All of my animals (4 dogs & 8 cats) are "pound pets" I don't believe in buying animals when there are too many strays that need homes. My oldest dog, a black lab mix, was picked out at the pound 13 years ago when he was about 10 months old. When I chose him he had to stay there for a few more days to get fixed & shots. During that waiting period they discovered that he had parvo & called to tell me to come chose another dog. I told them "no way" they needed to try to save him. I visited every day,twice a day for a week & was the only person who could get him to eat or drink. Soon he came home and has been healthy ever since. Now, 13 years later I don't think they would have given me the option to save him due to overcrowding & expense. They didn't charge me anything except the adoption fee. I named him Chance because he got a second chance at a happy life.

Here is a link that might be useful:

elly,
Your sweatheart sure looks happy. She must have a great personality - even in the first photo I notice she is lying on someone's lap and not blaming the whole world for the troubles she's seen! God bless your roomate and you!
I saved my Emma from a trip to probable Humane Society and my Sealey from the sub-zero Michigan winter. Both have done their own saving of me!
I look forward to other replies - thanks!

We trapped a mama cat and her 2 kittens at a local Walmart garden center 7 years ago. The mama was a feral, emaciated and pregnant again. The two kittens were thought to be 2 months old at most because of their small size, but turned out to be 6 - 8 months. We were planning to re-home all 3 because we already had too many cats, but no one wanted them, so they stayed with us. Mama cat is now a happy lap cat, and her two babies are well fed and happy and grew up to normal size.

4 years ago, an adolescent, skinny chocolate lab walked up our driveway. He was so weary, but really friendly and loving. We put ads in the paper and fliers around the neighborhood, but no one claimed him. Big dogs are almost never adopted from our local Animal Control, so we knew he would be gassed if we took him there. So we kept him and are very happy we did, he is a wonderful dog. Quite a while later, we found out he had belonged to people in the neighborhood who moved and left him behind.

Summer of last year, I was in the bedroom and heard a cat calling in our backyard. I went out to check and encountered a skinny, ear mite infested starving kitty. We fed him and kept him in our sunroom over night and took him to the vet the next morning. He was quite healthy, except for the ear mites. We had him cleaned up and put an ad in the paper, flyers, the usual drill. No replies. Tried to find a home for him as well, no takers. So he's been with us for over a year, and he's a little clown and we love him. But I had to promise hubby, NO MORE CRITTERS!!

My first dog, Brandi, I adopted from the SPCA. She's gone now.

My second dog, Dakota, came over to visit with a friend and ended up staying. He's 10.5 now. When Brandi died, he mourned horribly .. so I found Lily on Petfinder.com, she was rescued from a shelter, and fostered. She's 2.5 now and keeps Dakota active.

All my cats thru the years have come from rescue organizations, or people trying to get rid of unwanted kittens.

My current 2 oldest girls, Cassie & Ronni, came from 2nd Chance Shelter. My biggest boy, Bailey, came from HEART a rescue organization.

Momma, lived in my barn for a while ... she was obviously dropped off by someone, she was not feral. When she had a litter of kittens, I trapped them all, found homes for 3 of her kittens, kept one since he was in love with Bailey .. his name is Figaro. I fixed Momma and put her back outside, and she decided she wanted to come in. I told her if she came in, she would never go out again. She decided that was a good deal.

The donkeys are the only animals that were not rescued.

Here is a link that might be useful: See pictures in the Animals Album

My first furbaby is Annabelle. My daddy got her from a man he knew that was planning to shoot her, as soon as my daddy heard this he went and got her and brought her to me. (the man was later charged with animal cruelty). Even though it was obvious she had been abused( her leg was broken,sores all over her little body, infested with ear mites, ticks, and fleas) she was so trusting and happy the first day I got her. My husband and i had been doing infertility treatments with no luck at all so she became our sunshine. The vet decided she was part chihuahua and feist. My DH calls her his doghter.
My second furbaby is Tinkerbell. we heard through the grapevine that someone had thrown her out a car window on a little dirt road, so for the next three days DH and I went looking for her hours at a time. On the third day when i was starting to lose hope, we found her huddled underneath a bush. She had two broken legs, cuts and bruises all other, and a piece of rope tried around her neck that was embedded into her skin. She was so shy and scared that any loud noise was terrifying to her. If we moved to quickly to pet her she would whimper and lay down like she thought we may harm her. it took her about 3 weeks before she starting coming to us, now she rules the house and our hearts. The vet thinks she is part dachshund and part Chihuahua. She's very brave to be as small as she is, but to this day riding in a car terrifies her.
My DH and I are so lucky that they are in our lives.

this is the way Tinkerbell sits when she wants a treat.

This is little Roxy, she was supposed to be a foster dog and I couldn't let her go.

Bo, I saw online at our local pound. My first dogs with tails.

I've had only shelter cats or cats adopted from people who had to give up their cats...and have only had good experiences.
As per agreement with my husband, I'm down to one cat at a time these days. We've been serving as Odessa's staff for over a year now (she hired us at the ASPCA after carefully screening our references)...and have loved every minute of it.
Thousands of dollars could not have bought a sweeter pet.

