# Animal Rescues



## ChrissyB (Apr 1, 2011)

All this talk about dogs and guinea pigs got me thinking...
We got our cat from an animal rescue, she has gone from a shy, timid little thing who hid from everyone to a playful lap cat who joins in with all the kids games, takes over whichever bed, lounge or seat that she feels like. A real success story, she is beautiful, and its very satisfying to change a life around like that.
Anyone else got any "rescue" stories?


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## Relle (Apr 1, 2011)

We rescued a rabbit form an old brick pit a few years ago, she was a bit bitey for about 6 months before she got to know us but turned into a wonderful cuddly bun. She has since died, but just needed to be loved.

Hubby was also coming back from fishing one night after Xmas some years back and screeched to a holt in the national park and started chasing a rabbit, managed to catch her and we had her for a pet for some years. She was so loving and fitted in straight away. Someone must have dumped her as she was a white one, not a bush rabbit. BTW - no fish. LOL.

I think we have a large sign on our house - come one, come all - rabbits.

Relle.


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## nursenancy (Apr 1, 2011)

We just took in a rescue german shepherd.  We already have 2 - a male (Baron) and his mother (Eva).  Big daddy (Brun) died very suddenly about 4 years ago..  we miss him very much - he was 1 in a million.  My husband was just heartbroken.  The dog was his constant companion.

Anyway, this dog that we took in is a SWEETIE!  He was living in a barn with not much human contact, but he managed to keep a very gentle disposition.  He is now my couch and hiking partner.  The only reason he doesn't sleep on my bed is because he hasn't figured out how to climb stairs yet.
His name is D.A.R.E . Apparently his first owner had hopes of him being a K-9, but he flunked, so he was given away and then kept in the barn - he's around 6 years old.  
We love him and he's a great addition to our family!


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## ChrissyB (Apr 2, 2011)

I think rescue's have lovely hearts, you're right Relle, they just want some love!


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## Traceyann (Apr 2, 2011)

I have a lot of Guinea Pig rescues , but my most special one is Princess, she was badly covered in mange, fitting, very skinny and SCREAMED in pain if u picked he up ....she was really touch and go as the fits were really bad, but with a lot of time , TLC and medicated & oatmeal baths  Princess lives happily with my girlie mob, she has droopy eyes , dont know if its old age or because of the fits and mange But she is 100% healthy and happy now....


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## ChrissyB (Apr 2, 2011)

Traceyann that's a lovely story!
We will be getting another piggie for Spike to play with when I see some available.


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## dagmar88 (Apr 2, 2011)

I found Spike while I was browsing through an online sales website...

My ex boyfriend wanted a Tosa, I would have liked to have a Rottweiler.

Spike's a Tosa x Rottweiler mixed breed. And there was just something about him that wasn't quite right.
Got in contact with the sellers and didn't believe their story why he had to go one bit...

 My crap alert is highly developed and this was a big red flag. 

They'd either drop him off for the prize of his cage within the next three days or he'd go to a shelter.

When they brought him in he was so terrified he crawled over the floor.
The husband wasn't real pleased with 'giving' him to a woman, and wouldn't let him stay with me unless I promised to hit him daily, until he'd either crawl or pee on himself  :cry:  
A dog like that wouldn't obey a woman any other way.:roll: 

And he knew for sure, as their last rottweiler was put to sleep after he attacked his mother in law and got her into hospital for over a week.

So that's what I promised. They had no blankets or dogfood with them; he was supposed to eat blankets and the bag of dogfood _just_ got empty...

Right.

Spike was 40 pounds under weight, had terrible infections on his mouth and pe-nis (why can't we say that word?!), had been in his cage for almost 24 hours a day, sores from lying down, didn't know how to play, had no muscles and couldn't walk for 15 minutes.
He was severely aggressive towards anything he didn't know. Just about everything. Manhole covers, kids on bikes, elderly people on those scooter things, more than three people in a room.

I'm absolutely sure he would have been put down by the shelter.

Took me a couple of months, loads of food and money, sweat tears and blood, loads of cuddles and walks and a muzzle to get him back to normal again.

Then I got ill and couldn't take proper care of him anymore; so he went to a lovely befriended family with two kids.
 :wink: Even though I love him a lot, I always knew he was a family dog and just needed people around him.
He'll turn 7 this year and he's a super stable, friendly and cuddly grandpa now   


And Charlie...

She was jusr 12 weeks old when we got a phone call from a friend. He was at some acquaintance who needed to 'get rid' of a puppy as soon as possible. 
I had recently found a new owner for his dog that was neglected by his wife, cause she was in bad health; so he thought I might be of help...

