Animal Rescue Stories

Oliver the Tuxedo Cat and Jaxon the Tabby

I have three cats that I call indoor/outdoor cats. Nicholas the beautiful old grey tabby; Fiyero the Maine Coon, my scrapper, the boss; and finally Fancy the sweet little girl who got her name because, well, she just looks "fancy".

I wanted a cat that would cuddle with me and live inside. I love them all dearly, but they are all a different sort and are not happy being in the house all the time. They come in at 6 o'clock every morning for feeding. They come in when it's really hot or cold outside. They pass thru the house several times a day (just checking on their humans I guess). They are all neutered and spayed, so they are not out populating the city and they stay on our property, they are just not happy "living" inside.

I came home from work one day and heard "kittens" screaming. I knew from the sound that it was not coming out of my grown cats, it was "kittens". I got my husband and daughter involved and we isolated where the crying was coming from, it was under our storage shed. We pulled cars up with headlights shining under the building but did not see anything even though we knew that's where the "kittens" were. We retired for the night because we were making no progress in the dark.

The next morning my daughter went out bright and early, determined to find the "kittens". She laid on the ground searching with a flash light, and discovered one little tuxedo kitten, still screaming to beat the band. He, all alone but sounded like a whole litter of kittens, he was very vocal. No mommy cat, no litter mates. Just this little tuxedo cat all on his own. How did he end up there?

She coaxed him closer with cat food, but he was very wary of her and would hiss and growl if she reached for him. So, she sat there on the ground for quite a while talking to him. He was falling asleep sitting straight up and would then "jerk" awake.

She decided that he was too weak and exhausted and did not really have the means to harm her, so she grabbed him and brought him in the house. He was covered in fire ants, so we washed the ants off and dried him. We gave him a meal (on the kitchen counter) cause that's how we roll around here. When he got down he was dragging his right hind leg. So, off to the vet we go.

The vet said he was about 6 weeks old. The leg was not injured but it was a birth defect and that his mother was probably feral. Feral cats often abandon the weaker kittens or kill them. He's lucky that she left him under our building.

Of course we were keeping him, there was no discussion or decision to be made, next he needed a good name. My daughter said, "Oliver! Because Oliver Twist was an orphan and so is he".

He's now a happy, cuddly 3 year old cat. He doesn't care about going outside with his indoor/outdoor siblings. But it doesn't end there...

About 6 months after we were blessed with Oliver, my daughter left work to find a small group of people gathered around the car. Turns out there was a tiny kitten in the tire well of the car. They said that it was an "angry" kitten that was hissing at them. They had been trying to figure out what to do for about an hour. There was a little boy in the group that was begging his mother, "Please Mom, it's going to freeze tonight and he's all alone out here". His mother explained that they could not take a kitten home.

My daughter reached into the tire well and grabbed the kitten. She assured the little boy that it would not spend the night out in the cold, and she brought it home. Off to the vet again.

The vet said he looked to be about 6 weeks old and healthy. We cleaned him up, fed him, and again, no discussion or decision had to be made, he was home. We named him Jaxon, just because Jaxon is a cool name.

I finally got my inside cat that I'd been longing for (double). Double trouble, double pleasure, double cuddles.
Technically they were not rescued from an animal rescue facility, but Oliver was rescued from the heat of the summer and elements that come with it (fire ants). Jaxon was rescued from a cold, freezing winter night and taken into a warm home.

God sent me Oliver because he knew how much I wanted a cat to cuddle with and He sent Jaxon to my daughter's car because he knew Oliver needed a life long friend.

P.S. All of my cats were rescued from the elements, but that's a story for another day. Thanks for reading!

Rose Rosser
SOMERVILLE, TX

Lucy the feral cat

My husband used to work at our local Walmart and every morning when he was out in the parking lot cleaning up, he saw this cat. For two years or better, he got a can of cat food for her and left it opened by the outside pop machine. Eventually she would know his voice and came running.

One day we had to fly home to Oregon for our son's funeral. When we got home, Bob did not see the cat for days. Then one day out of the blue she re-appeared, so he called me and asked if he could bring the cat home.

We went to our local PAAS and borrowed a cage, and with the coaching of him, he was able to get the cat in the cage. I called our local veterinary and told them I had the cat and wanted her flea bathed and fixed, and they took care of her and we brought her home. It took months of food and love to convince Lucy we weren't going to hurt her. This was 3 years ago and she is a wonderful girl and a great addition to our family.

Mary Oyerly
VINITA, OK

Rescued Numerous Times but Never Again

We found our chihuahua, Bob Valdez, walking in the street by the woods when he was a baby, hairless and covered with mange and scabies. We rescued him and didn't think he would live, but a long stay at the vet saved him.

He grew into a cantankerous cutie and was difficult to live with, but we loved him like crazy. When he was 6 years old he developed crystals in his bladder and couldn't pee. We didn't know it at first because he still went through the motions, but when he began to whine and cry in the middle of the night, we took him to the emergency vet. Once again, they saved him, and following was a long period of recovery requiring constant care and special food, but he eventually healed back to normal.

