Shari

Shari

 

Thanks so much for sharing. What sweet stories. So strange how injured animals seem to find you! Helping animals MUST be your purpose .

 

 

 

 

Shari

I hope it's okay to post two more stories.  One time I saw a person drive past my house and he threw something out onto my front lawn, I assumed it was garbage.  Then I had noticed my neighbor's dogs, a Lab and Beagle, mauling something.  I saw a tiny leg fly up and I thought it was a squirrel.  I ran out and to my amazement it was a tiny gray kitten.  The neighbor's dogs are vicious and have attacked people before, but I ran right in the middle of them screaming and waving and grabbing them and pulling them off the helpless baby.  I kicked at them and made them run back home.  I picked up the kitten who was flat as a pancake, mashed to the ground with her eyes glazed over and I thought, oh no, she's a hair away from death. She fit in the palm of my hand.  I prayed and prayed and George said let's hurry to the vet, so he drove and I continued praying.  The vet didn't think she was going to make it and I insisted that he try.  We put Karo syrup on her gums and gave her food and an I.V. of fluids and she came around.  She had a horrible leg injury where the skin was gone, but the vet said it looked like an old injury, not something the dogs just did.  I couldn't believe someone would throw a kitten, out of a car, because of a leg injury - unbelievable!  So, it turned out she was only 4 weeks old and I had to feed her mushy dry food and she had to go for painful bandage changes at the vet until her skin grew back.  I fell in love with her and named her Angel.  I had a tiny Chihuahua at the time.  Angel was frisky and liked to hop on my Chihuahua's back and ride around on her like a horse. Sugar was terrified of the kitten and hid under the aquarium stand for 3 days and didn't come out to eat or go to the bathroom.  I tried keeping Angel in the upstairs two bedrooms with the main door closed, but she hated being confined, so I came to the realization that I wouldn't be able to keep her.  I contacted a friend with a rescue and they found the perfect home for her.  It was with a single Mom who's 12 year old daughter who had been asking for a kitten for a few years and her Mom thought she was old enough for the responsibility.  So, Angel went to a loving home where the little girl carried her around on a pillow and let her sleep in bed with her.  Angel was a blessing to her new family as well as to me.  One day, a boy came to my front door with a Yorkshire Terrier.  He asked if it was mine and I said no.  He said his Dad said he couldn't keep her, because they had a Doberman.  I told the boy, if he did not find the owner, please bring her back here and I will keep her, so your Dad won't take her to the pound.  So, at 8:45 p.m. I had a Yorkie and named her Raven.  The next day, Raven kept crying and running through the dog door and to my disbelief, she had found a nest of abandoned Cottontail bunnies.  There were four of them, crying, cold and with their eyes still closed.  I brought them inside and bought KRM (Kitten Replacement Formula) and fed them around the clock, every two hours with a eye dropper.  I was told by everyone not to be upset when they all die, because without the Mother, they usually do, because they were way too young.  Well, I believed they would live and all four of them did!  They eventually would drink formula on a saucer and then ate Timothy hay and pet bunny pellet food.  They were different than domestic bunnies.  They were wilder and more aggressive with me and with each other.  They pushed my hand out of their large cage.  I talked to the experts and they said Cottontails will die in captivity and that once they could eat on their own, they should be released.  So, I hated to do it, but I released them in a wildlife sanctuary and prayed they would have a good life.  I didn't want to kill them, so I did the right thing, although it was difficult.  I had empty nest syndrome and my husband took me to the Amish Farmer's Market and there, I found the sweetest gray and white spotted bunny, so George paid $5.00 for her and I brought Wendy home with me.  I litter box trained her and she was just the sweetest pet ever.  Thanks for letting me share.  I have lots of stories, but thought this post and the previous one were special to me :)

Have a great day!

Shari

I loved reading that Shari! It's amazing all you have done for animals. Thanks for sharing!

 

I think you're right Shari, a persons purpose can change or stay the same and it doesn't have to be just one thing. - it all depends on the individual.

 

Ashley, Health Educator

Thank you so much for your kind and heartfelt words.  I appreciate you so much :)

Blessings to you both :)

Shari

Sunny

Shari, what a heartwarming story!  It sounds like you found a wonderful fit and purpose in your life.

Based on what you've share with us over time, you prove to be a very caring and compassionate person. 

You have touched many people's lives I am sure and your posts on this site are truly inspirational.

Thanks for sharing.

Before I did the exercise, I wasn't sure what the outcome was going to be.  Either animals, art, or people.  I've rescued animals my whole life.  I'd bring home strays and nurse animals back to health even when I was a child.  I had a pet Monarch Butterfly who had a torn wing.  I made a make shift drinking cup, out of aluminum foil, and I put sugar water in it and his long tongue would come out and drink the liquid.  I made a bed out of a tissue box and put tissue in it, so he had a soft place to sleep.  I would turn a lamp on for him and I would find him sunning himself on the lamp shade :)  I also took him outside, so he could get fresh air, sunshine, walk on the grass, get food from flowers and enjoy the weather.  I found a Nuthatch bird who was frozen solid in a block of ice.  I put her in a shoe box  and set it on the floor radiator.  She actually thawed out and became a beloved pet.  I tried to release her back into the wild, but she was unable to fly, so I took responsibility for her.  I also saved an old, gray chested, Robin who broke his wing in an ice storm, so I put him in my room and he perched on my finger and hopped around on my bed.  He didn't make it through the night, but I was happy he wasn't alone and he had a warm place to be.  As an adult, after rescuing, probably a hundred dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, fish, lizards, etc., I got burned out and was financially tapped out.  So, I wasn't sure if that was still my purpose or not.  But, I realized that I can do it, even on a small scale, once in awhile and still make a difference.  One day I heard a distressed bird up in a tree, just screeching and screeching.  So, I got out a pair of binoculars, and saw that the bird was green colored which I knew must be some type of parrot who is somebody's pet.  Well, I spent all day outside trying to coax this bird down.  I got a ladder, but the bird would just go up higher into the trees and our trees are extremely tall.  So, I prayed and was about to give up, but it was so cold outside and a storm was coming, so I persevered.  I said, "Polly want a cracker?"  And, the bird flew down to a lower branch.  Then I said, "Polly" again with no response.  Then I remembered a movie about a little Sun Conure bird called, Paulie, so I called out, "Paulie" and the bird flew down to the bush in front of me.  I saw he was a Nanday Conure.  Then, amazingly, he flew onto my shoulder and nibbled my ear.  I said, "Let's go home Paulie, " and without missing a beat, the bird said, "That's sweet!"  George and I laughed and once I got Paulie into the screened in porch I new he was safe.  After 3 weeks, I found a flyer at the pet store and there was a picture of Nibbles a.k.a. Paulie, so I was able to reunite the owner with her bird and she just cried and cried.  She said that he got out the door and she hadn't seen him for 6  months and she didn't know if he could survive the winter.  She said, right before I called her, that she prayed one last time for God to let her know if he was still alive or not.  Pretty cool.  So, I'm glad to know that animal rescue is still my purpose and it helps people too.  I also knit toys, all year round, and donate them to children's charities around Christmastime.  So, I'm able to incorporate art into my purpose as well.  Oh, just one last idea :)  When I retire in the country, I'd love to have a chicken rescue.  I've seen websites about chicken rescues in England and it's really a neat idea.  I think one's purpose in life can be one thing for your whole life, or it can change at different times in your life.  What do you think Ashley?

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Shari