cat at all. It took him some time to get happy again and we gave him alot of love and he was treated like a baby. He is a wonderful cat but we call him the eating machine and two paws. He will eat alot of things that cats don't eat and he will get his paws and tap you for some food. I am glad I have saved him the first time and my grandaughter saved him the 2nd time. This is a very loving cat. He has to be fed 3 times a day with his canned cat food. He eats like we do 3 times a day. He loves his treats and he is so funny.

Anne Scott
Leechburg, PA

Our Baby

On May 10, 2008, I was going out to dinner with my family and saw a dog on the side of a busy road. On the way home, she was still there. I called my friend, who's also a huge animal lover, and together we caught her and took her home. She was severely underweight, malnourished, and had a very bad case of mange. I took her to a no-kill shelter, but they wouldn't take her because she was a pit bull mix. The next day, I took her to the vet clinic I work at, and she was put on many medications, as well as a medicated bath I gave her twice a week. After long months of recovery, and three surgeries later, she was a totally different dog. Her fur grew back slowly, and she gained twenty pounds. By that time, my mom and I had grown so attached to her that she became a permanent part of our family. Baby gets along well with our cats, and she and our dachshund are good buddies. She loves going for car rides, as well as walks in the park, and she is one of the sweetest and most grateful dogs in the world. We're very happy to have her in our lives, and couldn't ask for a better companion.

Stephanie
Houston, TX

Our Little Midnight

About a year ago, a Siamese, a tuxedo kitten and a black kitten began appearing at my back door looking for something to eat. The tuxedo cat began showing that she was having kittens, and my son and his friend took her to a Cat Rescue Lady where she had her 5 kittens right after Father's Day. The black kitten was also in a family way - and usually famished. She had 4 kittens in the crawl space under my neighbor's porch on July 27th, and on Labor Day weekend the kittens came out of their hiding place - 4 adorable tuxedo kittens, two longhair and two shorthair. We tried finding an agency to take them, but there was 'no room at the inn' at any of the agencies' foster care homes, so we brought them inside and fostered them for 5 weeks. We gave the kittens up for adoption to the local Cat Project but decided to keep the little mother, whom we named Midnight.

We already had 4 other adult cats who were not that interested in another little one coming into the household, so there were a few tiffs. Midnight began to follow me around when went anywhere in the house, trying to beat me to the basement when I went down there, or would sit or lie at my feet while we were watching TV. Being a kitten yet herself, she would try to play with the tails of the others, or would play with her toys (some of which were lost somewhere).

Midnight loves being petted and loved, and we can feel her love for us. She likes to hide under the bed and grab at your feet as you pass by. She has brought us such happiness. The Siamese went home with our son.

Jeanne Buynak
Stratford, CT

Rescued Dogs Find a Comfortable Spot

Dora, a Rottweiler mix, and Tam, a gorgeous Irish Setter, are rescue dogs who came to us on the same day. Dora arrived at the Humane Society during the confusion of the Katrina and Rita hurricanes, and Tam proved to be too spirited for his owners. Dora was scheduled to be euthanized the next day when someone rescued her and took her to foster care. From there she came to us. She was seven months old and Tam was eighteen months when they arrived at our house. They spent the first evening chasing each other around the back yard. By the next day they had learned to jump the fence. The fence is now fixed and order restored. Tam is the people lover who provides us with many laughs, and Dora is our Diva -- albeit a teddy bear if you rub her tummy. She is also the best swimmer at the dog park. Both dogs have found a loving and comfortable place both in our hearts and on our couch!

Kathryn A. Gerard
Sugar Land, TX

We drove out of state to get Taz, our wonderful Doxie Mix

Here's a picture of Scooter (front) & Taz (back).

We took Scooter in when my nephews couldn't handle him. He brought so much love to us that we decided to adopt a buddy for him. We looked on Petfinder for another Doxie like him, but all the ones at our local shelters found forever homes before we could get to see them.
Finally one day we saw TAZ on Petfinder.com, but he was being cared for at an out-of-state shelter. We were worried that we would have trouble adopting him. We emailed the shelter on a Saturday and they agreed to stay late on Monday for us to come see him. We fell in love with him right away and decided to adopt him.
Taz was very nervous on the ride home; in fact, when we stopped to stretch he nearly got away from us. But when I called to him he stopped and let us scoop him up!
Scooter and Taz did not get along at first, but over time Scooter has come to accept his adopted brother. They still "fight" a lot, but mostly over who gets to give daddy the most kisses. They cuddle together all the time!
Taz is a Doxie mix, he looks just like a normal Doxie except for his looong legs! He never gets tired of giving kisses - we think he knows he's a rescue pup!!!
Thanks to Petfinder.com & the Pearl River County SPCA!

Mark Guillory
Marrero, LA