The Origin of My NEED to Save Animals

When I was a kid people would drop off animals at our house all the time. We were always saving some poor dog or cat and even an occasional rabbit or parakeet. On the darker side if an animal caused any problems whatsoever my mom would "take them off" herself. I swore many times as we left some poor dog by the tracks or on some country road and I watched them chase us as we sped away that I would NEVER do something like that.

One time we had too many dogs so my mom decided to take 2 of them off. We took them to Madison and she dropped them off on the road to the carlot that we owned. A week later my mom decided that we missed the 2 dogs so bad that she would go back and get them. Those 2 dogs were actually sitting in the exact same spot where we had left them the week before. When we stopped to get them they were looking at us like "well it took you long enough!"

Then there was Brownie. Brownie was dropped off at our house. A couple of days after she was dropped off it became obvious that she was pregnant. Donna (the neighbor who took care of as many strays as we did) came over and asked my mom what we were going to do about Brownie. She wanted to take her off before the puppies were born.

My mom told her that we would raise the puppies and find them homes and hopefully get a home for Brownie as well. We took care of Brownie while she was pregnant. We took care of her and her puppies until they were 5 weeks old. Then my mom decided to give away the pups and take off Brownie. But she decided to take off Brownie BEFORE she found a home for the pups.

She drove Brownie to a hollow about 3 miles from the house and put her out. Brownie chased us until the car drove out of sight. The next morning Brownie was back at the house with her puppies. She had actually found us again! So we gave away ALL the pups to good homes. Nobody would take Brownie. Mom took her off again. We never saw her again.

Now before everybody starts ragging on my mom you need to realize that we took care of hundreds of strays over the years and rarely did she resort to taking dogs off. My mom now takes care of every stray cat in her neighborhood as well as the stray cats at my uncle's house down the road. She catches each cat (when possible - some are wild). She gets them fixed and takes care of fleas and ticks and shots for them as well. If she can get a home for them she does. If she can't they live outside and she makes sure they are fed and watered and she foots the occasional vet bill for sickness or injuries as well.

She taught me to take care of little animals and they will take care of you.