Exactly one year later, Covid was going strong and Fourth of July town fireworks events were cancelled, resulting in bigger and louder than normal neighborhood celebrations. When my husband took Bob Valdez and our Shih Tzu, Fergus, outside for a doggie break, the sky just suddenly exploded, and Valdez ran. This was completely unexpected because he had always been dependable, and if anything scared him, he would get closer to us. He unfailingly responded to voice commands, but this time he didn't come back.

We searched and called for him all night long in our neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods. I had posted his picture on my community Facebook page, and a neighbor called me in the morning and said she saw him standing in front of a house while she was driving home. She tried to pick him up but he was too mean, and she gave up.

None of my neighbors knew Valdez because he was too unfriendly to take for walks. I quickly made a bunch of flyers and spread them all over the area in which he had been seen. The next day, the lady that lives in the very house where he had been standing called me and said she saw 2 ladies pick him up in a car. That explained why we had not been able to find him, and I was partly relieved because at least he was off the street and had not been eaten by an alligator.

I spent the next 9 1/2 months searching for Valdez by spreading flyers all over town, searching through numerous websites, sending out emails to vets, pet stores and rescue organizations, posting on all the Facebook animal lost & found groups I could find, and visiting the Animal Control facility on a regular basis. There was even an article about him in a local newspaper. I was completely obsessed with finding him, and was determined to NOT give up. I knew that with his grumpy personality, I had a good chance of getting him back if I could just get the attention of someone that had seen him.

I received countless leads and went on lots of searches that led to disappointment. Finally, someone who knew him saw my flyer. He was in his third home since he left us because he just couldn't get along with another pet or a member of the household, and he kept getting passed along. The lady that currently had him loved him immensely but couldn't keep him, and was looking for yet another place for him. We cried when we went to pick him up. We were so happy to get him back, the lady was thrilled to send him to his original home, and Valdez was really excited to see us.

To make this reunion even better after 9 1/2 months of being passed around, now that he is home, his personality is much improved. He is now chipped, and wears a collar with a contact information tag, but I don't think he will ever need to be rescued again!

Sandra Sue Dent
LAKE WALES, FL

Cupcake

My love of my life Robin passed of a heart attack she was 14 years old. I said no more dogs but just happened across this tiny dog at Orange County Shelter. Made a appointment to see her and fell in love right away. She is a tea cup chihuahua. We adopted her July 3 2020. She loves our 2 cats and they all play well together.

Laurie davis
FOUNTAIN VALLEY, CA

Grace

In 2017 at 6 am, I opened my front door to a scared and shaking chihuahua. I picked her up and she just leaned into me. I took her in the house and went out looking for anyone walking around . My neighbor said nobody was looking for her. So she ended up spending 3 months with me, until one morning when she wasn't doing well.

I took her to The Animal Foundation because she wasn't going to make it. The lady there told me that Grace was about 17 years old. At least I know her last 3 months of life, she was loved and taken good care of. I named her Grace because she was lost and then she was found.

There are a lot of strays, especially chihuahuas here in Las Vegas, and it makes me so mad when I see those babies running the streets because they look lost and scared.

Sheryl
LAS VEGAS, NV

My little rat terrier baby

In December 2019, I had to have my 13 yr old poodle put down because he had congestive heart failure. That was an extremely sad day. I came home & cried for weeks.

After not having a dog for 6 months, I begged my husband for us to go to the pound & see what they had. They brought out one little 12 lb black & white rat terrier. They told us she was an Australian shepherd. I wasnt too keen on a dog that sheds after having a poodle for years, but my husband was smitten & we took her home.

Off to the vet the next week for her rabies shot. They also told us she was an Australian shepherd. No way did she look like one. All we knew was that a man brought her to the pound & she'd been there 3 days. She cowered when we went to pet her & there were other signs she'd been abused.

I came home & looked on the internet to discover she is a rat terrier. She is the most submissive & loving dog I've ever had. Not a mean bone in her little body. We've now had her for 1 year & she's adjusted beautifully & is now house trained & very playful. We're so glad we got her, shedding hair & all. She's such a joy.

Brenda
FALLON, NV

One cold winter... we got a surprise. God blessed us again

One cold day, we spotted a stray cat outside our house. My mom's client actually spotted it first, so my mom said to open the door to see if he would come in to eat. When I did, he came right in and got to eat the food. So cool.

He's been living with us for about a few years now. I named him Cinnamon because his fur is the color of cinnamon. He does have some black and white in him, as well.

Before he came to stay with us, I took in another who needed a home. His name was Jack. We kept him in our home for a while, just so he could get use to being in our home. He had been abandoned outside my mom's workplace, so he'd never been inside anywhere. I dont think he felt safe. Its so sad.

