Hey Pandas, Tell Us Your Rescued Animal Stories (Closed)

I moved states 8 years ago and my new neighborhood had feral cats everywhere - dozens upon dozens. Many had been abandoned. It was heartbreaking. I hooked up with a local rescue and in the past two years alone we have spayed/neutered and vaccinated 59 cats just from my street. It will soon be 60! A few days ago we found the sweetest li'l fuzzy girl in the garage and took her in. We have been able to tame 9 of the cats enough to keep inside and have built shelters for the rest in our garage. I've found safe homes for about two dozen, but the rest are unadoptable for medical or behavioral issues. We feed around 30 cats twice a day now and each feeding is an absolute stampede! We also have a Pekingese I took from a puppy mill and a black mouth cur some jackwang dumped here a few winters back. Both are absolute sweethearts. The endless cleaning can be backbreaking and the food/vet costs are astronomical, and I will keep on caring for them as long as they need me. I had pretty severe depression before I started rescuing, but focusing on saving them has helped so much. So, I guess they saved me back.

we recently rescued a puppy! her name is luna, and she is a chihuahua-dachshund mix. there is a little rescue near us that takes the dogs they can from high-kill shelters and gives them to good homes. we think she was found with her mom on the side of the road and the mom and the puppies were taken into the high-kill shelter, or luna was born in the high-kill shelter. she is VERY bold and brave and wild and loud and lovely. :)

It was New Years, and we were setting up for fireworks when a black blur ran into our garage, and hid behind our pile of boxes. We took a look and saw it was a tuxedo kitten. Now I, being nine at the time, tried to stupidly pick her up. What shocked me is that she started purring in my arms. I named her Terry (no clue why), and now she is currently in my living room terrorizing my other cats (in a playful way). :)

Not really rescued but I live with my grandma and my mom had a cat named Moo. (My dad who passed gave her to my mom so she is pretty special, well she is pretty special already I luv her so much)!
Moo kept escaping so my moms apartment owner said that she had to be re-homed. My mom was looking on Facebook for anyone to take her and my brother came upon the add and asked my grandma to take her in so now Moo lives with us! She is cleaning herself on her favourite chair as I am typing this. :)

I recently lost my amazing cat to kidney failure and decided to get his brother (he was also adopted by my family) another buddy and brought home a beautiful small gray female who for a long time wouldn’t let any of us touch her and she had lost all faith in people. Her background is unknown to us to this day but we are positive that wherever she came from wasn’t a good place. Now she is the sweetest girl and will enjoy your company whenever.

Not appropriate for young kids, and not my story, happened to a friend of mine (my cats and pups all came from the shelter). My friend had a street cat that they would set food out for. He and his wife were debating on whether to just take the cat in. She wanted to, but he didn't know if he wanted a full-time pet. One day the cat stopped showing up, and they were worried. Then my friend found a cat under a bush near his building. The cat had been skinned, and he felt horrible thinking he could have saved it. A couple of weeks later, he's sitting outside, and he sees his cat walking up to him looking for food. Did not hesitate to bring the cat back to his home this time. We don't know who that other cat was, or which terrible person did this to it. But my friend's cat has been with them now for 12 years. He's old and fat and very happy.

Benny lived in a 24" x 24" box at Petsmart for 7 months after he was arrested for street fighting multiple times. The thought was that he would reform into a loving creature if the right family took the time to get to know him.

He came home with us after we lost our bestest boy, so we expected some minor shifts in the overall hierarchy in the house. We used snuggle tactics, psycho-pharmeceuticals (catnip), and a grain free diet, all things recommended by our vet to ease him into an ex-con lifestyle.

After a few years of rehabilitation he still tries to establish dominance by screaming the song of his people after he poops, mounting our female adult tripawd tuxedo, and swipes at you when you walk by. He is and always will be an ex-con.

As I started to type this: he jumped onto our coffee table and started to drag his butt across it. And everyone in the house wonders why I gave him the nickname "Poopy".

