Animal Rescue Stories

The "bird" in the window well.

One day in June of 2016, we kept hearing chirping outside our bedroom window. There were bushes out there, so at first I didn't think much. But it continued, and semed to get louder.
Just as the sun was going down, I decided to check things out. I spread open the bushes and peered down. The noise I heard seemed louder! There, inside the window well was a tiny kitten. It was completely alone! I looked around, saw no adult cats, but decided to wait.
Two hours later, the "chirping" was worse. No mama cat had returned! I emptied a box, put a towel inside and placed the kitten.
I put the box; kitten and all, inside my car and hurried to the nearest grocery store for kitten formula and a bottle.
This begun my "mama" duties. Up every few hours to feed. Luckily my 2 year old litter mates were intrigued and helped with "potty" duty.
Our baby was about a week old. At first, I believed it was a boy, so because of the white body and reddish beard I named him Albus James (after Dumbledore from Harry Potter) and called him Alby.
Well...2 weeks later, Alby became a girl. I altered the name to Albreanna Jamesyn, but she still gets Alby or Bee.
Today she is nearly 3 years old, big and amazingly sweet.
After finding Bee, I found her biological younger siblings 2 months later, was able to raise the majority of them to adulthood, I've adopted several more kittens, and I've turned into a crazy cat lady.
Thank you Alby! Please be my Valentine!

Melissa Lewis
ALIQUIPPA, PA

Rescue me, who rescued who?

I had my cat from kitten to 18 years old when she passed from kidney disease. Broke my heart; we swore no more cats, too painful when we lose them. I live with elderly mother her caretaker, she didn't want another pet. Well one day 4 months later I see this stray beautiful ragdoll seal point blue eyes looking skinny took 3 days to get her to come to me snatched her up and said we will find her a home knowing all along I would keep her lol.. Contacted rescue to foster her, found out she had FIV and talked mom into keeping her foster failure, because I knew I could give her a good life and adopted her. She was the best cat I ever had so loving but very expensive the 9 years she lived about a $15,000 cat but worth every penny I miss her to this day so much. After she passed 6 months later we adopted another kitten that had some heath issues also she is very crazy torti nothing like the others but love her in spite of her wild disposition she keeps us on our toes! I can't even imagine my life without animals.

lisa reagan
AKRON, OH

Home for Daisy Mae

My daughter decided I needed another cat in my life, as I had to put Little Guy to sleep due to health issues. I just could not stand to see Little Guy suffer. I had been without a fur mate for several weeks and my home felt empty, so my daughter and granddaughter decided a fur baby for Christmas was what I needed. My daughter and her family took me to several animal shelters looking for the perfect companion. The last shelter we stop at had a room full of cats; we went into the room and I was loving on several cats and my daughter spotted a cat sitting in the back of a cat house out of sight. My daughter picked her up and it was instant love for us all. Miss Daisy Mae is now my forever fur mate. Daisy Mae was 3 years old and she is now 7 and my very best companion.

Sharon Haycook
SEVIERVILLE, TN

For the love of rescue

Love my dogs, I have rescued 4 dogs in the last 9 years. One, Molly, passed away 2 years ago of pancreatic tumors. I am now with only three. Each one of them are loving, spoiled fur babies. Two love to swim in the summer and one just watches them. Bella, Sadie and Bailey all have different personalities. This picture shows all together on the deck. Molly, the one one the left of the picture, passed away; Sadie is second from the left, Bailey is third from the left. And Bella is on the right.
Keeping them happy and healthy is my only goal.

Margaret Leonetti
WILMINGTON, DE

My Zeus kitty

My mom and I had gone to this yearly festival in Ft. Collins, CO, and the Larimer County Humane Soc. had a tent set up, with a cage that had a couple of kittens in it. I fell in love with one of them immediately! But my kids and I were temporarily staying with my parents, who had a toy poodle that didn't like cats! So we went home, thought about it and talked it over and decided to go get it, if it was still available. I was staying with my parents because I had left my abusive husband. We get to the shelter, and what do you know...they had JUST brought them back! So I adopted the one I had wanted, and he was my baby until the day he had to cross the rainbow bridge. He was beautiful. Siamese mix with long fur. That was my Zeus...my king!

