Tell us about animal rescues you have been involved in. I once took a cat

[applegrove]

from a university student who was walking down a street and saying "do you want a cat, do you want a cat" to anybody she passed on the street. I didn't need a cat but took it because she was so irresponsible. See it was moving day for students and she had not made any plans for her 1 year of pet at all. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr. I found a good home for it. What a twit!

[MerryBlooms]

1. Two black lab-x

One from an orchard 'camp' I guess you'd call it, poor thing had been horribly abused and kennel cough. One from a guy who was going to prison, but didn't want his dog to go to the pound. A barn rescue cat - 17 total kittens from 3 moms, luckily all were adopted.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. My cat Charles (1973-1994, R.I.P.).

We were living in a fourplex, and the girls in the apartment diagonally below us had a fluffy young orange cat whom they treated rather badly - they tossed him outside in all kinds of weather, including subzero cold, because "he meowed too much." Well, of course he meowed too much; he was being ignored all the time, not to mention that he hadn't been neutered. So, one cold snowy day the poor little guy was sitting out on the front steps howling, and we took him in and fed him. Then we took him to the vet, got him de-wormed and neutered, and treated his ear mites. When one of the dumb twit girls came by and asked casually whether we'd seen the cat, we said no, sorry, haven't seen him. In general I disapprove of theft but I feel no guilt at all for taking that poor kitty. He lived to be 21.

[NightWatcher]

3. over the years, 4 cats (three feral main coon and a siamese)

the last kitteh (Pinky-cause she looked like Pinky-as in Pinky and the Brain when she was a week old) was the runt of a large litter at my mother in laws house. The 5 day old was near death and was unable to get to the teet for milk. Her tongue was dry and stuck to the roof of her mouth. We didnt expect her to make it through the first few days or so. We gave her cat milk via a syringe for a few days until she could take from a tiny little bottle. She's still a runt and is stuck in perpetual kitteh mode. She's two years old this month and a hoot. She lives in the bedroom and avoids the other kittehs and plays well with the doggeh.

[Archae]

4. Saw a cat once being chased by 3 dogs.

I grabbed a stick and smacked the lead dog right on the head, the pack ran off.

Found the cat, and while checking her to see if she was hurt, saw she wouldn't have stood any chance.
She was declawed.

She's been my sweetie now for over 10 years.

Lucky the tuxedo female, named Lucky since it was damn lucky I found her.

[Arugula Latte]

5. Aww, what a beauty. I'm so glad you were in the right place at the right time.

Damn dogs.

[applegrove]

10. Aw. I know. I refuse to declaw mine even though they destroy the furniture.

[kimi]

11. That is one great story

and you are one great person. Lucky is gorgeous! Thanks for what you did, srsly.

[Archae]

22. Believe me, it's my pleasure.

Lucky is one of the most affectionate cats I've ever met.

[dixiegrrrrl]

33. I have found tuxedo cats to be the most affectionate.

Yet I keep ending up with short haired lanky guys, except for my 10 yr old Tux, he who rules the house and yard.
Since most cats "show up" in one's life, I am waiting for another tux to "show up".

[mucifer]

6. found a little kitten by a grocery store when I went shopping

took her home. She was freaked out by my 60 pound dog who wanted to play. I ended up giving her to one of my patients who was a little girl with an endstage terminal illness.
Her grandmother was afraid of cats but learned to enjoy little Sylvester. The kitty gave some intense pet therapy to the little girl. Kitty was afraid of me when I came to do my home
health visits. I probably smelled like a big scary dog.

[Courtesy Flush]

7. We helped rescue an owl

He was in a tree with a trap on his leg. We called around until we found a couple who rescue animals. Later, we checked back on him, and the lady said he had escaped his cage after a bit of healing.