For anyone reading this thread, if you love cats and dogs, when you hear someone who is thinking of buying a fullbred pet from a shop...or even from a breeder, try to convince them to simply visit the local shelter or animal rescue mission before they make their decision.

LF

I don't have a photo but I have a story. Several years ago during a brutal (30+ below temps) Minnesota January I heard from a neighbor that she'd seen a dog running around, a stray. I then saw the dog one day myself and I determined I had to get him out of the cold. I spent nearly three weeks doing so. Not only did I make and distribute door to door hundreds of fliers but I also got up at 4 each morning, put on layers of clothes, took a flashlight and went searching places where I thought he might be trying to sleep--in crawl places under houses, mostly. During this time I'd see him running by every so often. I got close to him a couple of times but he refused to come to me. Poor guy, he was skin and bones, filthy, and freezing cold. How he survived I have no idea. Nothing worked. Finally, a neighbor who had seen my flier caught him! The neighbor is a hunter and has a make-shift small smoke house in his yard: Sammy started snooping around and the neighbor, a huge muscular guy, nabbed him. I brought Sammy to the vet for a check up and a bath and a wonderful no-kill rescue shelter accepted him. He was fostered for just a week or two before adopted to a great couple. To this day I feel that I was somehow "meant" to save Sammy. I've rescued a few other animals but this was a memorable and dramatic story.

YEA ELLY! Thanks for this thread!I have a Callie and an Emma. First I was a foster Mom for over 30 dogs (not all at once)Sadly my pupper babies have all gone to the rainbow bridge now. I have NEVER purchased an animal....they have all found me. I have an Emma, older kitten that was a dump off and decided she was going to live in my garage for a week. She had been getting beat up by a few other strays every day. I am in Mi and it got cold so I brought her in on my sun porch, put ads flyers etc. up...no luck shes black with huge yellow eyes. She now rules the roost over my two boys, Abner 5(big yellow tabby), who my MIL rescued as a small kitten but kept in her basement, and Ernie 2(cow cat, black /white) who showed up on my deck last September and asked to come in. I have a Callie who is still outside. She is a calico , I am sure she is Ernie's 1/2 Sister. I know who "owns" her, she is "with children"Pregnant. I have worked with this cat for several months and can pet and pick her up now. I plan on getting her to the vet even though she is not "my" cat. The idiots that "own" her have been known to put live newborn kittens in the trash. I WILL get her at least on the sunporch before the kitten come. I may be able to convince her to be an inside cat,but then am I "stealing" a cat?(they have several more). shes pretty wild but trusts me. I think she is a bit too far along to spay right now and I am not quite sure how I feel about that other than I know there are way to many unwanted pets. SO 3 cats saved and INDOOR ONLY and one (hopefully) on the way!

When my husband and I were newly engaged in 2000, I was going to college and he was building our home on a nice chunk of 26 wooded acres.

It was mid February and it had just started to sleet. Hubby noticed a small black puppy on the edge of the woods - Not Even Wet Yet - this poor boy had been newly dropped to freeze to death (or be eaten)! Hubby got out of his truck and had to chase the scared little puppy through the woods!

Sam was the first one to live in our house. Hubby would see him every day while he worked on finishing the house and tuck him in at night. We almost lost him when he ate fiberglass insulation... he was even on an IV for a day.

Sam had a long hard trip until he felt safe in our family. He is Extremely "Soft" and we suspect abuse or mental issues. One harsh word and he would shake in the corner for the rest of the day. Luckily we got some great advice online on how to train a "soft" dog! I wish I had the link to share...

We know that we are truly blessed to have him in our family and will sadly miss him when he is gone. He seems wiser than his 8 years and to tell you the truth we weren't sure he would make it through year 1! {{gwi:2026120}}From Sammy, Gizmo and Gidget

Only a year after Sam joined us another juvenile stray showed up on our street. This time is was a black kitten... and strangely enough both Sam and the kitten were completely black except for a white spot on their chests! It was ment to be and Jasmine was added to our family.

She was a tiny little think and would ride on my shoulders everywhere. She always wanted to cuddle and was my Very First Kitty (my dad is allergic... and I think I am too!). Sadly, in spring 2006 she never came home.

I couldn't handle the emptiness without her so chose to fill it with a pair of sibling kittens that were looking for a home before being sent to the pound. Now we have two Very Large Cats - Gidget 16lbs and Gizmo 13lbs. {{gwi:2026121}}From Sammy, Gizmo and Gidget

I keep hoping that another stray will show up on our road... because even though Hubby won't let me actively seek out another addition to our animal family, he would never be able to turn away a stray that had no where else to go.

I know my story has been long so far but there is just a little bit more! Hubby also found a pair of puppies along side the road a couple years ago. He saw them on his way to work, on his way home for lunch, on his way back to work and finally picked them up on his way home for the night! The black lab puppy is named Dinky (and of course grew to be huge!) and she lives with my Father-in -Law, and the yellow lab is named Ginger and she lives with my parents!!!!

This way very fun to share! And every chance I get, I encourage ppl to adopt from the shelter and not the breeders.....

Thanks - Miranda