Pet Health Community

Every dog or cat I've had has been a rescue of some type. My two best ones though were my two favorite cats. Orion was my shiny black cat with yellow eyes, my best friend for eight years, who snuck into the back of the car as a lanky black spiderkitty, lured by a leftover crab enchilada. This was after a whole string of coincidences. He was AWESOME but died tragically young.

My calico, Mouse, the one in the picture, rescued herself. She came to my rose bushes one evening and cried all night. Turns out she had a broken leg and a bunch of fleas and deep puncture wounds, all of which she has recovered from, and she's now sassy and fluffy and very well loved. I love rescue cats. If they pick you, they often are great.

I have a few stories. Rescuing animals just makes my life so much more enjoyable. Especially when I couldn't give them a home myself, I volunteered and always tried to help out an animal where I could.

Charlie was- as far as we could tell- a pure bred Russian blue, or very high content, and there she was, a 3 month old kitten wandering out in the cold. She had all the characteristics of a blue, and remains a total independent thinker to this day. We were both away at school at the time and after harboring the little fugitive in our apartment...against certain lease agreements- we drove home for Thanksgiving-with the cat, for 12 hours, in the car, and left Charlie with my friend's family where she is now almost 2 years old and a wonderful part of their lives and the source of much entertainment. As I saw on facebook the other day, in a post by her mother; "I was holding Charlie and my son summed up her personality perfectly. "Aww, the cat is tolerating your affection!"

I lived very close to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and volunteered there often. On the way one day, lo and behold, I found a 4 month old black and white great dane/hound/pit? puppy laying on the side of the road in an area where people often dumped their dogs. She was covered in dirt and had overgrown nails and was skinny. I took her in to the sanctuary with me and watched her grow up every time I went back. She was a favorite in the puppy building, not afraid of anything. It wasn't long before little- then huge- Easter(so named by the sanctuary for the day I found her) got a forever home!

Now that I'm able to give a forever home myself, I have adopted my Mac and Lily, brother and sister, who were found at only a few weeks old, alone, behind a shed in the rain. They are cuddly, intelligent, and the funnest little guys to have around. As soon as my yard is bigger than a cardboard box, I also hope to rescue a very large dog.

Sometimes you just don't know why you do something. Five weeks ago I drove BEHIND a large strip mall to kill a few minutes and to see the view I guess. Normally i would not of wasted the gas! right behind michaeals craft store a little tiny head with big floppy ears stuck her head out from behind two pallets.

She could hardly stand, was shaking and every bone in her tiny body showed. She was almost dead and would undoubtedly died that night because the temp was suppose to freeze. I drove home -all time saying just call the pound. it was just a waste of good air. I knew i was going after a towel,some food, and my daughter to help.

The only thing I could do was scoop her up and suffer the disapproval of my other two rescues and the absolute wrath of my wonderful but very cost conscious hubby.

I brought her home and hid her for five days. She never barked. I think she knew she was being hid. She was so eager to show me her gratitude and was evidently house trained!!! But so heart wrenching was her first several poohs we're sticks and stones!! The unbearable pain of slow starvation, all alone had driven her to find anything to stop the pain!

On the fifth day I had taken her outside and hubby came home early. All he did was yell are you insane we can't afford this dog. After the steam stopped spurting out of his eyeballs I told him about her. She obviously had a home at one point. I would fi d her family too. I have tried to find her family but I suppose they dropped her off thinking someone, or our kill pound, would get her. A puppy!!!! I decided they don't get her back!

I know the little tike may of fallen out a parked car and went and hid... But she does have horrible night mares, shaking and crying for some one she loved with all her heart to come back. The unearthly howl! time she has done this I scoop her up and though she is shaking in fear she eagerly kisses me saying how grateful she is I came along.

She just wants to please and chew. Still weak she saw our other two dogs play frisbee and goes and retrieves it but since the frisbee is her size she hasn't actually caught it yet. I have never seen such a young pup retrieve like this. Her strength is improving her hair is starting to thicken up and her favorite thing is her hand me down coat. It is cold now.

Her brother and sister normally would of chewed her up but they spoil her. They are letting her puppy-chew them to death.

What to name her is so hard. She looks just like the the "our gang " Pete. The difference being her black circle around the eye sits on a big brown eye patch one ear is white the other is brown. A few brown freckles are on her back.

Right now we call her "sticks". I don't like that name because it reminds me how my heart physically hurt when I saw her. so I started calling her Alice Capone cause she is such a gangster clown a little fighter! I think if she could human talk she would sound like James Cagney. I can almost hear her saying "oh u's dirty cats I gonna rub ya out if ya don't puppy wrestle me now"!

I got an email from Obama asking what I would do if we poor got a tax cut. Duh hub. I am saving to get her shots and dewormed and heartwood meds sure would be great. Our adoption is our christmas gift. Since we were not buying presents again this year I couldn't be happier with this high stepping puppy who probably thinks she has died and gone to heaven. I so wish I could post a picture I'd her and your heart would melt too .