[RebelOne]

8. Oh, I have many, many times.

I would participate in pet adoptions for my local humane society on weekends. Then I would help transport pets to their forever homes within my state. I have adopted 2 dogs from animal rescues. At one time, someone dumped 2 kittens on my doorstep. I posted on Yahoo local animal rescue groups and found them a home. Then another time someone abandoned a kitten in my back yard. I posted on the same animal rescue group and found a home for that little critter.

[Kali]

9. years ago I let a bobcat go out of a leg trap

saved a baby squirrel a couple years ago, been a couple dogs, a horse, many calves,
and various other orphans over the years

[kimi]

12. Various cats over the years

One memory that is vivid -- I'd walk at night in our old neighborhood in Maryland and this one kitteh was always following me when I passed her house. I started to bring along little treats for her every night. One day I went by and saw that people were packing up to move, they told me her name, Magic. It was getting to be winter, and over the next few days Magic kept on keeping on at that house, despite it's being vacant, and the snow falling. It was obvious what had happened, so I took Magic home for good. She'd keep getting out time and time again over the next several years, and I always knew where to find her - her old house. Towards the end of her life - I didn't know that it was, she died very quietly and suddenly - she never made her manic escape attempts. It was like she knew, finally, where her real home was.

Another notable one -- in Cheyenne the kids heard this "THUD" against the front picture window. Deep winter and snow, and so we went out and looked, and found a very stunned kestrel lying there, couldn't move. I got hold of a vet clinic that did wildlife rehab in town, and took the bird in. Last I knew, the bird had been so badly injured in the altercation with the window that it couldn't be released back into the wild, but this particular vet clinic did training sessions with birds and other animals at schools in the area. I like to think that at least one or two kids somewhere have appreciated that story, and will try to rescue in the future.

[Flaxbee]

13. six of my seven cats in the last 10 years have been strays, the seventh

was adopted from a shelter.

I found a puppy walking down a street in a hurricane; took him to the no-kill (very nice) shelter and he found a home in a few days.

Took several other cats there, too (with seven cats in a rented home, I just couldn't take in more)

madinmaryland adoped one of the cats I took in

my cat-sitter took another

I have fed numerous ferals; gotten one extremely wild male fixed (and after his recovery period, never saw him again) :(

The people who bought our home 7 years ago adopted the semi-wild female I'd made a nest for in our garage

I caught in my arms a fawn that had just been hit by a car - took her to the local vet where she unfortunately did not make it

I have stopped many times for tortoises and other animals in the road, and helped them out of the road

Once I couldn't stop, and this big, beautiful tortoise got hit. Broke my heart.

[applegrove]

14. I wish I could be as much of an animal rescuyer as you are.

[Flaxbee]

16. this has been over the course of my adult life, over 20 years

I just did what I could, when I could. Sometimes as easy as stopping when it's safe to do so, and helping an animal cross.

I've used the network here at DU several times; once I placed a dog my neighbors couldn't keep (and I loooved this dog; he was the neatest little guy), and the other time placed Sonia with a loving DU family.

If you've helped one, applegrove, you've done a good thing.

[kimi]

15. Ohhh, yes

Don't want to go off-topic, but things like what happened to your tortoise -- yes, I can relate. I was driving home late one night from work (I was working an extra shift on the oncology unit and it had been AWFUL), and a cat ran right in front of my car and I hit it. I was in total shock. I picked up the poor guy - he was gone - and drove to the animal shelter in Fresno. Sobbing the whole way. Yes, it breaks your heart.

[Flaxbee]

17. oh, god, we've hit a groundhog, a few birds, and about 6 months ago

my husband somehow turned our car inside out so we didn't hit three deer - just bumped one of them on the butt and I think she was probably fine (if not a little sore).

The tortoise kills me because I was trying to make a shipping deadline and decided to go ahead to FedEx and double back to help her; she was dead when I got back. She was huge. It would have been dangerous to stop b/c it was a 55mph 2-lane highway with semis on it, but if I hadn't been so damn selfish about the damn shipping deadline, I could have saved her. Hate myself for not doing it.

