Look what we ended up with last night

[Whispering Winds]

Yes, I have Sophie now, because a friend was driving down the highway home and a car in front of her threw this little red dog out. Her DH threw a fit, wouldn't let the kids keep her, so they cried and cried and said "Call WW, she loves animals, she will take her", and one look and my 9 year old fell in love. It's funny because crazy Lucy is a bigger version of Sophie. You would swear they are mother and daughter. She isn't fixed, no shots . . . so I know where some of my tax money is going. Onyx is a $25 rescue animal, and he has no fur because of allergy . . . and then crazy lucy came off of the back of a truck (semi) and we inherited her from our daughter. . .

 

[vicki2x2]

Ummm yeah, lots of rescues. Most recent one was almost a couple of years ago now. Someone posted on my local dog list about a bulldog they found wandering down a busy road in a busy local city. They were begging for someone to take her asap as they were at work and couldn't take her home as they had like 20+ rescue cats and a couple of dogs already. So I talked hubby into picking her up on his way home, since he was fairly close and promised she would find a home asap. In fact, another lady replied, but couldn't come get her then.

Well, turns out, this lady wanted her, but wanted someone to first make sure she was spayed, had her shots, no fleas or worms, and then deliver her a hour and half away, for FREE!

Anyway, Dh loves bulldogs and he fell in love, though he swore she wasn't staying, he named her and found a old kids sweatshirt to put on her!

So, she has never left. No one ever claimed her, she had been taken care of at one point, but not recently, her nails were long, her hocks were worn and scraped like she had been laying on cement, she had fleas pretty bad (in the winter), and an ear infection and a bladder infection which seems to reaccuring for the old girl. She sometimes gets a little sore and slow, so we had her xrayed and she has a pretty arthritic spine, vet said she is probably about 7ish. We know when the bladder infection is back as she starts having accidents again and we stop by the vet and get her meds and when her back is bothering her, we give her a half an aspirin.

She is great with the kids, couldn't care less about the cats, or any other of our animals other than scarfing our poop, of course! We just adore her! Here she is, the old fat dog we call Maxine!

 

[PineappleMama]

We purposely went to the pound to adopt a dog... that was Mattie.

After that... not so much planning. My mom bred her doxies... (don't get me ranting on THAT) and she planned a trip to Vegas for her B-day/Mom's Day... oops one puppy left and they were ready to go... so guess what HAPPY MOM'S DAY to me... okay, fine... she's adorable... we'll call her Janie...

Then there was the next year... bred again... and one puppy left... and yet another trip planned... she'd already hit us, so HAPPY MOM'S DAY to my sister... who at the time was just staying with friends... her BF named the dog Lily... so that lasted all of two weeks and BOOT, no place to stay... scrambled and found a motel room, but couldn't take the puppy, so "can you hold on to Lily until we find a place... it's that or she's going to the pound?" What was I supposed to do? Tell my little niece (no dad, and now no home) that her puppy had to go to the pound? Really? (very sneaky sister I have) So of course Lily came to stay with us... and has never left.

So, we started wanting A dog, ended up with 3... Manic Mattie, Jealous Janie, and Lovie Lily... those names work so well it's scary... more than we planned on, but darned if they don't make great lap/foot (shoulder, since Lily sometimes thinks she's a parrot and back, since Matt will prop herself behind me while I'm on the puter) warmers.

Then of course is Riley... it was Ben & Riley, two gerbils named after the heroes in National Treasure that our son wanted as his only B-day gift.... Ben passed on... had a sore on his stomach that we couldn't see until he died, and thus was still enough to examine. Riley is still a cute little (if stinky) handful. But Alex loves him.

Then there's The Betta... he doesn't have a name yet as we just got him yesterday... Wayne... hubby's coworker, brought a betta to work... it's yours or it's flushed (do we have sucker written on our foreheads or what?) and so B brought him home... he was in a vase appx 12" tall and 4" round cylinder... decided he needed a bigger pond so I found a giant brandy snifter (you know the ones) ... got it all set up... let it settle, clear, etc... put him in and he croaked. ARGH! So, we just HAD to go to Petsmart and spend over an hour picking another one... and it wasn't the kid's faces that did it... it was B's... "I had him trained" *sad face* "I'd hold up the food and he'd swish around and go to the top" *add puppy eyes for effect* ... this is the point where I threw up my hands and said everyone get your coats.

So... welcome to the wonderful world of sucker... some visit, some move come and never leave... rabbit food is on aisle twelve...