My ex went over to take a look en when he called my I just fell in love. Hadn't even seen her, but three days later we picked her up.
While we were there the owner called a guy from a puppy mill, who was already on his way to pick her up and use her to breed with...

She was so skinny, hyperactive and had a very bad case of diarrhea. 
Her entire behind was covered...

Back at my place she turned out to be a terror pup/ landshark, but now at two years old she's a lovely doggie :wink:


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## Traceyann (Apr 2, 2011)

Dagmar , u brought tears to my eyes in both  stories.....great to hear such compassion, and I have to admit the animals that I have rescued, healed and rehomed are what led me to study Nursing


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## NancyRogers (Apr 2, 2011)

Both of our little dogs are rescue dogs.  Skippy was wondering our neighborhood, skin and bones and skittish.  I finally got him in the house with a trail of chicken scraps.  He's a Chihuahua mix.  Nobody claimed him so he's been ours ever since.

We went to  the pet store one day to get something for our guinea pig (no longer with us  :cry:  ) and they were having a pet adoption day.  They had this little Chihuahua with nerve damage on the left side of her face.  One dry eye, one ear that doesn't perk up.  But so sweet.  I had to have her.  Her name is Princess and she's such a diva.  

We love our rescue Chihuahuas.  They really are the best pets.  Everyone should consider pet adoption when looking for a pet.


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## ChrissyB (Apr 2, 2011)

Dagmar they are lovely stories!

I love hearing success stories about rescues, but it makes me sad when I think of all those other poor souls who didn't get rescued. If I ever had the money I'd buy a house on a huge block of land where I could keep all the rescues I wanted, and dedicate all my time to their rehabilitation.


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## krissy (Apr 2, 2011)

when i was growing up we for some reason attracted birds... some how every year we ended up with some sort of baby bird (ducks, chicks) that had been hurt, or wasn't wanted or was left behind by their mamma when dogs got after them. we always took them in, took care of them and released the into a park that was full of other ducks. 

weirdest bird we ever rescued was a baby crane that had been hit by a car.


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## busymakinsoap! (Apr 2, 2011)

We adopted a rescue cat called 'Marmite' he had been handed into the vets where my partner was doing some repair work.
He was only 500grams when they got him and they said he was in the worst condition they had seen.  Riddled with fleas and lice, lice are apparently failry rare on cats.  He was lucky to be alive, none of his family survived.
We took Marmite home a couple of weeks after he was handed in - he was a nightmare of a kitten - lots of bitting, clawing and very skittish.  It was obvious he had never been inside a house, as he jumped at every noise.
We decided to buy a brother for Marmite, to try and teach him acceptable behaviour, so we brought Peanut from the pet store.

Marmite and Peanut are now just over a year old, and they are best mates.  Marmite is a different cat, very gentle now and loyal.  

Its amazing how different the two are though due to their beginnings.  Peanut is like a puppy, follows you around, loves people, very confident and calm and loves affection.  Marmite is reserved, hides under the bed when anyone comes over, and is very independent, only coming for cuddles when he feels like it.

I am registered as a foster parent for rescued kittens, to assist in socialising them for their 'forever homes'.  Im just waiting for my first lot


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## mariflo (Apr 3, 2011)

I found Merl (girl), my first kitty, about 5 years ago on my birthday. We went for a stroll in a park and saw her barely walking, tiny, very dirty and underweight. Must've been a couple of month old. A few kids picked her up and played with her but their parents told them off, so they put her back down and left. She stood there looking after them, very sad and hungry for love ... It broke my heart. We were away from home and wasn't sure whether they'd let us bring a kitty into the hotel room, but I told my bf that if that cat turns around when i call her, she's going home with me, and that's what happened. We smuggled her in  There was something wrong with her, something was not right, I just couldn't put my finger on it. A couple of months after that she started showing signs of cerebral hypoplasia. Her condition worsened and most of my "friends" were telling me I should put her to sleep but my vet told me she can live happily with that condition as long as she is given the proper care. And she did, she was with us for about 3 years. She passed away Jan. last year. She was like a child to me, I loved her so much no words can describe it.

Our dog, Bentz (boy), is a german shepherd that was dumped in teh street by his previous owners when they moved into an apratment from a house with a garden. They decided there just isn't enough space in tehir apartment for him and just left him in the street. Some workers brought him to a construction site but they just weren't able to provide him with teh care he needed. When we found him he was half his normal weight, terribly sick and scheduled for euthanasia in a couple of days. This was 4 years ago. He is 13 now (his birthday is tatooed on his ear) and in perfect health. 

