Our Personal Pet & Rescue Stories

I am very happy to announce and host this new column on our blog.

It is called "Our personal pet and rescue stories".

I will be posting bi-monthly.
You can see the first story here:

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"Slash" ******** A Black Cat Rescue Story

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Since this is Halloween weekend, I thought I'd tell you a personal black cat rescue story.

In October of the year 2000, there was a black kitten (between 6 to 8 months old) in our neighborhood that desperately needed help. I don't know where he came from, but he had been hurt trying to warm up too close to the engine of a car. Cats are known to do this when the weather gets cold & they have no where to go.

A neighbor told me about him, because it was her car that the poor cat had crawled into & when she started the engine, he yeowled, but wouldn't come out from under the hood of the car.
I immediately ran out to see if I could get close enough to him, to try to see if I could coax him out & help him. He turned out to be a very sweet cat.

I called him Slash because he had a slash on the top of his head where the engine fan had obviously cut him & he had a big gaping wound in his back leg. I took him to my house & tried to clean his wounds the best I could. The tear in his hind leg looked a couple of days old, but the cut in his head looked fresh.

To tell you the truth, at that time, I didn't know what I was going to be able to do for him. He actually needed a few stitches. I could not keep him & I couldn't afford to take him to the vet. Having some knowledge about wounds, I cleaned & bandaged his leg. That's when I, teasingly, started calling him Slash. For some reason, he knew I was trying to help him & wouldn't hurt him, so it was fairly easy to tend to his wounds. He was also very happy & content to be inside.

I called every rescue place to see if someone could take him, but they were all full. I thought he needed more medical attention than I could give him. I called our local Humane Society and they said that, because it was October and around Halloween, that they wouldn't accept or adopt out black cats until some time in November & that I should try calling back then, if I didn't find someone to take him.

I recalled learning about an ointment that was used on horses & other animals with deep wounds. At that time we had a local farm & feed store, so I went there and fortunately they had it. I talked to a salesman there, read the directions, took it home and put it all over Slash's wounds & wrapped his leg again. The only problem was, it had an awful smell and the bandages kept sliding down his leg. Of course he gave them a little help.

Slash was such a sweetheart & never once thought about going back outside. He loved being indoors. I knew that he would make a great pet for someone who would just love & care for him. He stayed with me a few more weeks & his wounds were healing. Eventually, I was able to take him to our Humane Society in late November and it was hard to say good bye to him after what he and I had been through together. I was just grateful & happy that I was able to help him when I did & that he pulled through it like a trooper. I knew that he would get the medical attention he needed & get neutered, that he wouldn't be put to sleep and he had a great personality for his new caregivers and hopefully, a new forever home and family that would love this great black cat. I will never forget Slash.

Written by BJ

Expressions

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A Brave Puppy is rescued from a puppy mill: ********

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By Sandy----DLM designs

This particular story is about my Princess Millicent Puddlemaker:

Millie, is a tri-color 15" beagle that I rescued from a nearby puppy mill. I know better than to do adoptions in this manner however, as soon as I saw her, I knew she was in trouble. Millie had 6 different parasites growing inside her intestines. She had blood in her stool, vomiting blood and unable to eat or drink anything. I bought her believing that she did not have much time and whatever time she did have, I was bound and determined to make it the best I could. I took her to my vet who looked at me with tear filled eyes and asked me "Do you really want to do this?" She stated that she was familiar with this individual from whom I did purchase Millie and assured me that a good outcome was not in my favor. Now, understand, I am a firm believer in putting our precious pets out of misery and not letting them suffer, when Millie looked at me, I knew she was begging me to save her life.

So it began, thousands of dollars in vet bills, bottles and bottles of pills, ointments,many sleepless nights and iv's, we even discovered that Little Millie had an infestation of a feline lung larvae! Yes, you heard correctly, a FELINE lung larvae! My dedicated vet was truly unsure of how to treat this as she had never come across this before. She decided to treat it as she would in a cat and see what happens. Millie at this point had a horrible cough, almost like an asthma attack, only able to walk for about 5 minutes, eating a special diet from the vet ($7.00 a can and one can a day!) I kept her in my arms constantly and spoon fed her while giving her fluids with an eye dropper.

I told Millie that she was the bravest little puppy I had ever come across and after a few weeks of this, my heart was breaking at the thought of losing her. So much for my rational thought earlier! I knew that I would just love her better! Day by day, she started to get a bit stronger,, the pills started to decrease, the ointments and tests were almost done. I pursued legally a lawsuit with the owner of the puppy mill, however, I was advised that he did not do anything legally wrong as he did offer to take my baby girl back and refund my money. Yeah right!

I am happy to say that today, my Princess Millie is alive and doing o.k., she does have that constant cough, she has a horrible skin condition which requires constant meds, she has chronic ear infections but she has more love in her little heart that most people I know. She does believe she is part human now, she sits up on her behind to watch TV, she will whine if she is not getting any attention, she shares my pillow with me at night as long as she is under the covers! I love her to pieces and I thank God for her every day. Also, the individual that I mentioned earlier, he was arrested 2 weeks ago for animal neglect and all of his animals have now been turned over to animal control so that they can get ready for adoption to their forever homes!

Millie has taught me that sometimes it does pay to listen to your heart, I am so glad I did! I hope you enjoy my story, see below for a picture of , my Princess Millie!

This story was sent in by: DLM designsbysandy. Sandy has a studio on Artfire and is a member of our Crafting For Animals Guild/CFA-Guild.

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We love hearing about the rescues of many types of animals and each of us has our own pet or pets stories we'd like to share with our readers. You can even tell us a story of a family member's pet or rescue experience. We just want to keep these our personal experiences & within our families, a member of our guild or even an animal lover who follows our blog, I would love to post your pet and/or animal rescue story.
For more information, please visit our Members' Only Page at: https://sites.google.com/site/crafting4animals/cfaactivities/get-your-pet-story-published