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One day I greeted a neighbor as every morning when he calls me over saying he had a new kitten and it was very special.

PHOTO: Anttonia

I came near and I saw the cutest pair of wide wild eyes, grey pale fur with black marks. My neighbor told me a truck driver friend with his son had found it on the side of the road and he adopted it. So it became a custom I will greet my neighbor and pet his cat.

Then one afternoon I was in my back yard pulling dry laundry out of the clothesline when there was an explosion in my neighbor's home.

I run over and the police told me it was a gas explosion and my neighbor had died. I asked the officer for the cat, but they haven't seen any. I was heartbroken.

I kept walking around the block every day to find it but it was no use. A few days later, I see one of my cats, Michifus, standing on the edge of my garden meowing to the empty lot behind my home and pushing his food bowl towards the grass and weeds. Something told me he had a reason to do that. So from that day on, I will get food and water to the edge of my garden.

Then one day I woke up on Sunday morning, I see the kitten standing on my opened bedroom window. He came down into my arms and at that moment I knew he had adopted me.

PHOTO: PEXELS

Months went by and we grew closer and closer when one afternoon I received a visit from the truck driver who had rescued the kitten from the side of the country road.

He mentions he stopped to check the air on his tires when he heard a growl, it was a kitten delivering a baby too big for her body, when the cat mom died he cut its belly and pulled my kitten out for it to live.

That was My kitten, a wildcat/farm cat hybrid that earned my heart and everybody's with the first meouuww.

Story submitted by Anttonia.
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My Love Story with Baby Bear

It was a beautiful sunny November afternoon that day when I came home from work. As I was walking towards the house, I noticed something on the walkway. At first, I thought it was a dead squirrel. As I got closer, I realized it was a tiny kitten. His eyes were half shut, the little ears were barely visible, and the tiny tail was sticking straight up. He was meowing at the top of his lungs yet was barely audible.

I knew where he came from. The people a few doors down left their cats outside and every year they had litters. Either the mother was in the process of moving them and I'd startled her, or he wandered into my yard by himself. To this day I like to believe he found his way there on his own.

Photo: Adobe Stock

I took him into the house and gave him some water in an eyedropper. I had a small rabbit cage which I lined with towels and put him in. Then I went to Walmart and got some powdered milk and a small bottle to feed him. I prayed that night he would make it. He was so tiny.

A few days later I saw his mother in my yard looking for him. I felt bad. For a moment I considered giving him back to her, but I knew he would have a better life with me than he would living outside.

Baby Bear. Photo: Diana Marsh

Sadly, a couple months later his mother was hit with a car. I was now officially his mommy. On his first visit to the vet, he was only 0.6 pounds. He was with me for 19 years through some of the best and worst times of my life. He never left my side.

He crossed the bridge last year in December, and I stayed with him to the end, talking to him and singing him the songs I sang to him when he was a baby. I miss him every single day. But I will forever be thankful for that November day when he found his way into my yard and into my heart.

Story submitted by Diana Marsh, from Evans City, PA.
We’ve got one more rescue story we’re sure you’ll love!

Half-Pint Became a Misnomer

First and foremost, all of our fur-babies have been rescues, beginning in the 1970s. They see us coming from a mile away, turning on the charm and reeling us in from afar.

Half-Pint was a different and much more disturbing experience. On Father's Day, 2016, my husband and I decided to drive up to a local lake to take in the spectacular spring beauty. Living in a very rural area of the Sierra Nevada foothills, there were plenty of back roads from which to choose.

About a third of the way up the road, we stopped at a favorite photo op location. Very quickly we heard what sounded like a small, wounded bird. We didn't see anything (and were looking in the wrong direction) then I looked down. There lay two adult felines who had died recently and a very tiny kitten, nestled in some weeds. How long she'd been there was uncertain. Drop-offs on country roads are not an unusual occurrence.

Photo: Half-Pint

In sad shape and looking very sick, we picked her up and raced down the road to a local country store. A can of food and some water were the first order of business, but she was too weak to eat or drink. The mornings had been cooler than usual with a late starting spring and she sounded congested as well.

We bundled her up and took her home, hoping to save her. She finally tried to eat and drink, but her eyes were matted shut and her breathing difficult. Off to the vet she went, coming home with antibiotics and eye drops to hopefully take care of her physical ills. She did fine for a couple of days then started crashing. Back to the vet for stronger antibiotics, which this time did the trick.

Half-Pint. Photo: Denise Roberts

Since then, Half-Pint has flourished and grown into the most beautiful feline I've ever had in my home. When my husband died last year, she was lost for a while but has since decided that I rate her attention and affection. She's been by my side, giving me comfort in the worst of times and being quite the good friend.

And she's much, much, much bigger now. People tell me that maybe Half-Pint wasn't the best name, but I haven't come up with a better one and she seems to like it. We'll stick with each other as long as possible and keep the name, too!

Story submitted by Denise Roberts, from Doyle, CA.
Shadow, Baby Bear, and Half-Pint's stories were originally shared on The Animal Rescue Site. Share your very own rescue story here!