And Kali, some of the sweethearts just run right out in front of you - absolutely no way to stop, because they run into the wheels. Groundhog did that - made a beeline for our tires. And once a wild pig, I think it was - have no idea, really, except that it was not a dog, and it was dark on I-40 in a rural part of North Carolina. Ran straight into the front of our car at night; we were going 70, nothing to do but say godspeed and I'm sorry to the poor creature. And cry.

[applegrove]

19. I thought I saw a cat right in front of my car one night. I went back later and didn't see anything

there. Don't know if it was my imagination. It was nowhere near where a cat could possibly be.

[Avalux]

18. A pigeon and a fawn.

The pigeon had been mauled by cats and I put her in a shoebox and took her to the wild animal rescue facility. They were able to save her.

I hit the fawn with my car; she was struggling to get up off the road; I had a blanket in my car so I wrapped her up and put her in my backseat. Her mother watched from the woods. I took her to the wild animal rescue facility but they couldn't save her; she had a broken pelvis. :cry:

[Flaxbee]

20. crap, I hate that. I would have hated to have the momma watching me, wishing

I could somehow say I was sorry. :hug:

Your pigeon story reminds me - I extracted several baby possums from my cat's jaws, and set them free after a few days of R&R at our house, and took a few birds to our local bird rescue, also.

[Avalux]

21. Yeah, it was awful. I did what I could

and the mother - I still remember making eye contact with her; somehow hoping, by telepathy or something, she'd understand I was going to do everything I could to help her baby.

I like your possum story. I like possums too - they're cute.:hi:

[ashling]

23. I actually gave mouth to mouth resuscetation to

my daughter's hamster ( and NO, my name is not Kerry)

[begin_within]

24. Here's a story for ya.

My next-door neighbor is a terrible pet owner. She should not be allowed to own pets. I could tell stories about her, but this is just about one cat that I have rescued twice.

Eleven years ago she got a new kitten to replace her previous one. After living there about 2 weeks, the kitten went up into the tree in her backyard, very high up - at least 50 feet up this enormous tree. She did nothing about it, and when I asked her she said that she called her fireman boyfriend and he told her, "Have you ever seen a cat skeleton in a tree? They always come down." So she went to bed.

But this was a tiny kitten, way, way up in a tree, and I could hear it meowing all night long. I went out and up onto her roof a couple of times to talk to it. Finally at dawn when it became obvious she was going to do nothing, I constructed a tunnel out of three long narrow cardboard boxes. The entire tunnel was 12 feet long but only 8 inches by 8 inches. To keep the kitten from slipping, I lined the bottom of the inside with corrugated cardboard to provide a rough surface for traction.

At daybreak I went on her roof again and talked to the cat for about half an hour, and he came down to a lower branch. I put the cardboard tunnel into a "V" in the tree so that he could get to it. He came down further and made it to the tunnel entrance. It still took a few more minutes of talking to him from the bottom of the tunnel until he hesitantly put a paw and entered the tunnel. Gradually he stepped into it with me coaxing him the whole time. He did come all the way to the bottom and when he got to me I put my hands around him and he was purring so loud his body was shaking. I think he bonded with me at that point although he remained her pet.

Gradually over a period of time he spent more and more time with me. She got a mean dog (which attacked the other neighbor's cat) and after she got the dog, the cat I rescued wouldn't go into her house any more. He was about to become a feral cat, so I started feeding him and petting him a lot. Little by little he became my cat, although I still have never had an actual conversation with her when she formally said, "OK he's your cat now." But at the vet I changed her name to my name so as far as they are concerned he's my cat now.

An odd twist in his story is that my neighbor down at the other end of the street, who is a vet technician at the vet I use, thought he was in fact a homeless cat and was also feeding him for 5 years. Finally we connected at the vet and figured it out. So she no longer gives him food but he still goes to visit her from time to time.

