adoption
Our guide to animal adoption; learn why, where, and how to prepare to adopt a cat, kitten, dog or puppy from an animal shelter or rescue group.
Love And Sorrow
I was never going to have a cat. There’s nothing wrong with cats, but with my allergies, living with a cat didn’t seem possible. Then, in the spring of 2020, a stray cat had kittens in my scrap wood pile. I thought it would be handy having a few cats around the property, so I cut a cat door in the wall of my shop and started putting food and water inside, to encourage her to move her kittens in and stick around.
By Beau Harmon5 years ago in Petlife
Jay
I first saw "dipstick", as they called him, running full blast with no care, a chip on his shoulder, and enough confidence that made me even question if I was looking at a dog and not a college boy. What sold me on him was his attitude to small children, because my grandmother had all of us grandkids at her house all the time it was a must he was good with children. I had been on the look at shelters for a while, I had lost my previous dog to a FedEx truck. I was looking for that connection I had before, and normal shelter dogs weren't working. Even though he was not being fed well, he was infested with ticks, and these people did not want him he still had spirit. This was also a situation that I felt if I did not take him home with me, he would die. He would ultimately meet the same fate as his mother before him, with a bullet to the head.
By Kaysha Mock5 years ago in Petlife
Vicki and Ani
The vastness of the lonely long road ahead of me, that one teacher that disapproved of my homework and announced it to the class as a lesson of what not to do, and shaky hands did not help my anxiety on my way to the first day of third grade. First day of school in Armenia felt like a whole new challenge, my cold grey desk awaited me as did the same students from last year who did not use to choose me for group activities. My grandmother walked with me every day, everyone in our neighborhood knew each other and I got to see the other neighborhood kids walking to school with similarly anxious face expressions. Just the day before, we had been playing tag, building random structures with sticks and stones, and anything else we would think of on the spot. One of the older kids used to walk me up to my apartment on the fourth floor where my grandmother would stand at the doorway shaking her head because I had yet again disobeyed her order to get home early, and by then it was dark and scary for me to walk up the flight of stairs alone.
By Tamara Tatevosian-Geller5 years ago in Petlife
Accidental Adoption
It was mid-October in Michigan, and I was visiting my family from South Carolina. I hadn’t been home in awhile, and my youngest brother, Max’s, 13th birthday was coming up. My mom and I were sitting in the living room, with a glass of wine, trying to come up with a fun surprise for a 13 year old boy.
By Danielle Hein5 years ago in Petlife
My dog wears shoes
Zoe is part border collie, part shar-pei, and part bull terrier. I was told by the service dog organization that they were going to find a dog to train for me and asked me if I wanted to be part of picking one out. We met at the animal shelter, and began our search. We looked for about an hour and a half, and after interacting with several dogs, we had not found one that we felt was right. As we were leaving, one of the volunteers said they had a puppy that was brought back to them by a so called service dog trainer that said she was not right for their program.
By Steven Crane Sr5 years ago in Petlife
Fork in the Road
This is a tale of how two souls from different worlds came to be one soul family, one of the human race and one of the canine race. It would take great heartache from both of their past to bring them together. As fate will have it, a girl and her four-legged girl furriend would have to take a leap of faith to find their second chance in life.
By Raquel Valdez5 years ago in Petlife
A Snowball in Texas
Almost a year ago, my best friend from high school messaged me one day asking if I knew anyone who would want to adopt a kitten or two. She sent me a picture of this teeny tiny little white ball of fur, along with his 3 siblings who were all orange. Quite strange how a momma cat who was all orange and the daddy was all orange, too, could have a litter of 4 kittens and one comes out all white. Who knew? Well, I showed the pictures of the kittens to my mom and she said she wished she could take another one in to join the crowd of her eleven cats. I told my best friend that I wanted the white one. But I didn't know how my then-husband would react since he wasn't really a cat lover. When I showed him the picture of the litter, he immediately said he wanted the white one, too. So, it was settled. I let my best friend know that we wanted the white one. A few other people had wanted him, too, but she said she would give him to me if I was serious about adopting him. I told her I wouldn't change my mind for the world. I've always wanted a white cat that I could name Snowball. Over the previous ten or so years, we had fed some all white cats who we named Snowball, but they were never really ours.
By Vanna Vorbach5 years ago in Petlife
Bryson Tiller Saved My Life
I honestly was not a dog person. Like... I was seriously terrified of dogs growing up. I could sit here and detail my experiences, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I went to college and thanks to the ridiculously cute pups they kept bringing on campus I became a changed woman. I went from crossing the street if I saw a dog approaching, to literally not being able to pass a dog without wanting to pet it at the VERY least.
By Kaye Thompson5 years ago in Petlife
For the Love Of Sid
In January 2009, my husband and I lived in the suburbs of Riga, Latvia, in a two-story house with our then fur baby, a darling girl cat named Cha-Cha. January 2009 started off badly for us. Cha-Cha had respiratory problems, and at the age of 12, she died in my arms. It seemed that sometimes the heartache would suffocate as the days went on, and there was no loving furry face to make us smile. Finally, as March drew near and the spring was getting closer, my husband agreed to adopt a cat. We had found Cha-Cha in a friend's garden, but now we would go online and see what the animal rescue services in Riga, Latvia offered for adoption. As I looked at the photos suddenly, there he was with dark and light grey fur and so very handsome I got very excited. We made the arrangements and went to see if we could adopt this boy cat.
By Rasma Raisters5 years ago in Petlife