Benny was trapped in a box for 7 months where his food was next to his litterbox. He was almost adopted by a couple who "already had 3 cats" and were clearly struggling with a meth addiction. We made a choice to adopt a criminal so he wouldn't end up back in the system.

We love him. He's a total jerk, but we love him.

Not my pet but i saved a cricket from my teacher who wanted to kill it.. now i dont like crickets so i brang it outside and set it free. As i walked back inside another teacher came up to me and said that it was very humanitarian of me... if humans created animal abuse why would they name good animal deeds after themselvez🤔

All my pets have been rescues. The most interesting story is an older one. When I was younger, my family used to take a yearly trip from Oregon to Texas to visit distant relatives. One trip when I was about ten, we were driving through heavy rain, almost three hours from home. My dad spotted something in a flooded ditch. He pulled over and pulled a tiny black and white kitten out of the water. We gave it bits of McDonald's chicken sandwich and wrapped him in a t-shirt. We drove back home and left him and my dad there while we continued our trip. I only found out later, my dad expected the cat to to die but he did his best and the cat lived. He had serious mental issues and a continuous runny nose but he lived a good long life. We named him Windy Kitty because of the storm. He was a cuddle monster that loves to play with the raccoons on our property.

About two and half years ago, a black cat appeared on my front porch. (Black cats are my favorite cats BTW) I thought it was a feral cat that I had been trying to befriend but was very skittish. I would see her out there through my front door for about a week. One Saturday me and hubby were working in the garage and I had seen her lounging there when I walked by my front door. I decided to try and approach her. I walked around to the front of my house from the garage and when she saw me, she walked right up to me with her tail straight up in the air. In that moment, we bonded. I got her some food, coaxed her around to my back patio, and that's her home now. She's my patio cat. I named her Catio. I think she was abandoned. She was emaciated and her claws were all broken. She was definitely socialized and I'm certain she's spayed because she hasn't turned up pregnant in 2.5 years. I live in Central Florida so I don't worry about her being exclusively outside cat. I did get her a cat tree for the patio and she always has fresh food and water. They say you don't choose cats, they choose you, and that is certainly the case for me and Catio. She has brought me a lot of comfort just having her around. She greets me every morning.

When I was 17 I had to get off the bus as I was having a panic attack. I walked to the nearest store and on my way there this little scruffy Jack Russell came running up to me. He wasn't wearing a leash and there was no owner in sight. He followed me to the store but ended up being hit by a car that was reversing from a bay. Luckily it only tapped him slightly and knocked him to the ground without further injury. I picked him up and took him to the police station but was told the dog warden wouldn't be available until Monday (it was late on a Friday afternoon) so I took him home on the next bus and little Todd lived with us for 15 years until he was a really old boy. I put up "found" flyers after taking him home but nobody ever claimed him.

My husband got adopted by a stray cat years ago. Hubby saw this cat had fallen in the river, so he fished him out and the cat (Kinto) stayed with my hubby ever since.
He was a lovely cat, and when I'd go and stay at my husband's old house, Kinto would occasionally sleep on my head, because reasons.
Unfortunately Kinto died a couple of years ago, but we have an urn with his ashes by the fireplace in our new home. RIP buddy, we miss you.

On a trip to Ireland I opened my car door to find a ginger cat sat waiting outside my cottage rental. That cat adopted me and refused to leave me alone. Kept me company and sat on my achy body when I had a flare up. Turned out the cottages stood on the site of a former hotel. The cat belonged to the hotel owner who also had a dog. When he sold the hotel he took the dog with him but left the cat. Well, after getting everything checked out, I adopted my new ginger friend and brought him back with me to the UK. That furry guy was a right character and was actually more like a dog because he'd grown up with one. He even loved going for walks with me or playing out in the rain. I miss our times together. RIP my furry friend.

