Animal Rescue Stories

My gaggle of kitties!

I was living in a part of town where there were a lot of homeless cats. The people who lived behind me had a lot of cats and a dog. They were abusive to each other and to their animals. None of their animals were fixed. One of their cats had a lot of litters and I saw that they, including their child, was hurting the kittens, so I took one home with me. One kitten led to the next two, and then another, all taken over a year. I wish I had a farm, I would have taken all of them - including the dog!! In Canada, our laws concerning animals are archaic at best. The SPCA here does not have sufficient resources to deal with the amount of homeless and abused animals we have here. I do what I can. There were more cats I helped find other homes for because I couldn't handle any more than four myself. I kept in mind that I needed to play with them and love them all by myself! I keep trying to help animals in need. If they come around I leave dry food and fresh water for them. My cats get me through times I am depressed and times I am happy. They never let me down and deserve to have a good life. I consider it a privilege to have these little guys in my life. If I ever lost them, I would be heartbroken.

Christina Gordon
Ottawa, Canada

My Buddy

I found Buddy at the Lexington Humane Society, he was 8 mo's old. I named him Buddy because I was going through a divorce and needed, well a Buddy. I had to sign a paper at the Humane Society that I would assume all responsibility if he bit anyone, I guess he got a little frisky with the workers. I took him for training, and crate trained him myself, since I lived in an apartment and couldn't get home to let him out. But I'll tell you he became the best dog, companion, I've ever had. He was so sweet, and lovable. I think that whoever had him treated him badly and that is why he was so mean at the shelter. Sadly he passed away on 9/10 the day before the attacks of 9/11. It was very hard for me to get over the loss. I still cry when I think about him, I am crying now as I type this. I had him cremated and he is in my bedroom. He will always be in my heart and I still miss him very very much.

Deb Lanasa
Lexington, KY

The Rescue of Kane Michael

Kane Michael is a GSD that had been at the SPCA in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He was 7 years old. He was an owner turn in. He had been at the SPCA since October. I came into the SPCA in January. I was feeling down and I wanted a new dog to keep me company. I had one other dog, but I wanted another and I wanted my other dog to have a companion. So I found Kane Michael, just sitting in the first kennel. He was so quiet and he just looked at me with those sad eyes. Like he had a story to tell, but did not want to tell me there at the SPCA. So I decided to take him home with me. Shortly after I got hime home, within the first week of been at my house, Kane bloated. I had to rush him to emergency vets. They were able to save him and bring him back from the dead. I was told that he had a 25% chance of making it through the bloat operation. I told the vet that I had just got him and that I thought that he had a fighting chance to make it through. Thanks to the docs at the vet he made it through. He has been my best friend ever since. He is a great dog and I am very happy that I was able to rescue him from the SPCA that he was in.

Laura Knoll
Willow Grove, PA

hard working cats

My first day of work at my prior job was the day Minute Maid came into our lives. Coolant was pouring out of a customer's car and she came running from the rain sewer, meowing loudly, dirty and starving. The lady caught her, fed her, then begged me to give her a home. I couldn't refuse, as her orange coat matched my house decor :) She ran around my store all night, meowing so loudly she startled a number of customers. That was last October. In January, a week after her spaying and shots, she ran out in front of a car. We drove 35 minutes to an emergency clinic, me crying the whole way. After a tense few hours the vet released her and she bounced back admirably.
Last week, my husband found Lefty at his job. I heard her mewing over the phone and couldn't say no when he asked if I wanted her, especially when he told me the evil things the guys at work planned to do with her. She and Minute Maid (Lemonade) didn't get along at first, but now they're good. :) Lefty's still skin and bones, but after her bath, which she took like a trooper, soft and cuddly and sweet. They chase each other all over the house and wrestle. In this pic, they're watching June bugs. I can't bear the possibility of spending another evening in emergency, so now they're both house cats, albeit not willingly. My daughter loves her two little sisters, and we love having three little girls in the house to balance out the teenage males.

