a lot of us "rescue" bettas

[Booboo puppy]

When we lived in the country we rescued numerous stray kittens and cats. We kept some and we found homes for the others. I think people just dropped them off and assumed that they could fend for themselves. We had a lot of coyotes and cougars around and cats were not safe on their own!

 

[Iridescent]

My dog was at a shelter that euthenizes and he was there for 3 weeks and no one ever looked into adopting him so I chose him, that and he was the best little pup there! I love him more than anything in the world now.

Niño!^^

 

[LifeBear]

I am allergic to things with hair.
But that doesn't stop the rescues...

a 6 inch angelfish being kept in a 10 gallon tank...
Gabriel loves his bigger home

a 10 inch oscar that was getting too big...
Hagrid is all atitude. He loves nightcrawlers.

and a Red Eared Slider turtle who was being kept in a turtle lagoon with no heater, no UV light and only 2 inches of water. She was very stunted and had a bad case of shellrot.
Sushi hasn't grown any. She was the same size as my 2 month old hatchling when I got her. Her owner said she had had her for 2 years. My Mickey has grown but Sushi hasn't. She will probably stay small, but the shellrot has cleared up quite nicely.

 

[corykitty516]

I nearly forgot about the opossom and the squirrels!!! Someone bashed a mother possum to death with a hammer and then discovered it had babies. My mother and I raised the babies with a bottle. They made awesome pets! They dont live their lifespan isnt very long though, only about 5 years.... I was sad when they died.
A baby grey squirrel fell out of a tree at church and we bottle raised that too. It could not be released because the fall had skewed its jaw and its teeth had to be trimmed regularly to keep it from starving to death. Also, on a church youth trip, I rescued a baby flying squirrel from some boys that were tourturing it. My youth minister was SOOOO mad at me but I would not put it down until my mother came to get it. We were able to release him to the wild after a few months.
THEN there was the bird ... A car in front of me hit a bird and it bounced off their windshield. I pulled over and RAN OUT IN NOONDAY TRAFFIC to scoop the still flopping bird into a shoe box that I happpened to have on the front seat of my car. There was a church nearby where I am friends with the ministers and they have a high walled little prayer garden where no cats can get in ... its about 2-3 story walls on all sides... I took this bird in there and let him rest in the garden until he had recovered from being stunned. Nothing was broken so after a few hours he just flew off

My grandmother cannot understand why we do this ... it drives her crazy ... I dont understand why more people DONT care about animals

Oh... and the phrase "well its just an animal" and ESPECIALLY the phrase "its just a fish" REALLY burns me up

 

[Saucy]

Oh yes!! It bugs me when people say "it's only an animal" too!! A bird flew into the side window of my car and died last year while I was driving up to Minnesota and I cried. I was SO upset about it... darn light blue cars.

We also had rescued squirrels. There was a piece of wood pulling up from one of the eves of our house, so my dad got out the ladder and swept out all the leaves in there and nailed it back down. Turns out a momma squirrel had had her 3 babies up there. They were SO small. They said only a few days old. I left them outside for a while to see if mommy would find them, but I got freaked when night fell and the temperature dropped, so we brought them inside. I wrapped them in fleece, set them on a heating pad and let them sleep the night in a basket. The next morning we brought them to wildlife rescue where they did great!!

 

[wwestar2000]

I brought in a stray kitten two years ago and he grew up and became part of the family. We then moved and a half a year later, one of my neighboors poisened him. He died about a month and a half ago. Im posting a pic of him.

 

[3fsh]

I've only rescued one betta... but I've rescued many other fish/animals. These include: Guppies (fry and adults), Molly fry, Platys, Plecos, Birds (European Starling/Pidgeons/Pelican Juvinile/Baby Songbird/etc.), and others that I can't think of right now.

 

[FishEnthusiast]

This one doesn't have as happy an ending. I forgot about these until they were mentioned. I was on the Skytrain(for those that don't know, think of a subway built in the air, no driver though, completely computer operated) years ago. A bird got sucked into the side of the skytrain. I heard it hit. I made my boyfriend at the time go and search for it. We did find it, but it had broken it's neck.

That same ex boyfriend and I were working next to this large field. We found some baby mice, or maybe mole or shrew. They were tiny. and not in a nest. We waited all day for their mother to come home. She never did, so we took them home. They were still tiny, no hair, eyes closed, the whole thing. We tried to bottle feed, but they only made it a week. We tried to find a wildlife center to take them, but no one would.

