Animal Rescue Stories

It was meant to be

Some time after my beloved Corgi of 13 years passed, I started looking to adopt a rescue. I went on websites and put in the criteria of a young, small dog within a 50 mile radius. Several dogs seemed to match, but each one was adopted before I even got to meet them. I kept looking and this sweet little guy showed up. He was so funny looking! His head was bigger than his body but I just fell in love with him. I started the application process and that's when I found out he was 200 miles away!
I decided to make the trek, wondering if I was doing the right thing. Was I ready for another dog? Was I driving 200 miles just to be disappointed? But the minute I saw him I knew he was meant to be with me. The rescue group, One Step Closer Animal Rescue (OSCAR), told me he had been picked up in Kentucky and was in a high kill shelter when they rescued him. He was very thin, which is why his head looked bigger than his body. I brought him home that day. The rescue group had called him Maurice, but I renamed him Toffee because of his coloring.

This pool little guy must have had a rough life. He didn't even know what a toy was, or how to play with one. He was even scared of the squeakers. He was very submissive but quickly came to trust me. Now he plays, sleeps on my bed, and is a little snuggle bug. He is such a little clown and he makes me happy every day. He is my baby, my companion, and he is definitely spoiled:)

I truly feel it was a miracle that he came up in my search when I was only looking within 50 miles and he was so far away. But that is why I say this was meant to be!

Marie DiDaniels
EASTON, MD

Midas & Tugs

14 years ago we had to put our first baby to sleep because of cancer she was almost 13 yrs old. It took me a week and I asked my husband to go to our local shelter with me. Walked around and around until I open the cage to a large grey male and he walked out onto my knee and headbutted in the face. Midas has been doing that ever since and he is now 16 years old. Now this was in the spring during the kitten show and I did not want another kitten. Now my husband still really misses he black kitty so we returned the following year during the kitten show again. With a few rules Midas is a big boy and he needs someone that he will not hurt and no female. A pure black male wrapped himself around my husband shoulders and I could see the tears. Our little lady would ride around our necks all the time. So we now have two male adults that chased each other and fight but still love each other. They are both much older and we don't know how time we have with them but we love them. Midas the grey is 16 and having a hard time jumping up on the couch or bed and Tugs the black is 14 and has cancer in his ear.

Nancy Lee Wakefield
KENNEBUNK, ME

Baby Girl

I first saw Bella on a video tape. She was just all black hair and a pink tongue and mop of hair. When I asked to see a picture of her face it was no better. Bella was a working dog. She is a shih-tzu and was trained as a lap dog. The problem with the organization she worked for is she never saw the light of day... Literally. She had never been outside. Her day consisted of crate, van, visit, play area, food and crate. Repeat. The puppies age out at six months and my girlfriend had grabbed Bella's sister. I wanted Bella. I waited and waited, after 2 months post six months the owner gave her up at a hefty price but she was free. I should have captured the first time I took her outside on a lease. She sat and stared at the world around her. She's still in awe but rescued and free. She's my baby girl.

Valerie Clark
LOWELL, MA

Midnight

Midnight was a 6-year-old black lab that I found on Craig's List. Her owners lived in a small apartment and they were disabled and couldn't care for her anymore. If they didn't find a new home for her soon, they were taking Midnight to the local pound to be put down. When I saw that face (and since my last black lab had passed away about 6 months before), I couldn't say no. I took her home and she and I became inseparable for 4 years. She unfortunately got very ill 7 months ago and was put to sleep. I miss her so much - she was beautiful and such a sweetheart. She kept me company on my solo trip across country after I separated from my husband. She was my girl, my pal.

Gloria Schroeder
ESCONDIDO, CA

Alone little girl

We got Loke from a kill Shelter during the terrible recession on June 2009. Her name was Lilly on the website and in her photo she looked scared. So we went down to the pound to meet her and fell in love. She was definitely stand off-ish in the beginning but over the years she has warmed up. She is sweet and loving and enjoys adventure.

