I found a litter of 3 kittens living under my car one chilly and rainy March morning 3 years ago. I was able to rescue my little girl Peanut right away. The 2 kittens left were both boys and very wild. I was finally able to rescue one of them and he tore my hands and forearms up when I carried him up the stairs to my apartment. My husband called him Ghost because we only saw him for a minute and he was back under the couch. He would stick his head out to eat. Peanut and my older cat Tiger convinced him that life was good here and he was safe. It took a year for Ghost to let me pet him. Now he is in my lap as soon as I sit down and he follows me around the house. He is a very spoiled and happy silly boy and I love him.

Lucky Spark came in the day after "Spark Day" this year, a holiday created in honor of an old dog on the brink of death that Wetzel County Animal Shelter saved by keeping the Spark of Life alive in him and helping "Sparky" find a home to enjoy for the last nine months of his life. She was named in honor of the holiday. This poor girl was sitting alone in a rural area and someone stopped to help her. She clearly was starving and is very underweight. The Good Samaritan brought her to Wetzel County Animal Shelter in New Martinsville, WV where she is estimated to be 1 to 2 years old. She weighs only 33 lbs. -- so underweight for a boxer mix, but despite the neglect oh so sweet.and loving! There they bathed her and gave her the primary vaccines to ensure her good health. This dog is most certainly lucky to have found her way to the shelter, but to follow in Sparky's pawprints she needs to find a home of her own. Right now she waits at the shelter, happy to have found an oasis of compassion, but longing for a dog bed of her own to snuggle in and a person of her own to love.

I rescued Sunnie from a Backyard Scumbag Breeder. When I took her to the vet I was told she was pregnant. 10 days later she gave birth to 3 beautiful puppies which I kept them all. Sunnie was used as a breeding machine. She was skin and bones. Now she is a loving healthy mommy. And a good mommy she is. Would not give her up for the world. Love my Sunnie Girl.

I decided to get a dog, a poodle, because of my allergies. He was going to be any color but white. No fufu dog for me. For months, every weekend looking, putting my name on lists and then one evening there he was on pet finder. The next day I went to the shelter to get him. He was so friendly and happy. I was told I had to wait three days. Three days later I was there waiting for the shelter to open. I never noticed how matted he was until the officer told me. All I knew was that was my dog and he was coming home. I took him to the vet for a checkup and he shaved him. They brought out this little guy I didn’t recognize. Oh no a fufu dog, a white poodle, but too late he already stole my heart. He would follow me every where. Always come when called. Waited on the steps for me to come home or at the door when I opened it. Always ready for a car ride or a walk. He was loved until his last day nine years later. Matty, I didn't know I could love you so much and hurt so much when you were gone.

When I saw him it was love at first sight. I believe I was around 12 when my parents told myself and my smaller sister that we would be dog sitting "Rex" for a few weeks. What we didn't know at the time, was that he was all ready ours as long as he wasn't aggressive. A friend brought him to us, and he crawled into my lap right away, and started licking my face. I found out later that Rex had been abused in his previous home. We believe his past owner had different men over (because he was okay with my mum after a while, but it took my dad a long time) and he had been neglected. He didn't know what a walk was, and never ate or drank as much as he needed, as if he was reserving it. It made me so sad and angry, but I knew the best thing I could do for him was love him with all my heart.

Rex has been with us for around three years now, and we have loved him. He is super protective when we're at home, but gets very timid when meeting people outside. I can't imagine my life without Rex, and I love him with every ounce of my being.

Even though he still has nightmares some times, we're all getting through this together. I love him, and I'm so glad he came to us.

I live in a small Mississippi river town where I am a local firefighter One evening as I was mowing my property I sensed something behind me and turned around to find a dog trotting down my drive way from the small two lane highway I live off of. !! Where did you come from, I asked her!! She rolled over on her back as I rubbed her belly a bit and then I went and got her a bowl of water and just as I was setting the bowl down my alarm goes off and its a call for a structure fire so I said "bye pup , I got to go"! and off I went to fight the fire !! I got home late and to my surprise there she was laying in the garage !!. . Now being on a highway like I am I didn't really want to have a dog for obvious reasons so the next morning, I went around a few of the farms near me and asked about her but found out nothing . So I went down to the store, got her some food and a collar, about two weeks passed and Smokie just hung around the property, She sleeps in the garage. Came home late one evening and turning in to my drive I caught the site of something near the shoulder and my heart just sunk !! It was Smokie laying down but had her head up. I gently tried to move her but she yelped and whimpered in obvious pain but then jumped up and limped back to the garage still hurting. She laid down on her bed and I laid beside her all night then first thing in the morn took her to the vet where they checked her out. Bruised and battered but other wise ok I got her shots, spayed and all fixed up and to this day she is always by my side and NEVER goes near the highway any more ! And that's the story about how Smokie adopted me !!

