It’s been a rough couple of weeks, hasn’t it? I feel like every time I turn on anything – the television, Twitter, Facebook, my phone, the toaster – there’s bad news that’s going to break me a little inside. If you’re feeling a little raw or sad like I have been, I hope this post gives you a little boost.
PREPARE FOR EPIC FUZZY CUTENESS. MAXIMUM CUTE FUZZ HAS BEEN ACTIVATED.
Avon wants to celebrate Jill Shalvis’ first contemporary romance with them, Sweet Little Lies, book one in her new Heartbreaker Bay series, and they’d like to give one of you a $100 gift card to the bookstore of your choice, AND donate $100 in your name to the San Francisco SPCA. Nice, right?
Here’s a little information from Jill as to why:
In my family, we have a long history of being suckers for animals in need. When I was little, I brought home anything that seemed even slightly abandoned. A bird with a bad wing and a matching bad ‘tude that I fed with an eye dropper. A guinea pig that showed up at our back door demanding food, loudly (have you ever heard one of those things squeal?). A snapping turtle rescued from a pond (I still have a scar from that one…). A very pissy old cat that didn’t necessarily want to be domesticated but did enjoy the softness of my bed. If it needed rescuing, I was all too happy to do so. My parents, not so much. But they never said a word to discourage me.
I’d been dating Alpha Man approximately one week when I found the duck in the middle of the road in Los Angeles. He drove an ambulance at the time, and I called him and said I needed help. When he arrived, I’m pretty sure he was surprised to find himself helping me nurse an injured duck but he was game. In fact, it was only a few months later that he himself rescued an abandoned dog who’d been hit by a car. We took him to the vet together. Poor little guy needed surgery and a good home. We named that dog Max, for Maximum Amount Of Money Ever Spent On A Dog, and he lived fifteen wonderful years and was the love of my life for every single one of those years.
We went on to rescue many more animals over the years. During this time we also raised three daughters. Our oldest, a chip off the old block, volunteered at our local humane society one summer a few years back. No one will be surprised to know that I got a call that started with “mom, there’s this two day old abandoned kitten…”
Who can say no to a two day old abandoned kitten? Certainly not me. We’ve had Satan— er, Sadie, ever since.
These days my oldest daughter fosters kittens and puppies for the San Francisco SPCA. She takes in abandoned animals and takes care of them until they are old enough and weigh enough to be neutered and can be adopted. She uses her own money for kitty litter, bedding, toys, etc. She puts her heart and soul into providing these scared, homeless kittens with some desperately needed love, and every time they get adopted, she cries over the loss. And then starts the process all over again.
And honestly? I couldn’t be more proud. I’m also, as I type this, holding a teeny, tiny baby bunny that we found in our yard today, apparently abandoned. The cycle never ends….
Get ready. It’s CUTENESS TIME. Here are just some of the 65+ puppies and kittens Jill’s daughter has fostered.
You might want to sit down. Ready?
PUPPY TOES AND POLKA DOTS!
SO TEENY!
SMALLEST EARS EVER!
HAI!
KITTEN WITH SHOES. Must go lie down. Excuse me.
TOO MANY TOES. OVERLOAD OF TOES.
Well, I feel better. I hope you do, too! And if not, here are a few more rescue pets, though these are full grown.
Right before we moved, our last remaining cat, Spawn, died suddenly, so for the first few months in our new home, we had no cats. It was weird. Then we adopted two rescue gentlemen who have lived mostly under The Futon of Concealment. They’re finally coming out during daylight hours!
This is Orville.
This is Wilbur, Orville’s brother, who throws a huge house party every night and sleeps all day. Tell me I’m not alone and that your cats are like this. He’s weird, I tell you.
That’s Zeb, who desperately wants to be BFFs with Wilbur, who is not interested unless he gets to chase Zeb. Their relationship is weird.
And this is Zeb (front) and Buzz, who are likely brothers, and are also rescues. Buzz is scared of everything (including the camera, hence the floppy front ears) except Zeb, who is his best friend in the world.
What about you? Who are your favorite furry friends? Do you have a fuzzy creature picture that lifts you up? Just leave a comment and tell us about your rescue pet, or the animal you love most in the universe. I know a lot of you have rescues, too. If you’d like to share a picture, please do, but please make sure it’s less than 600 px wide. By commenting, you’ll be entered to win a $100 gift card to the bookstore of your choice, and have a donation to the SF SPCA made as well. Thank you to Avon and to Jill Shalvis for the prizes and the pictures!
Standard disclaimers apply: Void where prohibited. Open to US residents of 18 years of age and over. We are not being compensated for this giveaway except with a massive dose of adorable cuteness. Animals in mirror may be closer than they appear. Belly rubs always appreciated. Thunderstorms can go away now. Comments will close on Friday 23 24June around 12pm ET, and one winner will be selected at random.
Cuteness: GO!
ETA: We have a winner! Congratulations to tikaanidog! You’ll be receiving a $100 gift card to the bookstore of your choice, and a donation in your name will be made to the SF SPCA. Yay!
