I found Montana Mae or I should say she found me on a job site out in the middle of nowhere near Madras, Oregon, in Nov. of 2000. She was an 8 month old tortise shell cat with a spirit as big as all of life. It took us the better part of 8 years to help her to realize her full potential as a special cat with a fierce streak of independence and I could fill a book with our experiences together. I told everybody that she was the cowboy dog I never had and the best damn cat west of the Pecos River.

On Aug. 27 of this year we had to make what the vet called the most difficult, but kindest decision of all.. Montana Mae succumbed to a freak and savage dog attack which took place on Aug. 13 and the resulting infections. Montana fought bravely to stay alive. Feedings by a feeding tube every 4 hours around the clock, a schedule of many medicines to mix and inject through the tube, cleaning the wound cavities, and trying to keep her clean and comfortable. She did not let go of her life easily and we would have done anything to help her survive, but it was not meant to be.
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This is about our dogs and came from a card a friend sent to me. Thanks Hallmark :

They will not go quietly,
the dogs who shared our lives.
In subtle ways they let us know their spirit still survives.
Old habits still make us think we hear a barking at the door.
Or step back when we drop a tasty morsel on the floor.
Our feet still go around the place the food dish used to be, and sometimes, coming home at night we miss them terribly.
And although time may bring new friends and a new food dish to fill, that one place in our hearts belongs to them … and always will.

Dedicated to all the Sprites with love.

Linda from IL

I had Baby for 10 and half years. Baby was my cat.She started to vomit when I first got her was at the vet countless times.And finally the vet tells me when he finally gave me meds “I guarteee she won’t take the medicine now”Imaginehow crestfallen I was.Her vomiting was more frequent.And I was iterally chasing after her mess’ with club soda[that is an excellent stain remover].So here I just put mom in a nursing home , and the constant stress of her vomiting and making sure she eats the pill. So like you I made that horrible decision to put her to sleep,I was so upset crying etc. some neighbor in the apt. blding thought my mother died.So naturally I changed vets ..too late. I was so upset all I rember was leaving her carrying case on sect. /nurse desk and left, And from Jan 19th on tI prayed for Baby . And about 1 mo. later the vet sent me a sympthathy card . And I thouught that was God’s way of telling me to let go.So I waited until the spring to adopt a kitten. I have to put security down for cats so I old the manager wait till they mate. And I ‘m a proud owner of a a calico cat by name of Muffin.

Jane from NJ

Farley is my 14 year old granddog, and he is everything you could ever want in a pet.  He belongs to my son, Barry, and I have never seen such love, respect, loyalty and admiration between a pet and his owner.  Actually, I do not know if Barry owns Farley or Farley owns Barry!

When my son married, Farley fell in love right along with Barry and gladly accepted a woman’s touch in the home.  They now have a baby, and Farley has adapted, beautifully, to the roll of a much ‘older’ brother.

Last spring Farley was very sick.  Barry and the vet did everything they knew to do, but Farley did not respond.  With pain and agony, Barry asked the vet to put Farley down.  The vet asked Barry to wait 48 more hours and see if there was a change.   During the wait, an alert went out about the contaminated dog food, and Farley’s food was on the list!  After much suffering, Farley miraculously recovered.

Watching Farley age is very difficult.  He can barely hear, he is nearly blind and he has some difficulty with his hips, yet, he still seems happy and content. When he was young, he would never tire of retrieving.  Now, if you throw the ball more than twice, he will hide it in his paws and go back to sleep. 

This precious dog has made his mark on our whole family.  We all realize that, in the not too distant future, Farley will no longer be with us, but that is just too painful to think about now.  We will just love him and appreciate having him one day at a time.

Joy from Atlanta

Last Friday, November 2nd, I heard you read the story of Penny while I was on my way home from work. I almost had to pull over because my eyes were tearing up so much. I’ve been an animal lover all of my life and have rescued and adopted many, many animals, from white rats to horses. I currrently have seven cats and one dog. I wanted to tell you the story of four of those cats. It began in August of 2005. I was boarding my horse at a stable near my house. That particular day was very hot, the temperature was in the 90’s and very humid. The farm is in a rural part of the county and I often see bags and trash thrown into the ditches. It was about 4:00pm when I arrived to take care of my horse, Trader. As I drove in the driveway, I noticed a bright pink paper bag wadded up and lying in the field by the driveway. I just figured someone had thrown some trash away and didn’t give it another thought. About 20 minutes later the owner of the farm was returning from work and stopped to pick up the “trash” to throw it away. She opened up the bag to see what was in it and was horrified to see four very tiny, dirty kittens. They were soaking with sweat and covered in feces and urine.

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I graduated high school in June 1967, and later that summer, I enlisted in the US Air Force. I entered active duty service in February of 1968, and received my Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base, in San Antonio, Texas. After my basic training, I was assigned to attend Air Force Security Police School, also at Lackland. During Security Police school, my classmates and I were introduced to a new program called the USAF Sentry Dog program, which trained Air Force Security Policemen (no women in the program at that time) to work with Sentry Dogs. I volunteered, and at the completion of Security Police School, I was accepted into the program.

After taking a couple of weeks leave to go home and visit family and friends I returned to Lackland AFB to start Sentry Dog School. My class consisted of twenty new airmen like me. We received several days of classroom training on how to work with, and take care of our German Shepherd dogs, and then were taken to the kennels area and introduced to what would become our new partners. The Sergeant told me I would be working with a dog named Rebel, Serial number 7M98. I was told to go find his kennel, and introduce myself.

This was one of the greatest experiences in my life, the day I met Rebel.
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