He looked like he was abused. They bobbed off his tail some or maybe he went to the vet and they had to remove it. I dont know because he was our cat until we took him in, and we did eventually let him go outside. Then, we had two dogs, Boo Boo and Kitty, who have both passed on now, 10 months apart. Sad story, too.

Anyway, Jack ended up really sick & got out & died somewhere. We never saw him again, so God sent us Cinnamon. He can be a butt at times, but we all love him, including my mom's clients. By the way, my mom is a RN Nurse/massage person.

katie
TULSA, OK

Pod the 3 legged miracle

I was a foster volunteer. One night, I received a phone call about a little kitten. We had just had a run of about a week of above normal heat. This lady came home and heard a kitten screaming. She looked over her fence into the land next door, and saw this tiny kitten screaming for help, running and sliding on hot tin, desperate for help.

Luckily this wonderful lady picked this kitten up and was advised to bring her to me. She was so scrawny, so skinny, so tiny, only about 3 weeks old, if that. As I held her up, to our horror we found one of her back legs had been removed just below the knee. We don’t know how, but all she had was a stump. The pain this poor little thing would have been in.

So I immediately started syringe feeding her, she was starving.
The following morning, I was worried. Both my husband and I worked, so feeding this little tyke regularly was going to be difficult. She was a fighter though. I would come home at lunch and give her two syringe meals, after work, and a few times during the night. Unbeknownst to me, my husband was coming home, as well, and feeding her. She was being fed twice as much.

We didn’t even have to put any pressure on the syringe as pod would suck so hard and empty the syringe herself and then scream for more.

We hand raised her, and when she became more agile, she would run around the house, attacking the other cats and enjoying life. The main problem now was her stump which would hurt her if she landed on it, which she would when playing. It broke our hearts to hear her cry in pain.

We had to wait until she was strong enough, and our local vet did an amputation. Pod has never looked back since. Oh and she also is cross eyed, partially blind and has an undershot jaw. Nothing could stop this kitten from surviving.

When the time came to put her up for adoption, my husband said
she had to go to a home where she isn’t allowed outside, she wouldn’t survive. She couldn’t go to a home with kids, they would hurt her. I then asked if he would just like to just keep her.

So pod joined our tribe and has never looked back. My husband named her pod, short for tripod.

Bettina Knott
Broken hill, Australia

Puppies saved from being crushed at gravel pit are now fighting for their lives

Employees at the Dickson Waller Road Gravel Pit site saved three puppies abandoned in a gravel pit before being crushed by heavy machinery. The next day, they found another puppy at the same site. Employees quickly noticed that the dogs were sick and that something wasn't right.

"Our crew was about to start working on crushing rock, but then we found them out in the pit," said Tony Leicht, Dickson gravel pit manager. "They were so scared and cold. We cleaned out a bin and put some towels and blankets in there for them. We tried giving them water and food, but they were really sick and didn't seem to be feeling well."

Pierce County Animal Control brought the puppies to the Humane Society for Tacoma & Pierce County, where they are currently being cared for. They arrived extremely dehydrated, underweight, and diarrhea covered the box they arrived in.

After thorough veterinary exams and tests, all four of the puppies tested positive for parvovirus, a deadly and contagious virus that affects the gastrointestinal tract. Treatment requires intensive care, and the shelter’s veterinary team is working around the clock to help these puppies survive.

Donations are urgently needed to help provide medical care for the four puppies as they battle the virus. As a shelter that is currently at max capacity with animals needing homes and care, support is needed more than ever. Treatment requires intensive, round-the-clock care and can cost thousands of dollars per puppy. Donations are being accepted on the Humane Society’s website at: www.thehumanesociety.org/parvo-puppies

Lindsey Heaney
TACOMA, WA

Rocky The Hundred Dollar Dog

A couple of weeks Willie-Woo fell very ill. I took him to the emergency vet and the next day had him put to sleep. With the house being so quiet, I went to Safe Animal Shelter. The day I went it was closed, but since it had rained for days and no one had seen the dogs they let me go in. I walked straight down and to the left.

There was Rocky and another dog in the outside portion of the inside outside run. When he saw me, he started running to me. I don't know how they both got thru the hole, but they did. The closer to me, he started nudging the other dog as if to say “she’s mine.”

I inquired about adopting him but was told someone else was interested in him, and if the other dog liked Rocky she would be adopting him. I cried all the way home.

A few days later, on Saturday, I was reading the newspaper and drinking coffee when my phone rang. It was the shelter saying I could have Rocky. I asked what time they opened and was there. While I was filling out the papers and writing my $100 check, they let him out of the run and he ran right to me.

I took him to the vet the next week and the vet said to me, You got him from the shelter, and I said yes. I saw him the last time I was there and made up my mind if he was there again I would take him home. Isn't it cool he’s in our practice.”

Rocky is 13 yrs old now, I’ve had him 12 yrs. He has several health problems but I’m a retired RN and he lives in a furever home and is an only child. I was blessed to find him. He blessed me. Thank you Lord. I love you Rocky.

ILA Pandegirot
FLEMING ISLAND, FL