So yeah, I have rescued pets. I have also found a lot of missing pets. One had been gone a year and I took him home and started finding his family. The joy the little boy and the beagle when they first saw each other still makes my eyes water. Ok i admit it i cry!! my whole life i have had a I knack for finding things, but this little fish doesn't get much effort on that front! She's a keeper. Well figure out the rest when we come to it.

I currently am a fur mommy to two pit bull rescues. Danny is a tri-colored pit bull/AmStaff mix and then Ralphie, who is my huge challange is a pit bull American Bulldog mix.

Ralphie has had issues since his birth. Eye infection at a very young age caused them to perform surgery on him and remove the eye, at the same time they fixed him...at 8 weeks old.

The infection was so bad he suffered from demodex mange. He came to us almost hairless, missing an eye and full of yeast, at about 6 months old.

He breaks my heart because no one or animal deserves to suffer as much as he does.

He has a bad leg which we think was broken at a very young age but never fixed correctly and he is now suffering thru what I think is Guttate Psoriasis. He is a beautiful hot mess and I would not trade him for anything or any other dog.

The rescue had asked if I wanted to return him since he was such an issue, does a parent of a handicapped child return that child? No way in hell.

Ralphie is a blessing as is Danny. Rescue those babies, they deserve it!

Laura

We adopted 3 cats from shelters/Humane Societies. Also we got our first 2 out of the paper, free to a good home deals. The 2 we got from the paper are Critter and Explorer and are Healthy as a horse. Our first 2 Shelter kitties were very ill kitties. Ranger who is chronically ill and Henry who we lost to FIP. And our last is from the Humane Society and he is Dodger and very healthy.

I have a Cairn Terrier from Colonel Potter Cairn Rescue Network who was rescued from a puppy mill at 5 years old...her name is Folly and she is the joy of my life...we have lived together for 1 1/2 years and while she still has issues(a fear of the outdoors which we are slowly working on), she is sweet tempered and tolerant and every day exhibits more normal dog behavior and Cairnitude...I LOVE HER! I also donate to the Human Society, SPCA, and a local Animal Shelter They need all the help we can give them...

My first pet of my own (we've had animals as long as I remember) was a rescue from my local humane society. During October they had something where adoption fees were pretty much waved for black cats so I went up and found this beautiful 4/5 month old long haired black cat. He kept trying to paw at and bite me through the cage and he was just the sweetest thing. I had my sister and her friend with me so when I decided to take him home, my sisters friend took home his cage mate/sister. It was strange at first having a pet of my own to care for, take him to vet visits and buy things he needed but I've never been happier than I was doing everything I could to give him the best home I could. A few years later Keiran still lurks around the house and follows me, waits up for me and keeps me company. If I'm not feeling well at night and I'm in and out of our room, he lays on the bed and waits for me until I come back. I can't think of anything more wonderful than my adoption cat. They're a lot of responsibility but they are definitely worth it.

I delayed mentioning this because I wasn't sure she would be a successful rehome or not, but I've recently rescued a new cat. I consider this a rescue because it was one of those "my son's allergic, we need her gone TODAY" type of thing. The only alternative was the pound.

I made the arrangements and went to the apartment after work. My spouse had shown some interest in getting a kitten and I wanted a friend for my older cat (Mouse), to help her stay active. So, into my arms was put a very soft, wiggly, short haired kitten. Black and yellow tortoiseshell, golden eyes, lots of energy. Four months old. She had been bought for a young boy for Christmas. He turned out to be allergic. She'd been living mostly alone for some time, fed well but given no limits.

The kitten (Shadow) was very friendly but didn't understand rules at first. She scared the Mouse and irritated the spouse. However, with some basic training she's settling down beautifully. Mouse likes her now and will wash her. So does my spouse, since Shadow will sit on her stomach and watch movies and cuddle when Mouse doesn't want to.

I wish I could tell everyone, don't give pets for holidays unless you know for sure the recipient wants the pet and isn't allergic. And new cats can get along with existing ones but there has to be a lot of patience and understanding at first. Shadow has found a home, she will be loved here.