It also bugs me when someone says it is only an animal. We are animals too for goodness sake. If I could I would help all animals everywhere. I help when I have the chance. I am finally done school, and by choice only working part time. I am going to volunteer at my local spca, and possibly another no kill shelter that is in my neighbourhood.

 

[Elise]

I love to hear these stories. Even the sad ones, because it shows that someone cares. Even if the sad things were caused by bad people, the good people who care enough to notice and help are what make the world go round.

BTW, here is a pic of my deaf cat (I know, not fish related, but I can't resist).

Wwestar, I am sorry for your loss of the stray kitty. At least you gave him a lovin home while he was alive.

And, I firmly believe that every living thing deserves a chance. One time, as a kid, I rescued a snail that my friend was going to salt. Poor thing. But then he came home with me and ate all of my garden plants instead!

 

[floppydee]

Yeah you should always "ISO" your new hermies for a few weeks before introducing them into the main tank first. It may sound mean to leave them alone for weeks, but it prevents everyone from getting sick.

 

[Kiarra]

Actually, I live in a house of rescues. Seriously.

The Dog:
Riley came to use from a rescue organization. He was born in a closet, where his mother was kept all the time. Someone got wind of this, and his mother and all the pups (on the day they were born) were snatched up and reared by a foster family. We got him at 10 months, because they could scarcely stand to part with the little guy, especially since he was sick when he was little, and had to have an IV. He nearly died, and they nursed him back to health.

The Cats:
KitKat came to use 9 years ago from one of Petsmart's adoptions. I don't know her story, as I was quite young at the time, and just excited beyond belief to finally have a cat.

Charlie was born feral outside my mother's work. They feed his mother up there, and, when he was three months old, we caught him and brought him home with us. We didn't manage to catch his littermate sister or his mother at the time, but we neutered him and reared him in our own house.

Tommy and Molly were born feral, with a littermate sister, to the same mother as Charlie, about 8 months later. We caught Molly first, and she came to live with us. Two weeks later, we caught Tommy.

Meanwhile, Charlie's littermate sister had a litter of her own, which gave us Cali and Willie. We caught Cali at the same time we caught Molly, and we caught Willie at the same time we caught Tommy. Willie was entirely untameable...he was extremely scared, and he would strike and urinate all over himself when we had to catch him. We neutered him and sent him back.

We also managed to catch Charlie's mother, sister, and the littermate sister of Tommy and Molly and spay them, then turned them back, as they cannot be domesticated at so late a date. But the rest of them live with us.

The Horses:
Casey, Ryssa, Shiloh, and Abby Rose all came to us from the BLM's Adopt-A-Mustang rescue program. Nikki also did, and, while they were all rescues, she was more of a rescue than the others, as, when we found her, she had just had a hernia surgery, she had strangles, and she was virtually dead. She had no meat on her, just skin and bone. The BLM and we all thought she would be dead within the week, but we adopted her, anyway, got her on medication, and fed her as much as she would eat. 7 months later, she's still a little skinny, but she's alive, and she loves us quite well for it.

Edit: Stupid spelling errors.

 

[Elise]

We had a horse named Shiloh too! I always loved that name.

 

[Allie]

I rescued a Mourning Dove that had been injured. I kept her for a couple months in a cage, but she was always so afraid. I finally took her to a pet clinic and they said they would put her in a bird sanctuary.

 

[red-devil0602]

god i've been at it for years and i'm only 26, to name but a few

2 doves
2 staffies
1 alsatian x
1 black bird
1 betta
1 danio
1 lamb (mum nearly had a heart attack with that 1)
1 calf and mother (emergency section i had to sit on the mother to try and hold her down, not recommended)
1 duckling
lots of swans
these are just ones i did personally have done loads more with the local animal welfare

 

[Prizm]

I rescued a chicken who was wandering near a busy hwy in town Poor girl, I think she was "dumped" after Easter.

Heheh, here she is now--Almost fully grown!

(The gray ball in the background is our rabbit, Dusty.)

She's a real sweety, and if you can give her a better home, you may have her (but as a pet only--for this Peep is NOT for Eat!) We need to give her to someone with a farm or land with some chickens for her to befriend. She follows the cat around.