Saint' of cats dies. Famous pooch saved felines by hundreds. Philip
Gonzalez comforts his canine pal, Ginny, yesterday. The 17-year-old
mixed breed had an amazing ability to save felines from perilous
fates.
She was tired, could hardly walk and spent her last days flopped on a
worn blanket. Ginny, the little dog from Long Beach that rescued cats,
was on her last legs. The 17-year-old mixed breed, who saved some 900
cats and was immortalized in two books, died yesterday in the company
of
her owner and 18 cats she saved from certain death.
"She hasn't eaten in three days. She's suffering from old age right
now," Ginny's owner, Philip Gonzalez, said yesterday, looking down at
the Siberian Husky-Schnauzer mix's emaciated body as she took short,
desperate breaths.
"I think she's going to go tonight."
And just three hours later, about 2:30 p.m., Ginny took her last
breath.
The rescue dog's heartbroken owner fondly recalled the days when Ginny
would sniff out kittens in peril. Gonzalez, 55, of Long Beach,
remembered when younger Ginny yelped and ran to the second floor of a
Long Beach building under construction to rescue five kittens trapped
in
a pipe. Ginny threw her furry body against the tall plastic tube
sticking up from the floor, Gonzalez said. The pipe fell over,
revealing
the helpless felines. "These kittens were maybe 3 weeks old. Someone
must have thrown them in there," said Gonzalez, who lives alone with
three other dogs and the 18 cats. Ginny first gained relative fame in
the 1990s when publisher Harper Collins learned of her story from a
magazine article.
Gonzalez co-authored two books about Ginny and her rescues: "The Dog
Who
Rescues Cats" and "The Blessing of the Animals." Both were translated
into numerous languages. "They call her the Mother Theresa of cats,"
Gonzalez said. In another memorable rescue, Ginny dug through a box of
glass near a warehouse to save a trapped kitten. "She jumped out of
the
car and started digging into this box of broken glass, cutting her
paws," Gonzalez said. Ginny somehow sensed when cats were in trouble,
then found them, cleaned them and carried them from danger in her
mouth.
Gonzalez also tried to train Ginny to sniff out money, but to no
avail.
"I said, 'You like these cats? You want to feed them all? Then you pay
for it,'" Gonzalez said.
But in fact, she already had, because both books are bestsellers. "I
think she was a cat lady in a prior life," Gonzales said
Gonzalez comforts his canine pal, Ginny, yesterday. The 17-year-old
mixed breed had an amazing ability to save felines from perilous
fates.
She was tired, could hardly walk and spent her last days flopped on a
worn blanket. Ginny, the little dog from Long Beach that rescued cats,
was on her last legs. The 17-year-old mixed breed, who saved some 900
cats and was immortalized in two books, died yesterday in the company
of
her owner and 18 cats she saved from certain death.
"She hasn't eaten in three days. She's suffering from old age right
now," Ginny's owner, Philip Gonzalez, said yesterday, looking down at
the Siberian Husky-Schnauzer mix's emaciated body as she took short,
desperate breaths.
"I think she's going to go tonight."
And just three hours later, about 2:30 p.m., Ginny took her last
breath.
The rescue dog's heartbroken owner fondly recalled the days when Ginny
would sniff out kittens in peril. Gonzalez, 55, of Long Beach,
remembered when younger Ginny yelped and ran to the second floor of a
Long Beach building under construction to rescue five kittens trapped
in
a pipe. Ginny threw her furry body against the tall plastic tube
sticking up from the floor, Gonzalez said. The pipe fell over,
revealing
the helpless felines. "These kittens were maybe 3 weeks old. Someone
must have thrown them in there," said Gonzalez, who lives alone with
three other dogs and the 18 cats. Ginny first gained relative fame in
the 1990s when publisher Harper Collins learned of her story from a
magazine article.
Gonzalez co-authored two books about Ginny and her rescues: "The Dog
Who
Rescues Cats" and "The Blessing of the Animals." Both were translated
into numerous languages. "They call her the Mother Theresa of cats,"
Gonzalez said. In another memorable rescue, Ginny dug through a box of
glass near a warehouse to save a trapped kitten. "She jumped out of
the
car and started digging into this box of broken glass, cutting her
paws," Gonzalez said. Ginny somehow sensed when cats were in trouble,
then found them, cleaned them and carried them from danger in her
mouth.
Gonzalez also tried to train Ginny to sniff out money, but to no
avail.
"I said, 'You like these cats? You want to feed them all? Then you pay
for it,'" Gonzalez said.
But in fact, she already had, because both books are bestsellers. "I
think she was a cat lady in a prior life," Gonzales said