He's now 11 years old and he has had a good life, but he does have urinary incontinence and he drips pee all the time. So he needs a lot of cleaning and drying, and frequent visits to the vet. On May 31, I found him outside and I could immediately tell he was sick. He wouldn't move and I could pick him up but he was limp. I called the vet and asked if I could take him in that day and they said yes. I went back out and he had crossed the street, looking like he was going to visit the vet tech, but he didn't get very far. I put him in the cage and took him in.

They found he had an obstructed bladder and couldn't get any pee out. It was backing up in him and making him very sick. He spent 3 nights at the vet, including one at the emergency vet hospital here, and he had a catheter and fluids given, and little by little they got him unblocked. He had to take antibiotics for a couple of weeks and undergo additional tests and treatment, but he survived and is doing well now. He used up 2 or 3 of his lives on that episode. The vet bills came to $2,559 but I feel it was money well spent because what he had was curable.

So I've rescued him twice and he's one lucky little kitty. He's all black. I'd take a picture of him now but he's outside sitting on the front wall, observing his domain.

[applegrove]

28. Good for you.

[kimi]

36. Wow!!!

That IS a story. Thank you for doing what you did.

If every human being gave half - a quarter- of that effort to every animal being on this earth, I think we'd be a lot better off.

Best to your kitty. He is a fortunate little dude. :)

[begin_within]

38. Thank you

He would curl up in your lap and purr if you were here. When he was a kitten he was almost a wild animal; you could not touch him without getting bitten or scratched. But in 11 years he has mellowed out to be a very affectionate, cuddly little guy. He's the most extroverted cat I've ever had. Here's a picture I took just 2 minutes ago. Even though I called his name he didn't feel the need to turn around and look.

[kimi]

45. Oh my gosh! :)

He is luverly. Look at that hand (paw, whatever).

You know that you are meant to kiss it, right?

He seems to be waiting quite patiently for your obligatory kow-towing.

[begin_within]

46. I'll try to get a better picture of him tomorrow.

He will plop down on my chest and demand affection, then when he's had enough, jump off and attend to his rounds or whatever. He really loves people, has the personality of a dog more than a cat. But still has that typical "wild cat" attitude when outdoors surveying his territory. His paw still shows a little area where they shaved it for an IV even though that was 2 months ago. I'll give him a kiss for you!

[glinda]

25. So so many. Most of them either lived and or do live with me.

I guess I will tell of Hattie the Rott/HeelerX. She was dumped on a college campus with a shepherd puppy, which she guarded. Tried to get her to come into my car and was interrupted by the dog catcher who came and whisked them away. They usually put them down within two days and allowed no adoptions. I went to the facility and told them she had locked eyes with me and begged for her and her friend's adoption. They said fat chance but the next day the horrible dog catcher came and said it was unusual but he would adopt them out to me but we had to pay the costs. So for $100 we bailed them out, placed the shepherd pup in a great home and Hattie stayed with us. She is still with us and is my shadow.

[csziggy]

26. A kitten tried to climb the leg of a horse one of our clients was riding

She'd been cantering around for a while and stopped to adjust her girth. The horse kept shifting and she looked down to see this tiny kitten trying to climb up the horse's leg. The horse was a German Warmblood, stood nearly seventeen hands (5 foot 7+ inches at the shoulder) and had feet the size of dinner plates. It's a wonder he didn't squash that kitty!

She brought me the kitten and he was immediately happy to be "home" - he'd probably been dumped on the side of the road in front of the farm. He was maybe six weeks old, grey and white tuxedo markings with only a stubb of a tail. I named him Stubbs after the British painter famous for his horse portraits. Then we found out "he" was a "she" but the name stuck.

We lost Stubbs to cancer about five years ago - she was only twelve years old.

[TrogL]

27. A dog adopted me

I was doing sound for a dog show. Rescue societies were parading their dogs around trying to get them adopted. One of the people came over towing a little dauxhund that had been having issues all day. While we talked the dog climbed in my lap curled up and went to sleep.