I saw our cat Dusty (girl) one November morning on my way to work. She was a tiny kitty all wet and dirty, licking the ground under a garbage container. I thought about her all day (couldn't get any work done that day, obviously) and when my bf came to pick me up from work we knew what he had to do. We looked for her, found her and picked her up. She was very dusty. She's a wonderful happy cat now, 3 years later.

Lucky, our cat (boy), was following a women on teh sidewalk, just walking behind her and moewing, begging her to take him home. She kept shooing him away but he was very persistent. When he realised she wasn't going to take him home, he turned around and started walking in teh opposite direction, slowly, with teh walk of a hurt person that lost all his hopes. A car drove over him, I though he was dead, but he just happened to get out of it alive (hence his name). All this was happening just as we were unloading the car. I took him in and he's been Dusty's best friend ever since.

Three weeks ago we drove to teh seaside and stopped at a gas station on teh way. This cat jumped at us just as we got out of the car. The attendant told us it had just showed up tehre half an hour before us. We fed her but we new we couldn't take her with us as we were going to be away from home for at least 4 days. It looked really sick and severely under weight. He kept gagging while trying to chew, which made me think his airways were severely blocked. Had an infected eye and bleeding wounds all over his body. I made the attendant promise to take him to a vet and she said she'd do her best. Needless to say my entire vacation there was only one hting I could htink about: will he survive? On our way back we stopped to check on him. I had made up my mind to take him home. Another attendant told me they had thrown him on the other side of teh road because he kept going in front of the cars. So we set up to look for him. After 30 min of desperate calls and prayer I found him. My bundle of black and white fur that looked jut like my first cat Merl. It was as if she had come back to me. I bursted into tears of happiness. He is ok now. He still has a little cough. Needless to say it was a real miracle that he survived without medical care the 4 days since we saw him first till we found him. We named him Merlin  He is trying to adjust with teh other 2 cats. It's going to take a while ... if he doesn't, we'll find him a caring family. 

Well, that's about my fur babies. They bring so much joy to my life. I can't imagine living without my furry friends 
(sorry for the long post, it's very hard for me to stop talking about them ... )


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## Bubbles Galore (Apr 3, 2011)

Such lovely stories. You're making me all teary. I always seem to walk into the local pet store when a guinea pig needs me. I found a scraggly fellow in there once. Some kid had dropped him off there as he was no longer wanted. His coat was all mangy and matted and I had no idea what sort of guinea pig he was, just that I needed to take him home and clean him up and look after him. Here he is when he first came home. He was smart as you can tell by the way he is looking at the computer.  





 

Here he is after a haircut, bath and a good feed. I held the basket of grass at his open cage door and he was so happy he popcorned out of the cage and into the basket and back into the cage again before I could blink. Talk about laugh.






This is what Mickey became. A beautiful Alpaca. I have never had a piggy quite like him. He loved me to bits and I could put him down on the ground and he would follow me around like a puppy. I miss him.


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## Bubbles Galore (Apr 3, 2011)

Traceyann said:
			
		

> I have a lot of Guinea Pig rescues , but my most special one is Princess, she was badly covered in mange, fitting, very skinny and SCREAMED in pain if u picked he up ....she was really touch and go as the fits were really bad, but with a lot of time , TLC and medicated & oatmeal baths  Princess lives happily with my girlie mob, she has droopy eyes , dont know if its old age or because of the fits and mange But she is 100% healthy and happy now....



Droopy eyes? Does it look like this Traceyann? If so, it's a condition called "fatty eye". Perfectly harmless and common. More common in little fatties.


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## busymakinsoap! (Apr 3, 2011)

OW Jenny those pictures are sooooo cute.  Made me laugh he is just adorable.
I've been begging for a little dog, but DH keeps comming back with a firm NO. Maybe a guinea pig........hmmm might try it when he gets home.


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## Traceyann (Apr 3, 2011)

OMG what a beautiful Alpaca, and yes Princess's eyes do look a bit like that, didnt think of the fatty eye !!! lol


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## ChrissyB (Apr 3, 2011)

That little alpaca piggie is too gorgeous.
mariflo, I have a little tear in my eye from your stories!
I love my furbabies so much, I only have one guinea pig and one cat but they are so loyal and beautiful to me. Spike is sitting on my shoulder whistling sweet nothings in my ear right now (spike is the guinea pig!)