I'm 36 and just about every cat and or dog I've own weither on my own, or when I was a child living at home, has been a rescue. My parents live about 2 1/2 miles outside my hometown in the country, and people are always "dumping" animals nearby. Or at my great grandmother's, or my maternal grandparents'. While I lived at home, we must have had over 30 or 40 animals between my earliest memories, and when I moved out at 22. My husband even joked the first time he came to my parents' place that there were cats every where. And there was. We had one cat that loved to "ride" up the driveway in your car and if you didn't stop and open the door for him, you'd get a nasty surprise the next morning when you went to feed everyone. We had another, Frisket, who likes to sleep on the roof of the house, and a couple others who liked to sleep on the roof of the chicken house. (Yes, we grew chickens at one point.) I've got to admit, though, that my favorite rescue at my parents' was my cat Ralphie. He was a handsome grey and white tabby with white feet, who although being a bully to the other cats, was nick named the kissing cat, due to an incident with my grandmother. My parents' house has an outdoor stairwell that leads to their basement, and my mom put iron railing along the right hand side because she was afraid of me or my sister taking a header into the sump pump pit. The cats loved to walk edge and Ralphie "kissed" my grandmother one time. So he got nicknamed the kissing cat. My second favorite cat was my darling Bubby that I rescued from the local shelter in Indiana after moving out on my own. He was a gorgeous black and white "tuxedo" cat, who had a mind of his own. He absolutely hated, with a passion, my husband and would only tolerate him because he lived with me. He got the nickname "mood kitty" because he could always tell my moods better than I could or my husband. (I have bipolar disorder.) If I was manic, he'd curl up on my lap and say come'on mom, calm down and pet me. If I was depressed, he'd act all playful and try to cheer me up. He was something else from the day we met, to the day he died. (I adopted him because he was the only cat in the cages with any spunk, plus he kept patting my face and purring at me. It was like come on human, adopt me!!) Our current two cats, Jack and Peabody, or something else also. Jack was a stray that a friend had taken in, then had to find a home for because his landlord was pitching a fit about too many cats in the apartment. We think he's a South Carolina Coon kitty because he looks like a tabby, but has the voice and sharp boney feet of a Siamese. Peabody was adopted from the shelter in Texas after Bubby died because Jack was moping around missing his "brother". He's black and tawny, with four white paws, and long hair. He's almost 2, and Jack is either 12 or 13, and together they make a very interesting pair. Peabs if extremely active, and his favorite activity as a kitten was to ride around the apartment on Jack's tail. Now they love to wrestle and chase each other around the apartment. Peabs also loves twist ties, and will play "fetch" for hours if you throw him one. I love my little monsters.

My cat loves twist ties too! No idea where he finds them, but he thinks they're the best toys ever. Just have to make sure he doesn't swallow them...

I have 8 rescue dogs (2 are now my adult daughter's dogs), 2 cats, and an ex-racehorse.
The horse had been passed from owner to owner while at the track, falling through the claiming ranks as he lost race after race. Purchased by a trainer to be retrained for eventing he returned the horse stating the horse was dangerous and that his mind had been damaged beyond repair during his previous life at the track. Slaughter-bound, I got him for practically nothing for my 13 yr old daughter to "play around" with at the barn. All the trainers we took him to said that he was going to kill someone and should be euthanized. All I saw was a sad little horse that trusted no one and didn't even know what an apple or treat was. So I gave him a chance. My daughter had learning disabilities and very low self-esteem and somehow the horse seemed to know. These two bonded so strongly that no one - not even some of the best riders in the country - have been able to ride him. But daughter and horse went on to compete all over the country in showjumping, winning against $250,000 European horses that towered over my little ex-racer. He would try anything she asked him to do and won a high jump contest at 5'9" because she asked him to jump.

Some of my dogs were found. The pitbull was thrown from a truck outside the gates of the horse stable, the lab was found in a roadside box of puppies, the hound was found standing beside a dead "friend" on the side of a busy highway for over a week. One was adopted from a breed rescue, one from a local kill shelter. One was a last minute grab from a kill shelter hundreds of miles away - already in line outside the euthanasia room so I had to bribe the worker $500 to pull the dog from line. And 2 were 15 year old "sisters" whose elderly owner had died and his family dumped them into the local kill shelter. Luckily his neighbors called me and I transported them 1100 miles as a final gift of friendship to their elderly owner.
My two cats were feral barn cats. When the barn was sold the new owners were going to poison the cats to get rid of them. So I trapped them and let them loose in my guest bedroom. A year later they are still skittish around me but love all the dogs.
Sadly, all but one of my dogs is over 8 years old. One has lost control of her bowels but is otherwise healthy and happy. I was very unhappy when she had an accident in my bed one night however.
I'd have many more dogs if my husband didn't keep threatening to leave. One of the 15 year old dogs from the elderly gentleman has bladder incontinence. The dog pulled from the euthanasia line has a liver tumor that I have been having ultrasounded every 3 months and is growing. We are going to do whatever is best for her.
I would love to save more lives but my husband of 34 years has said that one more pet and he will leave. He sounds as if he means it ... this time.

Hi, I'm Jamie.
We have a rescue dog named Yoda. He is about eight months old and we found him online about four months ago after our other rescue dog died traumatically. Yoda is a great dog. He is smart and sweet. He is a german shepard mix with nog pointy ears and pretty brown fur. I would like to have Yoda trained as a therapy dog, because he is very in tune with people's emotions and knows how to provide comfort. My husband and his brothers have PTSD and Yoda followed one brother up into the wooods, layed with him, waited outside the door for him when he went to see his mother, then walked him home. My brother in law found this very comforting. When I get depressed over the dog I lost, Yoda lays his head on my lap and makes me feel better. I am very grateful that we found Yoda and will only rescue dogs in the future. He's so worth it!

yes we've rescued 6 now

We have rescued every animal we have, or my daughter has and then given them to us. Right now we have 5 cats and a dog. We are also feeding a feral can outdoors.

I try and donate to several animal rescue groups and one TNR group that is run by a friend of mine.

I wish I had all the money in the world to help out these groups and the fine work they do...but a little from a lot of people helps out.