On New Year's Eve 2010, on a very cold Chicago night, a guardian angel disguised as a pedestrian heard a wee squeak and discovered a four-week-old kitten trapped in a chain-link fence. The little fella was nearly frozen to death: icy cold, and eyes swollen to the size of ping-pong balls. He wouldn't have made it through the night without being rescued. Another guardian angel rushed him to the vet, where he was warmed up and the fleas that were frozen into his fur were removed. They named him Link, and hoped he would survive.

He made it through the night, and the next night, and the next. The vet stopped talking about removing his swollen eyes when they shrunk in size and he was able to see. He moved into a foster home, where he was loved by all, even the cranky cats already in residence.

When he was seven months old, the woman who had taken him to the vet and fostered him -- his second guardian angel -- started looking for a forever home for him. I saw his photo and was wary because the description mentioned his chronic runny eyes and drippy nose, results of the night he was found. I wasn't even looking for another cat, so I tried hard to forget him, but his sweet face and the description of his loving personality stuck with me. I made an appointment to meet him, and a week later he came home with me.

Nearly two years later, he steals everyone's hearts. He has a little frostbite scar on his nose, and his eyes don't quite look in the same direction, but he's never met anyone he didn't love. He's rambunctious, smart and inquisitive, and his fur is soft and shiny. He follows me everywhere, and if I'm sitting, he wants to be petted or held. He is now "Simon," because I didn't want his name to reflect the worst night of his life, but it was also his luckiest. I am forever grateful to his guardian angels for saving this little sweetheart of a guy.

I adopted my baby girl August of 2009 from a shelter. I looked at another cat named Boo but he was the most hyper cat you have ever seen and I y mom was not willing to adopt him and I am so glad we didnt because I asked to see my second choice... Bambi. When the one of the workers placed her in a room where I was to meet her she crawled under a table into a corner and was terrified! I crawled under there myself and picked up her small trembling form and placed her in my hoodie.

The lady that worked there looked at me in shock because I was the first person that asked to see her that actually got her out of the corner. I held Bambi's head to my chest and let her listen to my heart beat and she stopped shaking and started purring! I later found out that they werent going to let her be adopted until they saw how I interacted with her. They asked if I wanted to change her name but I didnt... I couldnt think of a name that fit her better than Bambi.

To this day she is still skiddish, if she doesnt know you she will not come out from under my bed for a while and she is only herself around me. If you look at the picture I have posted her left eye (your right) is a little more closed than the other... She has something I have NEVER seen before.. In her pupil there is something like a crack going through it and you can see the color behind. It is truly unique. She also likes to sleep with her tongue sticking out!

She is a character and I love her so much! She comes when I call her and if she wants to be petted and you dont want to she will MAKE you pet her! She has woken me up by doing so. I am truly lucky my little Bambi let me in her heart.

I was on my way home from work on hot, 120 degree day in the middle of July in the Phoenix area. 3 blocks from home, driving past a field, I spotted what appeared to be a young dog running. She was emaciated, skin and bones. I slowed down, and came to a stop near where she was at. She stopped, sat down and looked at me. She then slowly walked around the front of my car, turned and walked around the back...like she was checking it out. She then returned to where she started, and sat down again. I slowly got out of the car, and held out my hand. She sniffed my wrist, licked it and then jumped in the car. Had her checked out, she was somewhere between 6 and 8 months old. Other than being severely underweight, and the pads on her paws torn and burned from the pavement, she was healthy. She is now 4 1/2 years old, spayed, current on all of her shots, weighs 43 lbs and is the sweetest, most loyal and loving little girl. She turned out to be a black lab/pit mix. She is now an indoor lady, who is as quiet as a Whisper...thus her name. Whisper.

Almost ten years ago, my dad and I were walking a popular trail located in our city. It was a sunny day and clear skies when all of a sudden, we heard mewling. It was very faint, but as there was no residential around we thought perhaps it was a lost animal. After following the sound, we found a deep ditch with mud at the bottom where a tiny kitten's upper body was barely visible. My dad cautiously slid down and dug the kitten out.

Surprisingly, it was a busy trail, yet either no one had heard it, or it hadn't tried to mew at the other trail walkers. We cleaned it off as best we could with the sweaters we had around our hips, and what do you know, it looked like a kitten after a while and barely fit in the palm of his hand. My dad didn't want another animal after the loss of a cat that he had for over fifteen years, but I wanted to keep it. He put it down and began to walk away, I watched as after just a few steps, it ran up behind him and continued to follow him. I walked as well and to our amusement, it followed. At each street crossing we did, he would pick up the kitten, cross, set it down, and it would continue to follow us. The trail was a mile long, a few times the kitten was tired, and each time he would pick it up and carry it for a while, then set it down; but was steadfast about not having another animal. After half the mile to the car, he said if it made it to the car, we'd keep it. And little kitty did.

Ten years later, Linxie is spoiled rotten by him.