Happy Endings

I saw Libby’s photo on the CARE website and knew right away I wanted to see her in person. It was love at first sight when we saw her at the adoption event and I believe it was mutual based on her little tail wagging around in circles at us. My daughter didn’t want to leave her but I told her we had to briefly so we could make sure our home would be her forever home. She’s been without a doubt the best-behaved and sweetest dog I’ve ever had. People tell me all the time how much they like her and I’ve even been told “I normally don’t care for dogs but your dog is great.” Libby is the best dog ever.

I’m fortunate to work with a great guy (and his wife Joy) who are fosters for CARE. My mother had recently lost her beloved Chocolate Lab and was considering adopting another fur baby. We had discussed this sweet baby at work everyday. My mother was not in a position to take on the responsibility for another dog. The more I heard about this sweet baby and her “ruff” background… I just knew I had to have her in my life. She has been a constant joy in my life. 🥰

We adopted Ella from CARE in the spring of 2021. She made herself right at home with us, keeping us laughing with her big personality and ridiculous curly back fur. Ella loves spending time in our yard (she’s a serious stick collector) and she’s developing a love for the beach too. It’s been great keeping up with her mom and her litter mates through their new families as they were all adopted through CARE! Ella is our second pup from CARE and we can’t thank the whole team enough for helping so many pets find new homes.

After saying goodbye to two of our beloved kitties in 2020, we felt it was time to add another furry friend to our mix, so we decided to adopt a quiet somewhat playful kitty for our 6 yrs. old sweet settled down Mickey. I went online and looked and looked. Immediately upon seeing “Tom” Murphy’s sweet kind eyes, I wanted to meet him. We met Tom along with other kitties and he was a little shy, a little playful, gentle, and sweet. He was perfect. Approximately a month later Tom became known as Murphy and was welcomed into our home.
After about 5 days of being in his own personal playroom we allowed him to venture around the house and shy, little playful Murphy immediately turned into lively, life of the party, energetic (that’s an understatement) wild man! Murphy wouldn’t slow down enough for Daisy our doodle or Mickey to get a whiff of him. He wanted to investigate, jump on Daisy and Mickey, and eat everything in sight. And then repeat!
That was weeks ago and now he is still running around at 100mph, still eating everything in sight but he loves his sister Daisy, and his big brother Mickey and they love/accept him for the wild man he is. He still tries to take down his 17lb brother Mickey but to no avail. And he still jumps over and on top of Daisy, but it does not phase her. Everyone gets along wonderfully.
There is never a dull moment in our home, and now there is even more joy with him there.
Murphy is just what our whole crew and home needed!
Thanks so much to Patti and CARE for bringing us together!
Sherry

We were lucky enough to rescue Isla (previously Reba) 5 weeks ago and she’s been the most amazing addition to our family. She has two rescue brothers and they all get along great. She also has two kitty sisters that love her. She was so well fostered that she didn’t take any time to warm up…it’s as if she was made for our family! My favorite Isla trait is her nightly zoomie session around the yard. Her brothers chase her and it’s just a joy to watch! She’s also an ammmmmazing cuddle bug. We are so grateful to CARE for choosing us to be her family.

In December 2019, mid-Covid quarantine, the kids and I were having a very difficult time. I am a single mother of two kids that I have raised largely alone since ages one and four (now 16 and 19). Like everyone, we experienced a lot of loss over the many months of Covid. We were lucky enough that it wasn’t loss of people we love or of income; but there were many secondary losses including a prom, a high school graduation, vacations, plays, concerts, human contact, a significant relationship, a year of high school, and a first semester of college. Solution? A KITTEN! Pretty tall shoes for a 2 pound kitten to fill, but if anyone could do it, it was Rat! Rat, originally named Mae, came to us from CARE. She was re-named, in part, for her gray color. She is beautiful and full of life, and she has brought us so much joy every day. Our 8 year old cat, Cookie, was a skeptic initially — she hadn’t seen a kitten since she was one — but even Cookie is playing more, has lost some weight, and seems to be enjoying life more. Winchester-Seamus, a 7 year old, 80 pound black lab, has been thoroughly put in his place. Size is no object for Rat, who will defend her sister and her food with great ferocity (as much ferocity as a kitten can muster, anyway — but it is funny to the humans and does the job of keeping the dog away!) But with as much ferocity as she shows toward the dog, she shows love and affection to the people. She follows me down to the kitchen to make my coffee in the morning, and she sits under my chair while I work. At night, she crawls into the crook in my arms and sleeps there. She is dedicated to the kids and me, and I am every bit as dedicated to her. She is always ready when she hears the drawer that holds the laser pointer open. She will play with any toy. She has recently taken to carrying a dollar bill around in her mouth, and nothing makes her happier than being able to push a pink highlighter around. Nothing, except maybe the people that she loves. In the fall, one of the children will be at college and the other in boarding school in Vermont. For the first time, I will be an empty nester, except for my fur babies. The decision to get Rat, which felt somewhat ill-advised but irresistible at the time, has turned out to be one of my best decisions ever.

I’ve always been a cat person. It’s hard to imagine life without them. Three seems to be the magic number for my house and when I lost Andrew to a probable cancer the world was off axis. My 2 female cats Pandora and Phoebe felt it too. Andrew left big paw prints to fill, but I knew the best medicine would be to give another boy a happy home. Thankfully we found CARE and Louie—a handsome orange and white creamsicle. It’s only been a few weeks but I already love him dearly. He eats like a horse, squeaks instead of meows, chases the girls around the house and snuggles me at night. Life is good again.

Many years ago I committed to sharing a home with a wayward teenage pup who was all trouble and smiles. She had since grown into a wonderful mentor and I started looking for a pup to absorb all her goofy habits. CARE was there and ready to help our fur family find a great match. He’s a true gentleman with all, including the rescued barn cat, and is learning to be almost as adventurous as his big sister. I couldn’t be more proud of all of them and am so grateful to CARE for bringing us together. I know we always have a resource for advice and am just so thankful that we all found each other.