But most of all, thank you to everyone who entered, and made this thread such a fuzzy, warm, lovely place to share stories about our furry friends and family members. This comment thread has been a solace and wonderful reading experience. You and all your furry friends, past and present, are awesome.
I’ve only ever had rescues. My last one, about 12 years ago, was a puppy mill rescue. She still has emotional issues but I love her just the same.
We’ve got 3 ‘rescue’ cats who were all rescued from our yard. The oldest is 17 going deaf and louder than you would think possibleveryone. We found him up a tree. The younger 2 we found in our hay barn when they were newborns. Their mom took their 4 siblings and left these 2 for us. Oscar is a bit psychotic at times and his sister Bandit has epilepsy. Believe it or not she let’s us give her meds 4 times a day.
What a fun post!
We’ve never had a rescue pet except very temporarily when my family cared for an orphaned joey one day when I was about six. As you might surmise, I lived in Australia at the time.
We didn’t grow up with pets of the fuzzy variety, alas! We did for a time have a few craydads, and when they mysteriously disappeared, we suspected the neighbor’s cat but could never prove anything conclusive… Love the photos of the furry darlings shared by Jill!
Both of our current cats were adopted from the Santa Cruz (CA) animal shelter, and the one we lost to cancer in December was from another rescue group.
Dusty is an utterly adorable brown tabby, now 11-12 weeks old. We adopted him four weeks ago, and this picture is him nestled on my legs soon after we brought him home.
http://tinyurl.com/zp5rcdv
It’s a fun time, every day brings something new.
After the long introduction process, he’s finally been allowed free access to the house full time for the last few days. Wednesday, our 5-year-old medium-haired tuxedo, is not always thrilled with this new addition (and hopefully she’ll forgive me soon), but they have started playing together some of the time.
My boyfriend (and by extension, I) adopted a cat from the SPCA a couple years ago. Despite that she was a stray when they picked her up, she has socialized pretty well, and she is definitely the queen of the house in her attitude and her looks. She has perfected the regal paws and gaze. Well, she has it perfected until she gets bored and then decides to run around the house like a crazy cat, running so fast she’s been known to bonk into door frames or things in her way! Regardless of her general spazziness, we love her anyway!
I know I cannot participate because I do not live in USA but I want to comment, rescue pets stories lift my spirit and make me feel hope for my future life. So thank you to everybody who has share their story.
My first Jill Shalvis books were her Sunshine, Idaho series with all the animals. Love them!
My cats have all come from shelters. My current cats are Maximilian and Josephine. Max is ten years old this September, and is a spotty brown mackerel tabby. He loves to have his head scratched, to chase his sister around, and to play fetch with his humans, and will come and greet me at the door when I come home from work. Jo is a small but fierce Russian blue (with silver fur on her toes!) who is seven this summer. She loves chest rubs, groomings and chasing her brother, and will snuggle up to me when we go to bed.
Both cats are talkative and usually have much to say. I love them dearly.
My first rescue pet was a black cocker spaniel back in elementary school.
Many, many years ago my husband and I were living overseas. We met an American woman who was telling everyone she knew about her cleaning lady, whose cat had had kittens. The cleaning lady was planning on killing the kittens (she was going to drown them in a cleaning bucket, precisely), if they weren’t gone within the week. This American woman couldn’t take the two kittens for some reason or other but wanted to prevent their demise. We immediately said we’d take them, even though we had no food, litter or appropriate living quarters (we were renting an apartment with fabric wall paper – the little devils learned to race UP the walls all the way to the ceiling in no time!) We moved frequently in those days, and those kittens grew into spoiled, well-travelled cats, who crossed the Atlantic at least six or seven times. Obviously their arduous lifestyle took a toll on them because they only lived to be eighteen!:) Rest in peace, Fred and Ethel. We still miss you!
In addition to working for the local shelter, I also foster a lot of dogs for them. Our second foster dog, a Staffordshire Terrier, came to us because she had been found as a stray (after apparently being shot at by the police for being “aggressive”. Luckily, they were a terrible shot and didn’t hit her) and was scared out of her mind in the shelter. Within 24 hours of her being in our home we realized what a sweet, gentle and polite dog she was, and she’s never left. We named her Daenerys Stormbone Barkaryen and she’s taken up as the Couch Queen ever since.
I’ve had a lot of dogs, both temporary and permanent, but Dani is definitely the dog-love of my life.
That is seriously the best dog name.
I have 3 cats, all from our area humane society. Our family has been adopting cats and supporting the Naperville Humane Society since 1989, when we got our first cat (Whiskers) who was with us for 12 years until he went up to the big cat tree in the sky. Our second cat (Roberta) lived for 17 years. The current three we have are Phil (who is 14), Peaches (who is 9) and the “baby” of the family, Cleo (who is 4).