[sarge43]

29. A lot of birds

Volunteered at the Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary

Rehabbed the wounded from the yard turf wars

Rescued several trapped hummingbirds

Three of our five house birds are give aways or orphans "Those bird people will take 'em."

[FloridaJudy]

30. Took in a cat that was wandering around my apartment complex

He was very friendly and well-mannered, and I decided to adopt him. I named him "Oliver" for the "please may I have some more?" expression he always had (see below). Since I have a limited income, I got a voucher from the Humane Society to have him vaccinated and neutered. Took him to the vet, who examined him and announced "This cat has no balls" (who knew? he was very fluffy and young). She then scanned him, and discovered he was chipped - and that several others had previously "adopted" him! Unfortunately, none of the numbers on the tag responded to her calls, so she released him to me.

This cat was an operator! Turned out he was being fed by at least three other neighbors: why he wasn't morbidly obese is beyond me. I still continued to feed him, and let him hang out and sleep in my apartment, but one day he disappeared. I have no idea where he went, but I suspect he did very well for himself. He was that kind of cat.



All my animals have been strays or rescues.

[txwhitedove]

31. Years ago we lived by a bayou and the kids brought home an orange tabby kitten found

floating down the bayou sealed inside a plastic bag. We kept the kitty. Same bayou, found a HUGE tortoise/sea turtle (think ottoman) way too big to pick up. We called animal control to save it from the street and bad kids. Within next couple of weeks we found baby turtles crossing from bayou to the townhouses, many run over. We saved one, named Freeway and kept it for years.

[Name removed]

32. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dixiegrrrrl]

34. Our beloved Murphy cat was a "nick of time" rescue.

There was a family in the neighborhood that kept cats. LOTS of cats. They would get one or 2 and never have them fixed, and after a couple of years and many kittens, gather up the whole shebang, take them to the kill shelter, then start all over again.
I do not understand that mentality, but.....I had been wanting a kitten, it was during a pet free period of life,
so I went to the people's house and asked if they wanted to get rid of any kittens.
Guy said the he was planning to take about 12 cats and kittens to the shelter the next day.

I had asked for a tuxedo kitten, he had one, but said it was too wild to catch, tho he would try.
He disappeared behind his back yard fence, we heard hissing and howling and then cursing, the guy came back with a bloody hand and said "that damn thing bit me. It will be a pleasure to take him to the pound".
As we were discussing possible tamer kittens, the tuxedo kitten stuck his head out of a hole in the bottom of the fence, crawled thru it, walked over to me, sat at my feet, looked up and meowed.
I bent down and picked him up, he cuddled and purred, and I drove home with him purring in my lap.

He has been my constant companion for the last 10 years, ignores everyone else in the house, sleeps at the foot of my bed,( the only cat with that privilege) and stays in any room of the house I am in.
Sweetest disposition in the world, at his happiest if he is near me.
He lies down, sits, on command and comes to lie down on any rug, blanket or towel I set out anywhere if I tell him to.

He looks just like this:

[davsand]

35. Tillie(you bitch) was a rescue.

It was a three day weekend, and on Friday afternoon cocktails began flowing. On Saturday night I went along with friends to a house party where they had just the most adorable little gray kitten. She was a little bundle of gray and black fluff, and she jumped up in my lap and promptly begged for a tummy rub--puring the whole time. I commented to one of the hosts that I thought that was the most adorable kitten I'd seen in a long time and he said, "Oh cool. If you like her take her home with you we are planning to kill her." I thought he was making a joke and somebody said, No, he's telling the truth, they were discussing it last night...

I lived in a no pets apartment, but I still loaded that kitten up in my car (no box, nothing to contain her during travel!) and I drove across town with the kitten under the gas pedal.

She was flea ridden, wormy, malnourished, and absolutely convinced that her place was in my bedroom on my bed. Several trips to the vet later, she was officially my cat--including her absolutely terrible temperament. I could walk across the room and she would run up and ATTACK me. My arms looked like hamburger from all the scratches and bites. More consultation with the vet left us with a sort of mutual understanding that bad behavior got her squirted with a water bottle. She still acted out, but not quite as often--however when she did act out it was an all out ATTACK on me. She lived for the sneak attack.

