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Catherine's Story      Jessie's Story     Lucky's Story    Sadie's Story

Catherine's Story

"One morning in October of 2002, I was fixing breakfast and from my kitchen window I can see our driveway and part of the lake we live near. While filling the coffee pot and looking out the window, I saw movement behind our car. Soon I saw a tiny head peek around the rear tire. It was a kitten. I thought perhaps a neighbor's kitten had become lost. I went out immediately to call the kitten to me and take it in where it would be safe. As I rounded the rear of the car, four kittens and an adult cat ran beneath it. I then came to the conclusion that someone had dropped off a mother cat and her kittens directly in my driveway. I put food out for them in hopes that they would come to me and I could shelter them in my garage, but they were very skittish and I could not get near them.

I fed the mother twice and then she disappeared. I had no idea what happened to her. I had hoped that someone had taken her in, so I concentrated on feeding and caring for the four kittens. They are beautiful! Three were long haired and the fourth was sleek. All had their mother's tabby markings. Over a period of two months or so, I managed to tame three of them. The fourth is still a bit skittish, but he's coming around. I named them after the four seasons, Autumn, Winter, Spring, and Summer and I have decided to keep them.

Sometime in December the mother turned up again. She looked pregnant and pretty far along. I wanted to trap her before she delivered her kittens, so I looked for a trap in pet stores that would not harm her, but couldn't find any anywhere.

Finally, I got on-line and emailed Caninepower for help. PCA emailed me with information within an hour or so. I bought a trap and was successful capturing the mother on the first try. I put her in a large dog kennel and waited for her to give birth. No babies seemed forthcoming and I thought maybe I had been wrong and that she was just really fuzzy.

She settled down in the back of the kennel and I couldn't get a good look at her body to see if my first assumption had been correct. The poor thing had been treated badly and reacted with hostility every time I cleaned her cage. I nearly got my arm scratched off a couple of times while changing her bedding.

I decided to give her until the beginning of February and, if she hadn't had kittens by then, take her and have her spayed. Well, on Sunday, January 5, 2003, she began having her litter. The mother cat had seven kittens, all healthy. Thanks to PCA and A New Beginning Care and Rescue, I was able to borrow a large cat cage. The babies and the mother have much more room to move about.

I pick up and strok the kittens regularly to familiarize them with the human touch in hopes this will make them social enough to attract adopters. There are two calico, two black and white tuxedos, a solid black, a black with tabby points, and a tortoise shell. Most of them are long haired.

My fervent hope is that these little ones never have to go through what their mother apparently did. I haven't given up hope on taming the mother but if she is too feral for adoption, I will have her spayed and she will always have a home in my yard."

~ Catherine

Jessie's Story

July 11, 2002

A message came in to Best Friends in Utah from a lady who found a dog in distress. Her message was "I found a dog sitting in the median on John Young Parkway in Orlando, looking petrified. I turned around and went back to him. He came right up to me and jumped in my car. He sat in the passenger seat and laid his head on my lap."

"He is about one year old and he has a broken leg. I took him to the vet but the hard part is if they fix his leg, he will need complete rest for 4 to 6 weeks. I have a 10 year-old pit and I know this dog would not get the rest he needs."

"I contacted everybody I knew yesterday and could not get help. This dog is the sweetest. He is fine around children and cats and dogs. I took him to animal control after crying for hours over him and because his leg is broken, they will not put him up for adoption. Instead he would be euthanized."

"This dog is probably one of the sweetest dogs I have seen. Please help me save this dog. He looks like a hound dog, brown with white markings."

Best Friends put this message on a Statewide network asking for help.

Day 2: Becky writes, everything is fine except he doesn't like to be left alone. Need to get a crate. He chewed the back door and the screen. Other than that he is fine. Slept in bedroom with me and Roscoe. I have named him Jessie.

Day 4: X-rays were taken. Two bones broken above the paw.

Day 5: Scheduled for surgery. Went home later in the day.

Day 24: Although sweet, Jessie definitely has some behavioral problems. He hates being left alone. If he is put in the crate he cries and Roscoe gets upset. He ate my glasses and put a hole in my couch. He like being outside but he also digs. Every night we have training in the backyard. I've taught him to sit and down but the being left alone is starting to get to me.

Day 28: Jessie was neutered today. He had to have a cone put on his head so he would leave the incision alone. He kept running into everything, including Roscoe and Roscoe is scared of the cone so he gets behind Jessie now so Jessie can't see him.

Day 110: Jessie is a sweetie and one tough guy to go through all he did. He definitely was worth the trouble.

(Email for Jessie's guardian 1/4/03):

"I like Jessie's story. I hope it will encourage more people to adopt and to offer help.

Jessie has come a long way. He has settled in fine. His is a sweetie and Roscoe really watches over him. The other night, they were in the backyard and Roscoe kept barking. I looked out and Jessie was chewing my tennis shoe. I know Roscoe tells on him. This actually turned out better than I thought. It has given Roscoe a lot more exercise and a companion.

Thanks for everything,

~ Becky"

Lucky's Story

March 1989

Lucky lay dying at a gas station in Casselberry, a small town in Central Florida. One evening on my way home from work I stopped at this gas station and noticed a young dog lying by some pieces of bread, hot dogs, etc., that people threw toward him. He was not interested in food as he was too ill to even hold his head up.

I asked the owned of the gas station what he was going to do about Lucky, and he replied, "When the station closes, he will probably wander away." But, Lucky wasn't going anywhere as he was dying. Unaware of how ill he was, I picked him up and put him in my car. Later, Dr. Eans, of the Winter Springs Veterinary Clinic, diagnosed him with distemper, a contagious often fatal virus disease of dogs. It was "touch and go" for several weeks. Finally, Lucky began to heal. This is his picture after nine months of care and treatment. He was now, one and a half years old. Still a pup.

when he was found in March, he was only a pup of six months. Dr. Eans gave him a birth date of September 1, 1988. The picture above shows a busy, happy, healthy one and a half year old, with a shiny coat and into everything.

For the next fourteen years Lucky enriched our lives with his love and devotion. He raised a number of children and patiently let them inspect the insides of his ears and put their tiny fingers up his nostrils, never snapping or growling. Eans was with us again on July 13, 2002, when we had to say good-bye to our friend as he crossed over the rainbow bridge. PCA's main message is to end the euthanasia of adoptable companion pets. It is for companion pets like Lucky that members of Protectors of Companion Animals, Inc. seek to stop the needless killing of many of our would be friends.

Certainly Lucky belonged to someone before he was left abandoned to die. It is because of this, and many other helpless pets deserted, a portion of our Mission Statement reads... To encourage pet owners to abide by their commitment to a lifetime relationship.