We live on an incredibly busy street and immediately the head thinks of all the bad things that can happen while the heart speeds up rapidly.

The second time it happened, I was at home alone with the kids and we were actually playing in the backyard while he was with us and then he was gone. I yelled at them to get in the car, grabbed my car keys and we jumped in the car to start canvasing the area. Thankfully, we found him fairly quickly as he had run to the street behind our house and was in a neighbor’s yard a few houses down.

Fence, microchip, collar, you can have all the precautions in place and still most everyone has experienced the horrifying scare of a missing pet.

The uncertainty, the complete lack of control, the worry it’s almost paralyzing. BUT the quicker you can respond and the faster you can start the search process the more likely you will have a happy reunification.

Stray Magnet strives to be a helpful resource if you ever lose or find a pet.
The best NEWER RESCOURCE around is NEXTDOOR. It’s an online neighborhood bulletin board. We highly recommend you post pictures and information immediately on the website through your computer or the NextDoor App.

We have helpful resource section (tips and phone numbers to call), a bulletin board to post the pets picture and information and we will post the information on facebook, twitter and send out an email alert for your county. Consider helping others, by signing up to receive lost/found pet alerts for your county.

Click Here for some helpful steps if you lose your dog.

Click Here for some helpful steps if you lose your cat.

On the other side of things, you can be instrumental in helping a lost pet reunite with their owner.

Click Here for some helpful steps if you find a dog.

Click Here for some helpful steps if you find a cat.

The post Help We Lost Our Dog appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

These precious six kittens were born Thursday, May 1.

The two tortoiseshells were females and the four orange tabbies were all male.They have been a delight to care for and have brought much joy to our family. Mama June has been the best mom any kitty could ask for. We are thankful for the four individuals/families that have adopted four of the kitties so far.

If you want to learn more about how we rescued their mom, CLICK HERE.

If you are interested in adopting a kitten, email us at contact@straymagnet.com.

The post Watch Kittens Live appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

My life is somewhat chaotic working full time in a stressful teaching hospital as a social worker. Healthcare demands are increasing daily as people are living longer as well as the economic struggles occurring throughout the country. When I leave work, I go home to my elderly Father who has seen better days from a health standpoint. He has had multiple cancers that have taken his voice, his strength and his ability to eat normally. And then there are my 4 wonderful canine kids. Jackson is a beautiful tricolor Jack Russell/Australian shepherd mix, 12 yrs old; Billy Bob, 7 yrs old, is my Jack Russell/dachound, and who knows what else, mix; Lucas my 2 yr old feist (rat terrier) and Allie Mae, the only girl of the house, having just turned 1. I’ve always had dogs and last yr I decided I had to have Allie Mae.

I saw her in a cage at my favorite animal rescue place and it was love at first sight. There’s just something about a solid white puppy! I picked her up and she had fir that was as soft as cotton. And best of all, she had puppy breath. I love puppy breath. So I adopted her and added her to the family. Being the only girl, she pretty much took over and this past yr has been full of love and many challenges. Allie has a strong personality and when her mind is set at destroying any piece of furniture, she consistently works to the completion of her goal. But that little girl has the biggest brown eyes and can charm anything and anybody.

So at this time in my life, the dogs are pretty well housebroken, still enjoying stealing kleenex and shredding furniture and shoes and life seemed to be getting a little easier when 2 days ago, I decided to go back to the Prov 12:10 Animal Rescue place, just to look at what they had. In no way did I ever consider another dog because as you’ve already read, I have plenty. I just thought it would be fun to go look. Well, having adopted Lucas and Allie Mae from that group, the regular volunteers knew me. As I was holding and cuddling a little 6 week old puppy and trying to get her to lick my nose for that intoxicating puppy breath, I saw a beautiful, very thin feist (rat terrier) that I thought looked a lot like Lucas. I could tell she had recently had puppies. She was walking on top of all the dog cages, bending down to lick the dogs in the cages.

One of the volunteers said to me that she was a wonderful dog, just 8 months old and already had birthed a litter of puppies. I was told that she had been found by the Dickson animal control group under an abandoned car. They got her out and took her back to animal control and was going to give her 48 hours to live. If no one claimed her or adopted her, they would inject her and kill her and babies. The owner of Prov 12:10 got her and placed her in foster care and within a week, she had given birth to 6 beautiful little puppies. (the volunteer telling me this story actually was the one helping with the birth) He said she had been a good mother and at 4 weeks when the babies were healthy and ready to wean, she weaned them and all 6 puppies were adopted, leaving the mother dog.

Typically, mother dogs/cats are the hardest to find homes for. Everyone seems to want a cuddly puppy but few want older animals. But this beautiful pup was only 8 months herself. She probably had gotten pregnant the first time she had come into heat. The foster placements she had been in for the past 3 weeks all had dogs around and she liked other dogs. She was also housebroken! And I thought she looked a lot like my Lucas. They had the same hair coloring and both were about the same size except this little one was very thin. So guess what happened? I fell in love again.

I took her home to foster to see if the other dogs would be OK with her. They all were of course, jealous but adjusted and continue to. Three hours after I had taken her home, I took her back to Prov 12:10 to make the adoption official. I bought her a purple collar and leash, several toys, and goodies for all the dogs. She’s so very sweet and gentle. She’s not at all aggressive. In fact, she’s pretty fearful and passive. There’s no telling what this little girl has seen or been through. It certainly appears she’s been hit because she cowers if you raise your voice or your hand comes at her to pet her. She doesn’t bark much – her brothers and sister make up for her quietness. She loves to play if she feels safe and she can “high jump” over furniture. Dad says she looks like a fawn. She’s really quite pretty and she’s soaking up being petted, kissed on and being able to sleep in bed w/the other dogs and me. Her name is Missy. I love her. The other dogs will love her to, in due time.