She lived with me for a full year before it came to light that her name was not officially Tillie(you bitch) but simply Tillie. The vet was amazed because he was never around us both when she didn't attack me.

I loved her madly, but she was without a doubt the most evil cat I have ever known. She lived with me for 17 years before she finally developed kidney failure. I still miss that cat, but she really was the most vile tempered cat I have ever be around. I used to joke that other women could go on a three day drunk and end up either pregnant, married in Vegas, or with a misspelled tattoo. I ended up with a vicious cat.




Laura

[kimi]

37. That's a story, alright!

I can identify. I had just lost my 17-year-old, raised-from-kittenhood girl Heidi, and made the mistake (?) 3 days later of walking into the Petsmart adoption room for cats, not intending to adopt any, but. This one cat looked at me and did that silent "Meow" which Heidi had always done for me. I fell in love, went back 2 days later and adopted Shadow.

She is awful. We've had her for 10 years now, and she's sort of adopted my middle boy, who luckily is home now looking for work. Lucky, cause she can't torment ME, and tortures the other 5 cats a little less. I swear, this cat has a malicious streak. She will hover by the stairs, wait for someone to walk down, and dart between their legs - my ex tumbled many times and I've had a fall or two. She will look at you and purr while you're rubbing her ears, and then, faster than you could imagine, reach out and draw blood with her talon nails. She hates all other cats, has terrible toilet habits, and regularly breaks things on dressers, desks, etc. On purpose. Really.

She got out several years ago, back in Maryland. My sons and I went door-to-door searching for this creature, every day, and to the shelter every other day. Flyers posted all over the place. When someone finally turned her in to the shelter a month later, she was half the size she'd been before and not one bit nicer.

We really do love the old girl.

[davsand]

41. I always knew I was probably her last chance.

The vet had commented early on that given how evil natured Tillie was, it was probable that she'd be euthanized immediately if she ever ended up in a shelter. I knew he was right about that and it always kind of made me just a bit more patient with her when I was staunching a wound or cleaning up blood. She never chose to be a kitten in a house of college guys who abused her for fun, and I never could bring myself to condemn her to death for being angry or afraid later in her life. I really did love that cat even if she wasn't the most agreeable pet.



Laura

[Demoiselle]

39. We're on our third rescue Pyrenees.

We fell in love with the breed thanks to two lovely dogs from a fine breeder in Maryland. When we lost them (they died at nearly the same time, give or take a month) we adopted a mother-and-daughter rescue who had been dumped in the Schuylkill County Game Preserve. When the mama died, we adopted another rescue from Alabama. I hope we will always have at least two Pyrenees in the house until we can't manage it physically anymore.
And in the meantime, a handsome grey Tom cat set up his harem of at least 4 breeding females under our porch. I managed to capture spay and release all the ladies and find homes for all of the kittens.. I could never trap Sir Thomas Grey, but when the action dried up, he disappeared. We currently have six of the kittens, all grown now, of course, in the house, and one mother cat, who hangs around and lets me pet her when I feed her.
If I ever win a big lottery, I'm going to have a farm where retired horses, cows, pigs goats, sheep, etc. can serve as lawn ornaments.
The chickens will have to earn their keep with eggs.

[Demoiselle]

40. ...Oops, I forgot Mopsie!

Mopsie was a tiny little toy poodle who was dumped in our backyard. She was sweet, quiet, and utterly delightful. She attached herself to our ten year old daughter and became her best buddy. Named Mopsy because whoever dumped her hadn't bothered to have her clipped at all and she was a tangled poodle mess.
She was tiny but no coward. She was Dog in Residence when we bought our Kuvasz, Pasha. ( Kuvasz's look just like Pyrenees, but they're a lot more aggressively protective.) We had him for 12 years and loved him dearly, but oh my goodness, he was tough customer. Mopsy didn't think so, though. He respected her, her space, and her food dish as if she were an English Mastiff.