Phil and Peaches are bonded buddies and spend roughly 90% of their time together. It’s stranger to find them not snuggled up on the same blanket or reclining against one another. They spend a bulk of their time upstairs in the master bedroom, while Cleo rules the roost downstairs, dominating the cat tree by the window and bird watching. Phil and Peaches will snuggle with you *if* you’re reclining on the bed with them. Whereas Cleo will snuggle with you if you’re sitting on an actual recliner. They all of their unique quirks, but they’re all different and sweet and I can’t imagine my life without them :o) That rescued-pet bumper sticker I’ve seen “Who Rescued who?” is so true.
I so loved the photos and needed the smiles, so thank you for that! I’ve rescued many fur babies over the years,and the love of my life was my Siamese, Bandit. I found he and his brothers and sister when they were only about a week and a half old. Bandit was the only one who survived, and I had to bottle feed him every few hours and basically be his “mommy.” He lived to be almost 19 years old, and I still think about him every day. I don’t think we rescue these animals, I think they rescue us. <3
Almost ten years ago I inherited my cat, Lucy, from a friend who adopted her after she, her mother, and litter mates were found by the side of a country road.
Lucy is now seventeen going on eighteen. She is a tiny princess (just over eight pounds) who has lost none of her attitude with the years. In the morning, she wakes me, beginning by patting my face, and progressing to pulling my hair and knocking things off the bedside table if I don’t get up to feed her quickly enough.
I’ve hat a lot of rescued animals over the years, mostly cats (was up to 5 at the same time at one point).
Currently I just have a dog. My nephew rescued him from a friend’s neighbors house where he was kept in an enclosed porch without any food or water. They called local animal control and then… somehow I ended up with an approximately 6 week old puppy. That was 5 years ago.
If I had the energy I would adopt more. I was always rescuing animals as a kid.
My rescue dog, Casey, is a five year old whippet/terrier mix. He is the most ridiculous dog and my favorite person/animal in the world, even though I am only his third favorite person (my dad and my cousin are numbers 1 & 2.)
No rescues yet, but someday when I have room, ALL my pets will be rescues!
i sadly do not currently have any pets. i hope this changes soon! but, a few years back i did rescue a baby robin that had fallen out of the nest before it was ready!. i couldn’t reach the nest and the tree wasn’t big enough to support a ladder, so after some googling, i tied a little basket into the tree and set the baby bird inside. the next day i caught the mother or father robin coming by to feed the baby!! it grwe up and flew away eventually, and it made my heart so happy.
My son just got us a new pet a girl German Shepherd named Maddy she’s a hoot. We also have what I call crazy cat named Mister
We rescued our lab/pointer mix, Indy, in February. My dad is terminally ill (wow, that was hard to type), and I just kept noticing how much joy he got from his rescue cat ( how awesome is my dad?!). The bug was in my ear-we had to get a dog. I needed it, my kids definitely needed it. I found Indy at my local humane society. She’d been there for one year and three months. Why? The employees just couldn’t figure it out. The only answer was, she doesn’t bark,and therefore didn’t really demand attention. No one knew why she didn’t bark. Was she physically damaged at some point, emotionally damaged, or was she simply sad. Needless, to say, the dog was all mine. The look on my kids’ face when they realized their dream of finally having a dog had come true was priceless. Even better, Indy thrived. She plays, she loves, she even barks occasionally now! As much as we rescued Indy, she rescued us right back.
And now I’m happy crying.
I really love that money is being donated to Jill’s local SPCA.
The animal I love most in the world is also a rescue kitty. He’s a grey and white Maine Coon Cat named Bugsy. I adopted him exactly five years ago from Maine Coon Cat Rescue in Oakland, CA. I’m not sure if it will show up here, but if there is a picture of a cat as my “avatar” — that’s him.
I also do volunteer work for a German Shorthaired Rescue based in Northern California. I have fostered some of these great dogs from time to time and there is no better feeling in the world than when they are adopted by a Furever Home!
Digicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net
Our last cat died late this winter, so we’re currently catless, which is sad, but I still want MY cat, not A cat. So I wait.
Our small cat (who died last year) had been dumped at a local pet store at about 4 weeks with her siblings, and my husband decided we needed her. I was opposed but obviously lost the argument. She was incredibly stupid, but also incredibly sweet.
When my Grandmother was with us, Grandmom would give them treats, and lecture the small cat for trying to eat the big cat’s treats and taking more than her fair share.
I miss all of them.
Can’t have animals where I’m living now, but growing up we talked my mom into rescuing a young kitten. My brother almost ran over him on his bike, brought him home, and said, “look mom, he has 6 toes!” Best cat ever =)
Our pets have always seemed to appear at just the right time.I had an affinity for stray cats, but our current critter is a dog whom we liberated from a less than committed owner. Crawford is my husband’s dog, and Ger would be the first to admit that Crawford did more to rescue him than the reverse.
Crawford is a deceptively scary looking, mostly black and pointy husky, lab, and shepherd mix. Gerry calls him an ancient dog. I won’t go on about how clever, gentle, and funny he is, but just mention that he is a master of nondiscursive communication and that he systematically folds his unstuffed toys. He’s also freaked when Dad had to spend time in the hospital a couple of times. Anyway we loves him, and that shouldn’t surprise anyone who’s noticed the average length of the comments on this post. Such a lot of fuzzy love out there.