There was an article this morning in the Allen, Frisco, McKinney insert in the Dallas Morning News about a little dog named 'Squirt' and how this family had adopted him. It's called "Saved from kill shelter, Squirt finds happiness" by Kathryn Horner. This is one of the few uplifting stories that the paper has had to offer. Squirt had been abused and neglected and this family worked hard at rehabilitating him. This little dog is positively adorable and I can't understand how anyone could have possibly even thought of being mean to him.They learned that by adopting another dog, this dog would help Squirt to socialize and it worked. The dog, named 'Minnie' has helped Squirt tremendously. The article said, "Squirt has grown this past year from distrusting and timid to a curious, tail wagging confident dog." It's a good story with a happy ending, I just wish that Squirt hadn't been abused in the first place.
I remember when we first got Kandy, our golden retriever/corgi mix from a rescue organization who was adopting through Petsmart, when we brought her home, my husband tried to pet her and Kandy backed off because she thought he was going to hit her." He was shocked and hurt. He would never do such a horrible thing. Over time, Kandy learned that he was a nice person and loved to spend time with him. She would wait by the door in anticipation of him coming home from work. When he would walk though the door, Kandy would greet him lovingly with her tail wagging like mad. Kandy was a beautiful, loving, intelligent dog and we loved her. She was a rescue dog.
All of our animals have been rescued in one way or another. Mocha, Snuffy and Sprinkles came from the SPCA. Tippi and her kittens were living on the street after Tippi's former owner had moved away and left her. Peppermint and her siblings were abandoned at a construction site in Arlington and we got her through a pet store that was trying to find them homes. We had to have Patches put to sleep because she was 18 and dying (she had also been a rescue cat that neighbors had left outside to fend for her own) and we wanted to get a kitten. Kittens aren't easy to find in January. We looked at the shelter and at other pet stores. I called around to area pet stores to see if anyone had any kittens. This one pet store used *69 to call us back to tell us they had just gotten in a litter of kittens. We had first met Peppermint's brother, but he was real skittish. When they brought Peppermint out, she looked at all of the cat toys they had on display and it was like a little kid seeing piles of toys in a toy store. She had this look of wonder and curiosity in her eyes and had no fear whatsoever. She was also a beautiful Russian Blue mix. We fell in love with her immediately. Peppermint and I bonded and became the best of friends.
We had a cat named 'Slinky' who was living off the streets. He had been abandoned and would hunt rats in the storm sewers and help himself to people's barbecues when they weren't looking. One night, when there was supposed to be an ice storm, Jeff took him in because he was afraid that Slinky would die out in the cold. After the ice storm came through and the ice melted, we took him to the vet for shots and a health check-up. She said that he was FIV positive, would only live about 3 years and that we should have him put to sleep immediately. We decided not to do that. We kept him and he was the sweetest, most loving cat that we'd ever had. He lived longer than 3 years, he lived 8 years before the FIV took its' toll on him. He got to be a huge cat and was really happy. He would lay on the bed and purr when it was cold and rainy outside because he was so happy that he was not out in it.
Adopting or rescuing an animal is the best thing someone can do. I don't understand why people pay large sums of money for exotic animals that they later find out they are not able to properly take care of. There's a lady who had to have a face transplant because her pet chimpanzee tore her face off. If she had gone to a shelter and adopted a puppy or kitten, she would still have her original face. As I mentioned yesterday, some guy had his drywall torn up by a pet raccoon, he would have been better off adopting a dog or cat from a shelter. So many people don't realize how hard it is to take care of a wild animal and don't understand that a wild animal will act on instinct and bite them if the animal feels threatened.
There's a book about Christian, the lion.There's a famous reunion video on You Tube where these guys go to Africa for a happy reunion with Christian. These guys who bought him at Harrods in the 1970's knew that this lion was going to get huge and they did the right thing for him; They were lucky to have George Adamson (husband of Joy Adamson, author of 'Born Free') to help Christian to adjust to life in the wild land of Africa.
Also, when adopting a cat or dog from a shelter, you are saving a life. Cats and dogs are easy to take care of (depending on the dog, some are easier than others). Also, people should spay and neuter their pets. It's hard enough to find homes for puppies and kittens that are already out there.
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