Rescue stories with happy endings

I couldn't get much sleep tonight and laying in bed I thought about all the animals that came along my way during the past years. There have been some sad stories that didn't end well, but there were some good stories with happy endings that made me feel happy and warm inside. I thought this would be a nice place for us to share these positive stories for encouragement.

I'll start with my own 2 babies. We found Mishmish and her 4 brothers when they were less than a month old. Some nasty person decided that he didn't want them and simply threw them away in the street. When we found them they were in the hands of some kids who wanted to find out if cats can swim... One kitten had already been dunk in a canal and was all wet and scared but not really hurt. We caught all of them (they can't really run at this age) and took them home with us. The very next day I was visiting some military camp and found a little skeleton of a kitten about the same age, starved and full of fleas. She was very weak and people were shocked that I was "brave" enough to touch what they considered to be a sick kitten. I carried her all the way home, had her deflead and fed her and she turned out to be a healthy, if very hungry, little cat.

So, now we had 6 kittens on our hands, which was a lot of fun but couldn't go on for too long. We began looking for homes, put ads in the paper, contacted everyone we knew and shelters and rescue people. At the time, we thought we couldn't have a pet in our small apartment, so we wanted to find homes for all of them. We found good homes for three of them and then a rescue person contacted us and said she's coming over to take the kittens, as she has a home for them (someone had contacted her looking for young kittens). When she arrived I was waiting for her at our home. She then said she had homes only for two of the three... I said we really can't keep any of them and she said that in that case the third one would have to go to a shelter where they would probably put it to sleep. She had already put all three in a carrier, but she tried to talk me into keeping one with us. She explained to me how to raise an indoors kitty (up until then I only had inddor-outdoor kitties back at my parents home).

When she said that the third one would be put to sleep, I knew I couldn't leave it at that. I thought my then boyfriend (now husband) would be upset, but I fished out little Mishmish out of the carrier and said we were going to keep her... he was thrilled when he came back home. We had both fallen in love with the little angel and she's become our cat. In fact, I needed to learn so much about cats, that she is really the trigger that started me on the internet with cats and actually changed my life, making me into a cat webmistress myself

2 Months later, having learned more about cat behavior, I realized that she needed a playmate and I contaced the lady who took the kittens. She had a sweet little cream tabby about 3 months old. He had probably been abused as he was found inside a dumpster, poor little thing. He was scrawny and scared and he still is a scardey cat today, but he feels very safe with us and is only shy around strangers.

Bringing up memories made me look at some old pics. So here's one of Gezer and Mishmish from around the time that Gezer arrived:

Anne,
I think you are such a nice, sweet person for rescuing those kitties! And, those kitties are lucky to have you in their lives!! Those are some cute pics, too. And, I love coming to your site! So, keep up the good work!! Like you and probably everyone, I love having my cats/kittens in my life...... they always put a smile on my face, and I enjoy talking about them!!
Keep it up, "cat webmistress!"

I have found and placed several kitties over these past few years, and in the long run I have decided that THEY found ME and I have ended up being the fortunate one for knowing them. Each one brings a story and a personality and leaves a 'scratch' on my heart.

I would have to say that out of the hundreds of rescued kitties over the years, the best story has to be that of Dunkin. She was 4 weeks old when her owner (for whatever perverse reason) took her out in the lake near our home and dunked her repeatedly in the icy waters trying to drown her slowly. An off-duty sheriff was fishing nearby and noticed this suspicious activity, motored over and challenged the man as to what he was doing? The *abuser panicked, and took this tiny kitten by her back hind legs and swung her around his head several times throwing her way out in the middle of the lake! As the officer roared after this poor kitten, the man made his escape.

We got the call from the animal shelter, telling us about this poor kitten and both my husabnd and I rushed down to see her. She was lying in her cage, totally exhausted, so tiny that my heart melted at the sight of her. Her black and white body already showed signs of abuse at her young age, and her legs were swollen and you could hardly touch them. The on-site vet pulled us aside and told us that she deserved to not die in a cage, we agreed immediately to take her, and bundling her up in a soft blanket, I held her all the way home.

The first night she spent with us, I got very little sleep. I woke up at about 4:00 a.m. and looked over where she was sleeping and *something* about her did not look right. I woke Mike up and told him she was dying and we had to do something! He knows from past experience I have a sense about these things, and he called the vet who agreed to meet us in his office. We took her in immediately to find out after a lengthy check-up that she had a bad bacterial infection (probably from the polluted waters of the lake) that had infiltrated her lungs. She had double pneumonia and our vet told us he doubted she would see the sunrise. We asked him to do what he could. It turned out where Dunk would spend 2 weeks inside an oxygenated cage before she would be ready to come home.

While she was there, they did other tests on her as she got stronger. We found to our horror that some time in her young life, she was stabbed with a knife in the middle of her back! To this day, she bears the scar and no hair grows around this old wound. We were also told that she had no muscles to speak of in her hips or stomach area. Today, she walks much like someone with bowed legs, and her stomach looks so fat it literally hangs to the ground and sways as she walks. We were told upon her discharge weeks later that she wouldn't live much longer than a month, and that was 8 years ago. Today, she is one of the matriarchs of our family. She has a drooling problem, you can't pet her back or hips without getting hissed at, and if she sees you coming with the pill pusher, she will very effectively get out of the way! She has learned to hate taking pills. She sleeps with us on the bed, my husband has made her a ramp that she can crawl up onto a chair and then clamber over to the bed. She is so heavy that if she sleeps on any part of you, that part of your body will automatically go to sleep along with her! She is deathly afraid of strange males, but she is alive and well and I believe she will live a very long time with us.