Michelle Fasbinder
FEDERAL WAY, WA

Cream Puff

One day, almost 8 years ago, a scrawny, dirty white kitten ran in through my back door and hid under the couch. I coaxed it out with some cat food, that we had left over because we had just lost our other cat, and discovered that it was a male and his entire head was covered in mites. I immediately took him to the vet because I could see he was suffering. It took 2 months of sulfur treatments to get him mite free and he turned out to be a beautiful snowy white with faint orange tips on his ears and tail. We named him Cream Puff and he has been with us ever since.

Amber
KELLER, TX

My Furbaby story

We have 4 cats and 1 dog that are all rescues. 2 of our cats were found as kittens outside the other 2 were from a shelter.

My dog, ESA, was adopted from a shelter when we went in looking for a big dog. I didn't find any that I bonded with in the kennels. We were on our way out when a woman came in holding a dog under each arm. She had found them on the side of the freeway and brought them in. I looked at my baby boys face and told the lady behind the counter that he was the dog I wanted. She put me first on the list so that when the 5 - 7 day hold was up I would be the first to be called. That was St. Patrick's Day 2014. He has since became my Emotional Support dog for anxiety attacks.

Jayne Comento
GILROY, CA

Who let The dogs In?

I have this amazing son that loves dogs as much as I do. He has been rescuing dogs since he was a teen. He is now in his forties. We have 15 beloved family members that are fur babies. One belongs to my other son, but I help to raise him. Our amazing dogs own a barn as well as our hearts. We have 7girls and the rest are boys. All of our girls have been spayed. They are fenced and we take excellent care of them. We have Tsali, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Brutus, Traveller, Pinky, Lightnin', Rio, Ishi, Johnny, Tiger, Sega, Sugar Bear, Kalise and Kitchee. I love them all. They range in age from 2 years to 14 years. They all had sad stories until we found them. Lucky dogs, lucky people. I forgot Sweepy, she sleeps under her sleeping bag. This is her in this picture with Olive Oyl.

Audrey Hawkins
DEARING, GA

My furry lil Savior

I just left my mom's funeral, it was the last goodbye. I felt like I died. My mom was my world. I stopped off to get milk, I had to park near the stores dumpster. I heard something crying loud. I went to check, it was a tiny kitten, he was malnourished, full of fleas, eye infections.. I took him home, got him washed up, antibiotics.. Next day planned to take him to the shelter. I woke up early, he was on my chest asleep. That whole morning, he followed me everywhere. I didn't get a chance to take him to the shelter that morning. I planned for the next day. Again he slept on my chest. I was woken up by him at 3am, meowing n pawing my face, my room was filling with smoke, I grabbed him, stuck him in my shirt, crawled to the window, n a neighbor was getting in from work, he heard me yelling..fire department got us out in time. But we lost everything. I owe it to my kitty, that I'm here today.. I feel I saved him n he saved me. He just passed away in my arms, January 3rd 2019, at the age of 22 years old. Through those 22 years, he's always slept with me, ate with me, we shared the heating pad. He loved to drink my ice water from my cup.. We shared so much.. He gave me life, after my mom passed away.. He saved me in more ways the one. I told people, he was my furry little human. He accepted all animals that came into the house. He was a good judge of character in humans. If thunder didn't like a person I knew to keep my distance.. He licked my face when I cried. He held my hand when we slept.. He was loving, smart, loyal n accepting. He was my best friend, my therapy, he saved me! He is missed so very much! RIP Thunder, momma loves n misses you!

Shellee Rochowicz
CLEVELAND, OH

Who saved who

My dog was found in Jan 2015 running down a busy street in 0 degree temps. I took her in discovered that she had been abused. I had just got out of a abusive relationship n having her in my life made a world of difference. We saved one another. Now we have 3 feral cats we took in and the male cat n my dog are best friends. They sleep together the cat grooms my dog every night. I have never seen the bond they share.

Susie Kellerman
TRENTON, MI