Living in the country, we always had barn cats. A friend found a stray and brought her to our house. Female, grey and so beautiful, but she was MEAN!!! So mean that we named her Jezebel. We'd walk by her and she would hiss. One day my daughter, 6 at the time, decided that Jezebel was going to be her friend whether she wanted to or not. She spent the majority of the day just sitting in the barn close to where Jezebel would sit. When I went to the barn to check on her, Jezebel was on her lap purring. My daughter was the only one she wouldn't hiss at. She loved that mean cat and that mean cat loved her.

This is my pet... my dog is a chihuahua mix so hes very tall for a chihuahua. Idk if he has any syblings but when he was born his mom couldnt support him (milk wise) so he had to be bottle or hand fed.... the owner gave him to me and my 2 younger brothers, but i mainly take care of him... he turned 6 in october.. and is currently sleepin on my lap🐶

Back in February, we found a baby mouse almost drowned in our toilet. Knew it wouldn't survive outdoors in the cold. We got a hamster house for her and Baby Mouse watches TV with us, bangs her bowl when she's hungry and LOVES peanut butter.

my cat. I'll tell you her name after the story. Okay, so it was christmas time. my dad called me outside to see a little cat that was up against our brick wall of our house. she was hissing at us. My dad had taken me to mcdonalds and I had gotten a happy meal. This is important to know. She was so scared and she looked beaten up. my dad looked at me and said "you think your mama would let us take her in?" I just kinda spaced out and said "i dunno" I was hoping she would say yes. She was still at work. He sent the picture and i was crossing my fingers. She said that we could if we could catch her. So my dad told me to go back in the house. Later, he eventually caught her and put her inside of our game room. She was so skittish. We poured out some french fries from the happy meal so that she could just get a little food inside of her. Later, we were deciding on a name. My dad said "She just looks like a 'Lizzie'." i said "mmm i don't think that's what she is." Then it clicked. "We should name her French Fry." He said "I like that. Alright. French Fry. And the rest is history. No I'm just playing. She will only run to the door for him. Not me. She hisses at me and my mom. So we nicknamed her Satan. lol

Before I met my husband nearly 19 years ago, I had a beautiful tuxedo kitten who I adopted when he was just 8 weeks old. I named him Mully Alexander, and we adored one another. He went everywhere with me except to work. Mully was a jealous boy, and he hated any guy I dated- except for the one who went from boyfriend to fiancé to husband. They say animals know things. Sadly, Mully developed a stomach tumor that ruptured and turned septic. He died 2 months before turning 10. My husband knew how heartbroken I was and promised we would get another cat. I never saw one as beautiful as Mullycat so my husband decided he would get a dog. Murphy Alexander came bounding into our life 7 months after Mullyman left. Our brindle pagle (pi/basset/beagle mix) became our favorite hello and our saddest goodbye. The near 7 years he was here are full of memories, learning curves, hugs, snuggles and kisses. Eventually Murphy Alexander succumbed to lymphoma and boy, did that suck! We debated about getting another dog or not when my husband found Pinky on our shelter’s website. (Memphis Animal Services) and realized he had so much potential. Pinky was christened Brutus Augustus and has gone from 30 pounds bag of bones to a strapping 60 pound beautiful boy who loves everyone and lives life to the fullest every day.

My son was working security in Phoenix. June in Az is hot! He saw a puppy in the bushes. Put her in his truck and filled his hat with water to give her a drink. Gave her his sandwich. Brought her home. That was 12 years ago. She still sleeps in his bed.

When I was about 11/12 I was got home from school and just before I got to my door I saw a little shrew. We lived on a farm so it wasn’t unusual to see animals all over the place. But she was walking funny, wobbling around and not in a straight line, so I stopped her and picked her up in a leaf. I then took her inside, put her in my old hamster cage and showed my mum. We named her Clover (her favorite food - the leaves not the flowers) and took care of her for about 2 weeks. She was so sweet and I was kinda sad to let her go but yk. Wasn’t gonna keep her in captivity. So I let her out into my front yard and I hope she lived a long happy life.