I just finished your book last night and it was a wonderful read and it had me crying more than once. I know EXACTLY what your family went through. To say that my family are animal lovers would be an understatement. Currently we have 6 dogs and 5 cats not to mention the 4 or 5 outdoor kitties who have adopted us. And we have close to 20 cats and dogs who are buried in our own pet cemetery. Animals that I loved tremendously from the time I was a small child through my adulthood. I am proud to say that all of them lived a long and joyful life and died of old age except for one dog that was unfortunately hit by a car when my brother didn’t secure the fence gate properly. Some of them we had to make the difficult decision to put them out of their misery and it was a hard thing tod o. And I cried like a baby over EACH of their deaths, however, the joy and fond memories that I have of each one of them by far make it all worth it. Thank you for writing such a wonderful book and for being an animal lover as well.

Tina from OK

I have just finished your book about Sprite. It was sent to me because I am walking the same path you did with Sprite. I know by now you must have heard this so many times BUT trust me I have been weeping for days, nites and weeks. My friend sent it to me hoping it would help me as I walk journey with my Jessie-she a 15 year old yellow lab we adopted through PAWS when she was no longer wanted by the family babysitter! So by the grace of God we got this blessing at 9 weeks old and have been through so much with her-Trips to the Univ of PA Vet Hospital-Cornell Univ Vet hospital. Seven operations-both acl replaced-Addisons-9 pills a day and all the other little things that could go wrong in a loved ones life.

And in the end I wouldn’t have any other dog ever. She has saved me so many times from overwhelming family issues, been there through deaths, illness and all that life sends you. No one and nothing has ever comforted me the way my Jessie did. She needs a decision from us and I am not yet ready to give up, knowing we are indeed there. I read your book about the moment you get the look, have the feeling and will just know? Please help me help her, help me love her enough to say its all ok to go. I too have prayed the prayer you did….Lord PLEASE come and take her come softly, gentle and wrap her in your love and embrace her till I too can see her once again. But my Lord has not taken her and I continue to battle. Read the rest of this entry »

First off, I’d like to say that I have never been as touched by a book as I was by “Rescuing Sprite”. I’ve read everything from fantasy to historical non-fiction, and though I will laugh out loud in the middle of the library at the humor, I rarely cry when reading. This story had me in tears, both joyous and sorrowful, almost the entire time. Thank you, Mark, for writing such a beautiful book. I think it reflects the joy, love, devotion, fears, and pain all dog-lovers experience in the short time we are blessed with our furry friends, and for myself in particular it has helped heal my own hurts more than the years have. It’s a comfort to know there are people who feel just as deeply about their dogs, in both having them and losing them.

I have had dogs all my life, from the time I was a blip in my mother’s womb to this very day. The first was Gunner, who I was too young to remember. Archy was the next and the longest, perhaps the most loved in all of my family because my siblings and I grew with him. Of all ours dogs, he was the sweetest and the most human. We had the misfortune of putting him to sleep when he was ten due to stomach cancer, before which he lived three years longer than predicted with no indication of his illness. A year after Archy we bought Remington, the ‘gray dog’ and my ‘moose’ (he happily answers to both), who still lives with my parents today, and two years after Remie we got Ruger. My Ru.

Ruger was my dog. When my father, grandfather and I drove four hours to pick him up and bring him home, it was my lap he slept in the whole ride, and my grandfather on who he vomited minutes after I relinquished him. Albeit gross and funny, I think I always took that as a sign between Ru and I, and he must have too, for I was the one to which he attached himself. Ru was 1½ when I started college four hours away in Ohio. At first, the only sadness came in that I was unable to see my dogs while at school, but after a summer in New York (Buffalonian by birth, my parents now live in WV) and only a short visit to my house before the new fall semester, Ruger began to run away from my mother at night. Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you for your book.

I started it Thur night but knew I would not put it down unitil it was done. So saved until today so I could read it in it’s entirety.

I started reading at 6:30 am and read it non – stop. I will tomorrow give it to a co-worker who if he doesn’t have to re-read the last 20 pages or so because of tears, he isn’ t human.

Thank you Mark. It was a wonderful book.

I have 3 stories that equate to yours and believe me I know what you went through or are still going through.

I still look out my kitchen window every day and see the gladiola plant that thrives where I buried Freeway’s ashes 8 years ago.(Much like you look out and see the tree where Sprite ‘s are buried.)
Today I have two t new children. Baxter who is a 25 lb cat and Little Kitty (8lbs) both from the Animal Shelter.

I again thank you for your book.
I live in an area where your progam has been moved to midnight. I used to listen to you from 3:00- to 5:00. What happened? I called the local station and they told me they had moved you to midnight.. I regestered a complaint.
PLease come back to my listening area at a reasonable time.

Barbara from ID

Mark, listen all the time,but first time to write.
Yesterday morning we had to put our cat BUBBA down he was about 17yrs.

We rescued him from a bad place 10yrs.ago. He was the sweetest cat and the most lovable buddy i could ask for.
He liked to take his paws and pat my face so softly and when you held him he would flex his paws like needing biskit dough.
Well he came down with a cancer tumor on his upper lip and it just started to take him away a little each day till we had to stop his suffering.

But mark now mine haS STARTED 48 hrs. later i’m still in tears and my heart is broke into.
please tell me this will get better.

My wife just finished your book i bought her and she love it and said it help her to prepare, I wish I would have read it in time too. 60yrs old and this pain like i never felt before and hope never to again.
I know I will but I hope GOD gives me more back bone first.

Thanks for being there,

Earl from TX

I married a dog person. I am a cat person. It took great amount of love and respect to allow three girls to upheave my husbands life (me and my two calico cats). He was outvoted and outbathroomed… He fell in love with my girls.

One day, when i was at the dentist, he visited the pet store next door. He excitedly and with lots of feeling (so unlike my husband) said that he found a kitten that was unlike all other cats. We visited the pet store and needless to say, we came home with a boy kitten in a cardboard box.That was the beginning of a cat/man relationship. The girl cats, Banshee and Kirby were “mine” and the boy cat, Grommet, was “his”.

We put down a deposit for a house to be built, and were boxing up our numerous books when Banshee took a turn for the worse. I was surprised, she was the younger of the girls. She had an intestinal issue and we had to put her to sleep. My husband went back down to the vet’s to get her little body and he buried her in our woods that we were building near. Within a year, Kirby died at our new house and buried near Banshee. Grommet was lost and wandering around the house. He could see the hurt and pain I was feeling for my two girls. He spent more and more time with me and now he is like my shadow.

We got two brothers, Wallace and Sprocket, both kittens from where we got Grommet to help him, life was good. Sprocket with his antics and goofyness, and Wallace being stand-offish, yet loving when he thought no one else was around except me. But we were missing something… Read the rest of this entry »