 

[Keene's coop]

last august i was sitting at my neigbors house and happened to look on my garage and noticed a strange lookin bird. so i went and checked it out and it was a cockatiel. got it down and put into a makeshift bird cage. kids wanted to keep it, i said no. so we put an add in the paper and a sign on our front lawn, hoping someone would claim her. i even called the police department and two animal shelters and gave them my number just incase. needless to say, NO ONE called. so we ended up buying a cockatiel cage for her and named her lulu. we rehomed her to a cockatiel rescue close by about a month ago. she wasn't happy with us. ao the place she lives in, she has free range with 20 other birds. she's definatley doing better.

so about 2 weeks after finding lulu, we became the new owners of a australian shepard/border collie mix 2 year old. he belonged to a friend of mine and we would take him for the weekand when she would be out of town and couldn't take him. so she ended up haveing to move out of her place to a place with no pets and asked if we could adopt him and i said no cuz we really weren't ready for a new dog. we just put our 2 yr old black lab do to illness. i didn't think i was really ready for a new dog yet. so about a week before she was moving into her new place, she told me that she was taking him to a pet shelter. he is such a wonderful dog and my kids absolutly adore him. well, we ended up adopting. i do not regret it at all cuz he fills that emptyness i had for a dog. i'm glad we took him. he's a great addition to our family. so i found out that 2 weeks ago, that my "friend" who gave us the dog, just got a new dog living in the place where she IS NOT supposed to have dogs. that makes me angry. but it's better that duke is with us cuz she kinda neglected him. he spent most of his days and nights in a kennel and he was NEVER walked or played with. so we had to teach him how to be a dog. so i feel real good about "saving" him from her. and i think he's much happier with us. it was a good rescue.

 

[MagsC]

Sigh. I think everything orphaned, abandoned, unwanted, lost etc. knows its way to my doorstep.

Congrats on the bunny!

 

[crtrlovr]

Many of the animals we have now have been rescues. All 8 of the cats have been rescues or strays who found their way here (I think cats have a system similar to the ones used by the hobos and/or homeless back in the Depression days... They would leave a mark on the fence or mailbox post of the "friendly" houses so the others would know it was a good place to stop). So far the system seems to be working quite well.

Some of my cockatiels were purchased, but 7 of them were brought here (4 at one time, 3 in 3 separate instances) either because the owner couldn't keep them (one case was severe allergies) or the bird was no longer "fun", etc. My neighbor's grandson was at work one day on a lunch break outside when out of nowhere, a beautiful pearl/pied female (banded, too!) came down and landed on his shoulder. He & his wife had a cat so they didn't want the bird, he brought it to my neighbor and she didn't really want her, so she's now a member of my flock. Two of my chickens and one turkey have been rescues of sorts; the original owner, because of circumstances beyond her control, couldn't keep them. One of my conures was a rescue, and the other was a purchase at minimal price b/c the owner had no time for the bird (they got the bird when they were first married, and then had 4 children in quick succession). I got a beautiful, friendly, loving cherry head conure for $50.

I love all my critters, and if my DH wasn't at his critter tolerance max already, I'd open the door and say "Y'all come on in! the more the merrier!"

 

[Countrywife]

Oh I'm in this one:

my cat, known as the meanest cat in carolina, came to us by way of a friend at a church picnic who found it when someone tried to light it on fire, was going to stay with us a few days, find a home or go to the pound. I think he's around 4 now.

Our lab was a throw-away, showed up with her brother, found her brother a home, she was staying with us till we found her a home, she is 7 now. I still tell dh that we are going to find her a home.

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
Only because me and Kitty live in Arkansas. Tell your cat it has a hellion relative in Arkansas.

 

[Countrywife]

Quote:
Only because me and Kitty live in Arkansas. Tell your cat it has a hellion relative in Arkansas.

hellion isn't by chance orange is it? We have come to the conclusion around here the orange cat gene carries mean.

 

[slightlyscrambled]

yep, been there done that! All 5 of our cats are rescues sort of, the two inside adopted us when we lived in town, the three out side- mama adopted us she, was a drop off and then she had kittens so their here to stay. Both dogs (brother and sister labs) were some ones left overs from a litter and going to the pound so..... All of my starter flock of chickens were "rescues" from an auction, no one else would bid on them because of their breed so I bought them for $2 a piece. Just this weekend we adopted a duck from the neighbors who were going to cull him b/c he was all alone with the chickens and made a mess in the water dish. 4 of my 5 geese are kind of rescues also, I was looking for a mate for one I had and got a reply from myCL add... I have 4 I am going to butcher this weekend if no one takes them, so they came here also. Should name our farm the "wayward animal farm"?
edited to add:
oops forgot willow the bunny, got her from the feed store for free because she was really cage aggresive and would probably end up on the table.. youngest DD couldnt have that so she came to live with us also