ramona saldana-Flores
Hutchins, TX

Our Miracle

This is our little girl Mizzi. She is a mix of German Shepherd and Boxer. She is named after the State of Missouri where we found her at the Waynesville Animal Shelter. My husband had been deployed to Missouri through the Army so we were far from home in West Virginia. We found Mizzi the day after we lost our dog Sarge to bone cancer. When we walked into the shelter and my husband saw that adorable face he just new he had to go home with her. 4 days after bringing her home she got really sick. I called the local vet that we had taken Sarge to but it was a Saturday late afternoon and they were closing. I made an appointment for first thing Monday morning. To my astonishment the vet called us on Sunday at 9 pm to check on Mizzi. I explained that she still was not better and they suggested I bring her in as an emergency. To our dismay, we found out that night that Mizzi had Parvo. We were devastated! The vet kept her there for 4 days in total isolation and on IV's. We visited her every evening when my husband got off of work. She always gave us a little tail wag and a few kisses but she was so sick. She was so excited to see us that last day that we just knew she was "out of the woods." I firmly believe that had we not adopted her that day she would have died of Parvo all alone in that shelter. We are so greatful to the great people at Best Friends Animal Hospital for saving our little Mizzi! We just don't know what life would be like without her. We love her so very much!!

Stacy Beitz
Martinsburg, WV

Jake and Kelly

We got Lucky (whom we renamed as Jake) when he was 5 months old from the Bideawee Shelter in New York City. He was from Mississippi where he had been abused and hurt. They couldn't break him though. From the day we met him in October 2008, he's had a happy, bubbly, playful personality. He gets along great with our English Setter, Kelly who was also rescued from a local agency.

Frank Calella
Lafayette, NJ

Luke Skywalker

Our baby was found at North Shore Animal League, when they had their adopt-a-thon starring Cesar Millan. He was rescued just two days before from a kill shelter in Tennessee.

We knew the moment we laid our eyes on him that he was coming home with us. Believe me with over 700 animals the cuteness was everywhere. The first thing he did when we picked him up was nestle his nose on our neck and rest his head down as if to say...."thank goodness you finally found me".

We have had permanent smiles on our faces since then. Luke is our baby and we love him so much.

Andrea
New York, NY

The story of Gray and her 6 kittens.

I found Gray almost one year ago. She had brought two kittens to my yard to get water from a dish I put out the night before in the middle of a heat wave. My neighbor called me to tell me she saw Gray as she carried each kitten back across a busy highway. I went out and searched til I found them - there were six kittens and my Gray who was feral (meaning scared, abandoned as a kitten by ignorant people) and who had somehow survived a full winter and had 6 healthy kittens. I found them living in a yard under a broken down deck for protection. The owners of the home happened to be away for a month! Thank god! It took me from 6/7/09 to 7/12/09 to fox trap all 7 of them. The kittens are all placed in homes. During this time, I had a disc nearly in my spinal cord from a car accident and I was in chronic pain. I was misinformed by the wonderful doctors here in Princeton, NJ on how bad I was, but I have since have cervical fusion. Gray was in my homemade cat condo for six months and I stayed on the couch across from her the full six months every night, including during recovery from my neck surgery! I did not want her to think she was alone. It took a lot of hard work to integrate Gray to my apartment. Now Gray is now with my two Bengal rescue cats (8 year old siblings, boy and a girl) and I am working with behavior modification with them. Please pray that my cats accept her!

Suzanne Newman
Princeton, NJ

What I really wanted

I was unable to have cats for many years, but when I finally could, I went looking for a female, tiger-striped kitten at the local kill shelter. That way I could make myself happy and also save a life. They didn't have what I wanted--but there was a frightened looking adult male tiger and in another cage a litter including a rambunctious little tortoise-shell. So I decided to split up what I wanted between two cats: one tiger, one female kitten. Turns out Jack has FIV, but with a little special diet he is healthy, happy, and gorgeous--and he has blossomed into the sweetest animal ever, afraid of nothing. Elsa is his best buddy and my baby; she is a darling demented little thing with the loudest possible purr. I may have saved their lives, but they have enriched mine beyond description. Adopt a shelter pet for your life and theirs!

Tonia
Port Washington, NY

Lost in the rain

My husband had just come back from the drive thru and noticed this little dog walking in the rain, it had been raining nonstop for a month. He called out to him and showed him some fries. Monte followed him to the porch and walked into our home. We gave him the name Monte because we were watching Count of Monte Cristo at the moment he walked in. We posted fliers throughout the neighborhood but no one claimed him. He has been with us for two years and we think he is around 8 years old. I cannot imagine life without him.

Stephanie Meissner
San Antonio, TX