Kelly Porter
FORT COLLINS, CO

Love and Loss and Loss and Love

I had just lost 2 of my darling dogs within one month. Losing Mickey hit me especially hard because he was only 6; he died from a rare neurological disease (GME) that came on quite suddenly. He was my special boy.
While trying to recover, and help my remaining dog TJ Wiggles with his own grief (he and Mick were inseparable), I received a call from my groomer, who does volunteer work for our regional shelter. She was grooming an elderly Shih Tzu who had been terribly neglected and surrendered to the shelter at age 12. I left work and made a beeline to the groomer. There she was: 16 lbs of attitude. Her diseased eyes completely covered with cataracts, she could hardly walk due to her matted fur having "glued" her legs to her belly for so long, yet she had this "Joie de vivre" that was unmistakable. I immediately loved her, and decided she would not spend one night in that shelter. I arranged with the ACO to foster her until her stray hold was up, and took her home. She took over immediately. Now, TJ is an exceptional dog in his own right, who is the most compliant and "gentlemanly" of all dogs. He was sweet to her as she settled in. It was quickly apparent that she needed some help with those eyes, and after consulting with an eye specialist who told me her glaucoma was like having a "constant migraine", we arranged to have them removed. She could only see shadows at best as it was.
That was almost 4 years ago.
Since then, Miss Trudy Magoo has blossomed into a spunky, playful, confident girl, who walks alongside (and sometimes in front of) her big brother TJ on our daily off-leash walks. People we meet are confounded by her ability to get around. We visit Senior Centers to talk about caring for aging pets, and she visits each and every member of the audience. Her lack of eyes mean NOTHING, except that she no longer has a headache.
My hope is that by reading this story, others will consider adopting a special needs or senior dog. I still miss my MIckey, but this girl healed my heart.

Natalie Langlois
WOODSTOCK, CT

Molly Girl

I adopted Molly when she was just a kitten. I really needed something in my life and along she came. It had to be the best thing that ever happened. Always at the door waiting for me to come home. Slept at the bottom of my bed for years, Came to me wherever I was in the house to let me know she was hungry and would move her mouth in the cutest way as if to say "okay, time to eat". I had her for 11 years of extreme happiness and lost her this past Oct.
The first night in the house after we had to put her to sleep I looked out my bedroom window and behold a twinkling star, the only one there, I knew she came to let me know everything was okay. She still comes on a clear night. That is my Molly Girl.

Judith Yarbrough
BURLINGTON, MA

Prince Topher

I decided to foster a mom and 4 kittens. Everyone got really sick and only mom and one kitten survived. We adopted both, but the struggle to keep the kitten alive was intense.
Today, Prince Topher is my best bud. Definitely my karma and undoubtedly me in cat form. He was named after the Artist Formerly Known as Prince because he was the Kitten Formerly Known as Fatty (not my name choice, and hence a name change).

Megan
ALEXANDRIA, VA

Wild and Free

I saw this young Am Staff running around the neighbor's house while they were having their pool put in. It was a rather warm day so I took her some water as it didn't look like any of the workers had given her any. I checked with them to see who she belonged to as she was beautiful. They thought she belonged to me. Needless to say I scooped her up and took her home. Took her tiny pink collar off her (which was tight), took pictures for notices, and hung them up around the neighborhood. No one claimed her so she became ours. She's fawn in color with a blue muzzle and blue tipped tail and as I watched her walk or rather saunter across the room, I thought she reminded me of a lion with her swagger. I racked my brain trying to come up with a lioness' name for her and the first one that popped into my head was Elsa. The lioness from "Born Free". She's the biggest goof ball and snuggle bug around; loves people and attention. Since we don't know her exact birthday but could figure out birth month she's our lucky leprechaun puppy. Not so much a puppy these days as she'll be nine years old next month on St Patty's day. But I love her to death and am so glad she came into not only my life but the lives of my family.

Lisa Fox
OKLAHOMA CITY, OK

Snort Snort Purr Purr!!

Our sweet calico of 19 years had just died and we wanted another cat to console our left-behind kitty (and ourselves). We visited several shelters, but none of the cats seemed particularly interested in coming home with us. Then we went to the final shelter in our area. All the cats were sweet, but none seemed interested, until my daughter said "what about this cat outside the room hidden in a cage under this blanket?" We were told she was too sick, but she was crying, so I asked if I could pick her up. I removed her from the cage and she threw her arms around my neck! She was so sick, sneezing blood everywhere. She could barely breathe, and all she wanted was for me to hold her. It was love at first sight! My poor baby had been abandoned by an elderly man's uncaring son, who let his father's cats run loose into the woods. A kind neighbor was able to rescue our Rosie Caroline, but she was so sick that she couldn't come home with us for several weeks. She is now a beautiful, purring, loving, adoring and adored kitty (although she will always have problems breathing -- she snorts all night long as she sleeps on my pillow with me every single night!). She has completely stolen our hearts!

Liz
CARBONDALE, IL