[OhioBlue]

42. people drop pets off on our road all the time

Most recently - 2 cats a tuxedo male and a grey female. It was winter when the grey cat showed up. I fed her and let her stay on our back porch out of the weather. I should have just taken her to the no kill shelter immediately... but she came and went and I wasn't 100% sure she wasn't from a neighbor. Then, she started staying all the time. Then she had a kitten... oy!!! I fixed up a spot for her on the back porch to labor, kept my 2 cats inside and kicked the tuxedo cat out to the barn and went to bed. The next morning, she hadn't had another kitten and I could feel them in her belly. I went to work but was sick with worry. I ended up taking her to the vet. They told me it would be $600 to do a c-section or she would get septic and die. that is almost my entire paycheck for 2 weeks. I couldn't do it. I didn't know what to do... made a few phone calls.. no answers.. my mom said I should have her euthanized rather than suffer. I started crying. She already had a baby kitten. The Vet took pity, said they would cut the price to $300 and I could make payments. So... I didn't see any other way but to authorize the surgery. We thought the other kittens were dead, but I was gonna save her and the 1 kitten. Turned out, there were 3 more. So I brought home a cat and 4 kittens... kicked my cats outside and let the mom and babies have the extra room in the house.

turned out that momma had some complications either from the long labor or the surgery and she could not hold her bowels. I cleaned up after her for 6 weeks until I moved them to the back porch... but then... she would go all over the porch and sidewalk. I finally couldn't take it anymore and took her to the shelter. 1 kitten didn't live, I've adopted out one kitten but still haven't found homes for the other 2. I had all 3 kittens that lived spayed and they got rabies shots. I still can't find anyone to take the last 2 free kittens even tho they are spayed.

[applegrove]

43. I got a 1 year old fixed and put his photo on a flyer. I posted it at a few

vets offices with my phone number, the fact he was fixed, and that he was a nice cat. A family got in touch with me within a few days and I invited them over. They seemed great so I gave them the cat for free.

[riverwalker]

44. great horned owl

my ex found him caught in a trap and brought him home. His leg was all mangled for a while, we put him in a big cage in the house and he would hiss at me. He wouldn't eat dead meat so I had to jiggle livers so he would eat. Finally got better and we released him and after a few tries, he flew away.

[madmom]

47. There have been many over the years, but the most memorable one was a

hot summer day my daughter and I were coming home from a neighboring town, traveling the back roads because I just felt like a relaxing slow paced drive. We were going down a kind of desolate road and saw something moving in the middle of the road up ahead of us. We couldn't tell what is was until we got closer. It was a very young, small orange kitty. He was in very bad shape, ribs showing, eyes matted shut, very dirty and very vocal. We picked him up and took him to a friend, who has a no-kill feline rescue. We later found out the kitty had no eyes, friend explained this sometimes happens to baby cats in a barn atmosphere, the runt doesn't get enough of anything and they get all kinds of diseases. She wasn't sure if he would make it. Several months later she told us he DID indeed make it and was adopted by a friend of hers who was a doctor's wife living in Colorado (I think). She even had a carpenter come in and make changes around her house to accommodate a blind kitty, eg, changed the position of stairway spindles he was always getting his head stuck in, things like that. Last I heard this guy was the master of his domain. Talk about a rags to riches story!

[applegrove]

48. Lucky little guy.

[LWolf]

49. I trapped, spayed/neutered, and released

an entire colony of feral cats living out of the barn when I bought my current home. As part of that process, I trapped, spayed/neutered, socialized, and found homes for two litters of kittens.

I lived for 12 years in the rural Mojave Desert; the lonely paved road that ran through our region was a favorite for dog dumpers. Over the years I rescued countless dumped dogs from starvation, dehydration, and coyote predation.