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## Bubbles Galore (Apr 4, 2011)

ChrissyB said:
			
		

> Spike is sitting on my shoulder whistling sweet nothings in my ear right now (spike is the guinea pig!)



Awwwwwww please give Spike a chin rub for me. I'd suggest a kiss but I know where his piggy lips have been.


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## Traceyann (Apr 4, 2011)

LOL @ Jenny


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## kelleyaynn (Apr 4, 2011)

We have two cats, Tequila and Eva (it was supposed to be Tequila and Sunrise, but my stepdaughter got to name one of them, and she did not like Sunrise - Eva is a female ginger cat, so the name would have fit).  We got them from the shelter the week after we got married. We thought they were just left at the shelter, but a few months later, we get a call from the shelter asking if we had any pictures of them (duh, of course!). They wanted to do a story about them for their holiday newsletter.   Apparently, they weren't dropped off but rescued.  They lived in an incredibly dirty house (we saw a picture of the kitchen later, and there was 6 inches of trash all over the floor), and were neglected. Rarely fed or given water.  There were actually three cats, but the one was locked in a bedroom and had starved to death.  A neighbor grew concerned and called animal control.  The pictures of what they looked like when they were brought to the shelter make you want to cry.  A month later, we got them.  They were still older kittens, as they grew a bit after we got them.  The appear to be sisters (Tequila is a patch tabby, and has the same ginger in spots on her).  They are the two coolest cats in the world.  Eva is a sweet, gentle, friendly soul. Tequila is incredibly smart (she makes her sister look like a "dumb blonde", lol ).  My husband was never a cat person until now.  He loves them both as much as any dog he ever had.


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## ChrissyB (Apr 4, 2011)

That was one of the first questions I asked my DH when I met him..."are you a cat person", he said "if it walks, talks, meows, barks, snuggles, swims, or flys, I'm in". Gotta love that!


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## Bubbles Galore (Apr 4, 2011)

ChrissyB said:
			
		

> That was one of the first questions I asked my DH when I met him..."are you a cat person", he said "if it walks, talks, meows, barks, snuggles, swims, or flys, I'm in". Gotta love that!



Awwwwwww, what a man.  :wink:


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## Traceyann (Apr 4, 2011)

Where on earth did u find him Chrissy lol, Lovely story Kellyann, two very lucky cats by the sounds of it ...


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## kelleyaynn (Apr 5, 2011)

ChrissyB said:
			
		

> That was one of the first questions I asked my DH when I met him..."are you a cat person", he said "if it walks, talks, meows, barks, snuggles, swims, or flys, I'm in". Gotta love that!



Gotta love that!!!!


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## Finchen (Apr 5, 2011)

We have three dogs (two girls and one boy), all of them were street / beach dogs without a home.
We have adopted them more than 7 years ago. Two of them have chronic diseases and need to take medicines, every day. They are happy dogs though. 

Some weeks ago the dog of a poor farmer whom we know got hit by a car. She is now paralyzed. :cry: The farmer went to the vet with her, but the stupid vet gave her a medicine (against pain) which is toxic for dogs. Because of the medicine she got an ulcers in her stomach and was vomiting blood, so much that she got an anemia. :cry: We went with her to another vet and she got infusions and medicines. This was 3 weeks ago.
We do care for her now and she is doing better every day. She gains weight and her stomach is much better. Most likely she will stay paralyzed until the end of her life. :cry:


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## Traceyann (Apr 6, 2011)

Finchen, that is so sad .....I cannot understand how a vet can get something so simple sooooooo wrong ???? Glad the dog is now in your care sounds like she will get everything she needs


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## Finchen (Apr 17, 2011)

Traceyann said:
			
		

> Finchen, that is so sad .....I cannot understand how a vet can get something so simple sooooooo wrong ???? Glad the dog is now in your care sounds like she will get everything she needs



I also don't understand why the vet did that. Ok the vets here are not so skilled like the ones in USA, Canada, Australia or Europe, but still he should have known that the medicine he gave her is toxic...

Here is a picture of the sweetheart:


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## calico21 (May 3, 2011)

Not all vets are created equal even in the "states". We've had our ups and downs with them. We now live in a small rural town with an awesome vet that will work on the smallest housepet to the biggest cow you can find. All of my furbabies I've ever had have been rescued from somewhere and have been the most loving companions one could ask for. My cat "Dutchess" was found on the engine block of my brothers truck after he got home from work one day. She was barely old enough to be weened from my guess and covered in fleas. Oh the times we had cleaning her. The beautiful lady is now almost 13. I will miss her desperately when she leaves me, I hope we have 10 more years.


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