*When the police went to arrest the man who hurt her so badly, (he was also wanted for child abuse) He took off on his bicycle, was finally cornered and ended up shooting himself in the head and died at the scene. My thoughts on this is there is certainly a special place in Hell for this man and I am glad he got there early.

Hissy, I remember you telling that story, back when I was a new member. I don't think I'll ever forget it. Dunkin is the kitty that likes to sleep upside down, right?

My mind can't even fatham what kind of a person abuses childern and amimals. How messed up do you have to be?!?!? It's like you're missing something when you're born, or something inside of you dies along the way.

I'm just so thankful this story has a happy ending, and that Dunkin beat the odds.

Hissy - I had not heard that story about Dunkin before - I too am glad that the SOB got an early road trip to Hell! Bless you for having a good heart and also the intuition to get up that morning at 4 am.
You are a true hero in my book.

Hissy, the more I hear from you, the more respect I have for you. I have never in my life met anyone who has a bigger heart for animals than you. There are so many people here on The Cat Site with these wonderful stories of caring and love, and they truely make an impression on my life. Thank you.

Hissy, Dunk's story has brought tears to my eyes the second time around! Thanks!

Except for my two cats, I have never kept a rescue at home permanently. We have a small house and the deal is I can rescue any animal I want as long as I'm determined to find them a good home. That is usually not easy, but I'm proud to say I have managed to do that with all of them so far (of course, my numbers are not that high I would say about 15 cats and 2 dogs in the past 2 years). That also makes it easy for me to remember each and everyone.

People always tell me I would never find a home for that gray tabby or mixed breed dog, but I found out that by looking really hard there are always more excellent homes (even if it means each of my brothers and sister have a cat today )

The most difficult one was the dog, Dovik, which some of you probably remember. When I found him, everyone thought he must be over 10 years old and very sick. Well, turned out he was sick and starved but only 3 years old... After 3 weeks of proper medical care, lots of love and good food, he was looking much better. I actually found him a home by running a chain email to all my friends in Israel, telling his story (+ a picture - people always love to see pics of animals). I found him a fab home where he is cherished and loved and I still get emails from him occasionally.

Here's his pic again:


Come on people, I know there are lots more heart warming rescue stories here...

I would chime in if I had one! I got my 2 girls from the animal shelter, but I've never placed any animals. The town that I live in is very, how do I say this? Anal & structured. It's a man made community, with all of the different areas having committees that hold meetings. You can't do anything to your home (and this includes putting in a window unit air conditionor, painting your house, changing the front door...etc) without submitting a request & getting it approved. This town is very much about consistancy, things not 'sticking' out, or devaluing other properties around it.

Because of the strict guidelines and laws, I can honestly say that I've never seen a stray dog or cat. That sounds weird, but I haven't.

I love the pic of her lying in the landry basket!

dunkin is great!
I thought of your story about her today while driving to work - She may have had a rough start in life but she sure is one lucky kittle girl now! MEOW!

His story follows.....

Bear was rescued out of a backyard in Alaska. He was 2 years old when he arrived at our home. He had been kept on a chain for all of his life, and basically been ignored. His food and water would routinely freeze over and his chain would become frozen in the snow as well not allowing him any movement. He had no dog house, and his owner would be gone days at a time leaving no provisions for this poor dog. He was in really bad shape when he arrived at our home. The first picture you see in the previous post, he had been with us just under a month and was just starting to trust me. The second photo shows him about 6 months later, where he has been fed, loved and clipped. the first day he was at our home, when my husband came home from work, he would not let him in the door. He had turned into a snarling drooling monster of destruction! Fortunately, Mike had a pocketful of dog biscuits and he sat quietly down on the front porch and showed Quigley that he was not someone to be afraid of.

The first thing we do with an abused animal is change their name, so Bear became Quigley. He was terrified of everyone and everything you could imagine, and it took a long time of just sitting with him and letting him know that not every foot would kick him, and not every hand would beat him, before he understood he was in a good place.

When I first got him, I saw so much potential in him. As he got fitter, he had so much energy and spirit. I had heard of a famous animal trainer in Alaska and so I contacted him asking him if he would take us on as pupils. His name was Rex Harms and he trained a lot of the movie dogs for Hollywood, but his home was just the other side of Anchorage, so I arranged to take Quigley up there three times a week and together we worked with this wonderful animal. Among his many attributes, Quig had the keenest nose, so Rex had me training him for search and rescue. It was the most exhausting work because after we laid a scent trail, Quigley would not want to stop working. It was clear, that he was destined to become something in his life other than someone's pet. So with Rex's help, Quigley got accepted as an Avalanche Rescue Dog.

When I think back to the two years that I worked with this long-haired Rottweiler, I just am thankful that he crossed my path. Not only did I get the opportunity to know and to train him, but he opened the door for me to meet Rex and I learned so much from this great man and this gentle dog. I am sure that everyone that Quigley ever rescued got a big sloppy kiss of welcome from this beautiful dog with a big heart.

What a beautiful story! How did you get Quigley out of the hands of his first owner? Poor little dog, no wonder he was behaving the way he was. You are such wonderful people to take all this time and care and make such a change in this dog! Thank you for sharing this story!

Bear was stolen from the yard by some neighbors who had already called the police umpty dozen times regarding the abuse. The man who owned him was a guard at the prison and many people were afraid of him. So during a really bad storm, these wonderful neighbors went in and cut the chain off his neck (he had a chain not a collar) and bundled him up (he was almost dead at that point) and took him to a vet. The vet is the one who called us and asked us to give him a home after she had treated him for hypothermia, dehydration and other nasty things.