I Rescued A Human Today - Freeze-Frame Radio

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

I Rescued A Human Today

ghostdancer · Ghost In The Machine

Very touching story!

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

And so very true... we think we save them, but sometimes they save us... just about every day.

garougal · Cleverly Disguised As A Responsible Adult

Mad Mema wrote:

And so very true... we think we save them, but sometimes they save us... just about every day.

I can't imagine life without my little posse of fuzzies...they make me laugh, they give me love, and they've each even nuzzled away a few tears on a bad day. They're a vital part of my family.

JD The Jazz Doctor · Grand Poobah

Awhile back, I was at a pet store at a mall. well it was more of an adoption center than a store. there was a sign that asked that we don't touch/ tease the animals through the cages. Fine good ok. I remember looking at a cat on the bottom shelf and this cat above reached out and tapped my head. not to scratch me....

but just to get my attention. then another cat did the same. crite almighty if I had the means I woulda took them all home.

ghostdancer · Ghost In The Machine

Pet shops of any kind are the worst place to buy an animal from. Most come from mills. But I know how you felt JD; if I had the means, I'd have tons of dogs and cats.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I have 4 cats... three of them are shelter babies, one I actually bottle fed because she was about 3 weeks old when I got her while I was volunteering for one of the local "no kill" animal shelters. My Eddie did come from a pet store. Pet stores on the whole depress me. I want to take them all home.

My "kids" all have their own little personalities. I would be lost without them.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

When we got our dog before the one we have now, we heard about this guy about 40 miles from here that had Boxers for sale. I called and we went to look at them. It was a total puppy mill. I know they say don't buy from a mill, but at that point, we thought of it more as a "rescue".

It turned out the warnings were right. He had major attitude problems and was just a poopy dog.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

That is sad to hear. Most of the cats I've had through my adult years have been shelter adoptees. My one cat, Yngwie, I got as a just weened kitten from a guy who worked for me. Best cat EVER. He lived for 19 years, had bonded to me because I got him when he was so young, and died in my arms. That broke my heart. Somewhere in there I also had a cat named Louie.. he was the funniest cat ever. Always into something. He died of prostate cancer at 4 years old... shelter kitten. And an adult cat named Merlin... big, fat, gray, long haired cat... quite affectionate... shelter cat... adult when I got him so I don't actually know how old he was when he died of liver failure, but I had him for about 6 years. I never regretted adopting from a shelter.

The only reason I went to a pet store when I ended up getting Eddie is that I was forced to. At the time, the shelter didn't have any kittens available for adoption and the decision was made for me that I was getting another baby to try to mend my broken heart over my beloved Yngwie.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

We should have seen the signs. When we picked him out, I asked to see the puppy's dad and the guy wouldn't let us. First he said "if I go back there to get him, all the other dogs will get all worked up and start barking and I don't like to do that to them". Then later, he said "Well, the dad isn't around people enough he really only trusts me".

We should have taken that as an obvious warning. This puppy grew up with major dominance issues. He thought I was in charge, then him, then my wife. He was fine with our son while our son was a baby, but once he started getting older, I think the dog was really concerned about his place in the pack and we were getting scared of him. There was an incidence with him when he almost came to the point of biting our son over a totally innocent thing. He spent that night in the kennel and the next day, he went to our vets.

It was even getting worse to where he was challenging me on things. He had to go.

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

That is rough. It's always hard to figure how mistreated animals will be over the long haul. I think my Merlin was probably abused by a man at some point. He was very shy when I first got him... hid under a bed for a week. Then for the longest he would only let me pet him. He was always a little skittish around men, but did eventually warm up to the wuzband and the boys.

WebGuy · Doesn't Do Windows

We got that dog when he was a 7 week old puppy so we were not dealing with someone else's problem. He just wasn't wired right.

He might have been ok in a military kind of house where he was constantly watched and had continual firm control over him, but we needed a family pet. We couldn't trust him any longer. We had him four years and it just got continually worse but our son growing up seemed to put him over the edge.

-- Edited by WebGuy at 22:50, 2009-01-11

Mad Mema · Bad Biker Granny

I can't blame you there. Animals are much like people in that some of them are born with issues. Likely unless that dog was obedience trained, it would have had issues anywhere. Perhaps even if it did have obedience training. Just like with people, there are no guarantees.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

A lot of breeders don't pay attention to, or just don't care, how closely related Mom and Dad are, and the puppies are inbred. I've heard of that happening quite a few times.

We think that was part of my parent's last dog's problem. For the most part he was a good dog, but there were things that just weren't right with him. He was a springer spaniel.

He had seizures that they never could figure out.

My stepdad got him as a hunting dog, but he was gun-shy and never could get over it.

During the day, he stayed outside in the yard with his doggy condo (his dog house was huge, had two rooms, and was heated). But he'd get so scared when it stormed that he would get out, actually jump over the 6 foot high fence.

They put in an electric fence, and that stopped him from getting out. Until one 4th of July, they went over to the neighbor's and left him in the yard. Regardless of how much he got shocked, he still got out. Someone found him a few days later after he got hit by a car. He held on for a couple days, but eventually passed away.

MzHartz · Permanent Vacation

All of the cats I've had since moving out on my own have been rescued in one form or another. Sami was a farm cat, but the only one in her litter. We think the rest of her siblings were probably stillborn. Without having anyone else to back her up, once she was weened, she couldn't get to the food, the older cats wouldn't let her. When we got her, she had worms and fleas. The fleas were so bad she scratched the back of her head open. After we treated her, she gained two pounds (for a 6 week old kitten, that's a lot) in a week.

Then we got Joshua from a no kill shelter. He had a cold when we got him, or so we thought. We gave him what was probably the best 4 months of his 8 month long life before he died of FIP.

After that, I wasn't ready to get another kitten for a while. But a friend of a friend was a person who rescued cats for the no kill shelter, and somehow she convinced me to look at a couple kittens. She said she'd bring them over to our house one morning. She ended up bringing only one kitten. A crazy old lady was keeping him outside in a cardboard box with no food or water in 90+ degree weather. He was adorable, and was the quintessential perfect cute kitten, but I didn't want another kitten. And then I picked him up, and he looked at me with a look that I swear said, "Mommy!" I named him Jack. I fell asleep on the living room floor after she left, and he slept on my pillow that first day.