THIS IS A LONG POST, BUT VERY HEARTWARMING FOR ANIMAL LOVERS. MIGHT PULL AT YOUR HEARTSTRINGS!
Hey Yall! Being a lifelong pet lover & a volunteer at animal shelters for the past several years, I know how important it is to find loving, lifetime homes for homeless animals. Healthy & young pets find homes somewhat easily. Kittens & Puppies find homes even easier. "Older/Senior" pets & "Special Needs" pets often get overlooked because someone doesn't want to have to deal with a pet with some years under their belt nor pets that need some special attention, regular medical care or have a physical deformity.
MANY TIMES THESE ARE THE BEST PETS TO HAVE BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MUCH TO GIVE YOU.
I posted these 2 widgets below on my left sidebar in case anyone is ever looking for a pet. Plus to bring awareness to homeless pets. Petfinder has lots more widget styles to choose from, in case any of yall want to put widgets on your own blogs. They even have some specific to cats, dogs, birds, bunnies, etc.
My family has had pets ever since I was born. Growing up we always had dogs &/or cats. We were never without a pet. And sometimes those pets were "Special Needs" pets. I remember one day when my Mom, my twin & I were driving to the Post Office, I noticed a large mixed type dog just walking around the parking lot looking lost, dirty & possibly hungry. Well, being that my Mom, my twin & I have "Mushy Hearts", we opened one of the back doors to the car to see if the dog would come in, because Mom didn't want the dog to get hit as it was a busy part of downtown. He walked in with no problems. So we took him home while looking for his owners. My Mom named him "Tequila". I have no idea why. Maybe I should ask her. We bathed him & took care of him like he was a member of the family. Mom posted flyers around and asked around about him. I'm not sure how much time went by but we truly fell in love with "Tequila". Mom eventually found his owners. I remember my twin & I crying to let him go.
When I was in 3rd grade, my Mom's friend had a cat that she couldn't get anyone to adopt because she had a "Club Foot". That means one of her legs was shorter than the rest. She was solid white & so pretty. She was an outdoor cat & kinda wild. So the friend knew my Mom would take her. We ended up putting her in a pillow case just so we could drive her home. We named her "Big Mama". She ended up having a large family of about 4 or 5 generations. All of her family were solid white with smudges of grey or black on their foreheads. I remember naming some of her kids after some of the Gremlins: Gizmo, Spike, etc.
Another dog I remember was a solid black lab mix that was being abused by her owners. Well, one of my uncles "rescued" her, if you know what I mean. So we named her "Blackie". She was such a sweet dog, nothing was wrong with her at all. I remember she got out while being in heat & got pregnant. She had a litter with several black puppies. They were so cute. I think we moved somewhere that wouldn't allow dogs so we gave her to my Great Aunt Rosie and found homes for the puppies.
When I was living in New Orleans, in early 2001, a coworker of mine said that her neighbors were abusing a cat they had. The neighbors also has other cats & dogs. Those other animals bullied the cat and fought with her. Well my coworker just couldn't take it anymore so she "rescued her", again, if you know what I mean. She knew she couldn't keep the cat long because her husband said, "No". She kept the cat inside so the neighbors wouldn't know. Heck, they didn't even care that she was gone. Anyway, my coworker knew I was a sucker for cats. She asked me if I could foster the cat until we found a home. I talked with my twin, whom I was living with at the time & she had 2 indoor cats of her own. Well, my twin agreed that we could foster the cat. So my twin & I went to my coworkers house to get the cat. As soon as I saw her, I fell in love with her! She was solid shiny black & so beautiful! I knew I wanted to keep her, that I didn't want to be a foster mom. I wanted to be her permanent mom, but my twin didn't know this. Well after a day or so, my twin fell in love with her too. I named her "Haleema". One of her most funny & cute traits was sucking on the tip of her tail like it was a pacifier. She would purr & knead a pillow while doing it. The vet said most likely she was taken from her mom before being weaned.
We had LOTS more pets than that. But those are some of the "Special" cases.
For the past several years, my mom has rescued animals who were being abused, has taken in homeless animals, tried to find homes for them, kept those she fell in love with, etc. These were both cats & dogs. My mom would feed neighbors' pets who weren't being fed properly. A couple of winters ago, a neighbor didn't give a darn about an outside dog they had. The dog didn't have adequate shelter nor any bedding or anything to protect from the cold. My mom would bring the dog in her closed in & heated back porch at night, then take the dog outside when the sun came up and put her own sweaters on the dog to keep the dog warm. All this time, my mom was unemployed, disabled, living on government assistance with very limited income. She made sure she bought food for the cats & dogs before feeding herself. This quality my mom has instilled in us and this is how we were raised.
For the past 10 years of living in Raleigh, North Cackalacka........I have been known as the Cat Lady amongst friends & those that know me. Many times I have received phone calls about stray kittens, cats, dogs, etc. Being that I am a sucker for an animal in need, I reply to the calls for help. All of the times I would bring the kittens/cats home overnight until I could take them to a local shelter. 1 small black kitten was rescued from a lumber yard when her mom was killed. The man saw the mom get killed. Well, I fell in love with the black kitten and decided to keep her. I named her "Sade", pronounced "Shaw Day" after the singer. Another person called me and said they were moving the next day & was going to leave 2 male sibling kittens behind. My intention was to bring them home for the weekend until I could take them to a shelter. Well, again, I fell in love & ended up keeping them as I could not bear the chance of them being adopted separately. I named them "Mushu" after the Red Dragon character in the Disney Movie Mulan. The other I named "Jet-Li" because he would do these flips & kicks like Jet-Li the movie actor.
I know this post was kinda long, but I hope you enjoyed reading it. Now you know more about me. SMILE!
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