I didn’t go to God and ask if it was His will to take on yet another animal. It just felt like the right thing to do. I have a once again, joy for life. This wouldn’t have been my goal that beautiful cool day in August to get another mouth to feed, more responsibility on a daily basis, but my heart is full of love about this new member of my family. God sends us blessings in many ways. I truly believe Missy was a gift from Him. I hope to never forget that there are many surprises that come to us. I usually just expect “bad” surprises. But again, my Father in heaven has surprised and blessed me in ways I never thought possible. Thank you Father for the gift of this beautiful creature you created and sent to me.

Story and Photo by: Pam MacArthur

If you are interested in submitting a story, please visit our share a story page. We welcome any inspiring or funny stories involving pets or their advocates.

The post The Life of a “throw-away Puppy” A Surprise from God appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

by Doug Miller / KHOU 11 NEWS

All Content and Photos Courtesy of KHOU.com Houston, Texas

LA PORTE, Texas — A police officer in La Porte helped save a dog that was in trouble on a busy freeway on Monday, and now the story has gone viral on the Internet.

Cujo’s a jittery rat terrier with a bad hip who spends his days hanging around his house in La Porte; but, that all changed on Monday.

“I would describe him as a Napoleon-type of dog,” said Jeremy Zapalac, one of his owners. “He’s very short, but with a very big ego.”

Still, it was surprising when Cujo ducked out of an open door Monday morning and wandered away from home. The Zapalac family spent much of the day searching their neighborhood, calling in help from relatives to scour the area for their missing pet.

“We spent the whole morning, about an hour, looking for him,” Zapalac said. “It started pouring down rain. And he hates water.”

As it turned out, Cujo drifted all the way up to Spencer Highway, a short drive in a car, but a long walk for a little dog with a hip that forces him to toddle around with a slight waddle. Somehow he crossed the busy road and started walking in a moving lane of traffic.

Cujo’s story might have ended right then and there, but the shivering pooch caught a lucky break.

“He’s not going to make it if I don’t do something,” said Kyle Jones, a La Porte police officer who happened to be driving by.

Jones made a quick decision: He spun his car around and blocked traffic on the busy highway to save the life of a lost dog.

“When I saw it and saw the size of it, I immediately hit my lights and shut all the lanes off,” Jones said.

The officer stepped out of his patrol car and bent over, calling out to the dog.

“You know how Chihuahuas are,” Jones said with a chuckle. “You’re not really sure if you can trust ‘em or not. But he kind of looked at me and said, ‘Man, I’m glad you’re here.’ He let me pick him right up. Stuck him in the back seat of the patrol car.”

Little did Jones know that someone was snapping a photo that has gone viral on Facebook, drawing thousands of comments praising the officer’s simple act of kindness.

Jones turned the dog over to an animal control officer. Luckily, the Zapalac family had put an identification tag on Cujo’s collar. The animal control officer knocked on the family’s door and returned him home Monday evening.

“He was all wet,” Zapalac said. “He was soaked. We got him in wrapped him up, dried him up and he just slept in his bed all day.”

The post La Porte police officer shuts down highway to save dog appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

Late one cold winter night several colleagues and myself with our significant others were driving home from a holiday dinner at our bosses house. Our boss lived on a beautiful bluff so it was a distance from the rest of civilization. As we traveled down the dark isolated road it began to hail.

All of the sudden we saw a dog running down the middle of the road in front of us. I asked the person driving to pull over as I got out and wrapped the cold wet Bluetick Coonhound in my coat (never to smell the same again) and got him in the car. I was thankful my friends were open to transporting the animal to my place as it wasn’t my car and their were several complaints about the car smelling.

Man this dog was big. He reminded my of a mix between a Dalmatian with his spotted coloring and a Great Dane because of his size. He was definitely thin but had to have been someones. I thought I was doing something good but I was in for a lot of sleepless nights. The dog howled like I have never heard howling before. After he devoured the food I gave him he pooped everywhere. The only sleep I got was holding him in my arms on the couch because if you left him he wouldn’t stop howling.

The next day I drove back to the area going down every potential road nearby with houses to find his owner. I took him to the vet (a whole different saga) and she proclaimed that he probably was someones dog but hadn’t been for sometime as he was very malnourished. She said he was probably a hunting dog and got loose and ran up the mountain.

I tried locally (emails, posters signs) and nationally (using websites) to find the dog a home while I was slowly loosing my mind not having a yard for the dog to run in. A nice lady offered her yard while she was going to be out of town and I bought him a dog house and went over several times a day to feed him. When she returned she sweetly let him sleep inside but quickly experienced the same thing with him not wanting to be left alone and howling all night. This stranger had helped take on this animal and was also trying to find him a home.

Interestingly, a woman from California contacted me and wanted the dog for her father but we had the dilemma of transporting the dog from TN to CA. I actually looked into carpooling opportunities as I was getting desperate to find him a home. I had to leave town the next weekend and had no where to keep him so I begged the Police Chief to allow him to stay at the pound for the weekend. He very kindly agreed, I love that man, and even asked the manager to leave the lock undone so I could come and walk the dog when I was around which leads to another story…

My fiancee and I took the dog, nicknamed “the goat”, for a hike/walk on the perimeter trail. He had been so good on the leash and so attached to me that we decided to let him off the leash for a little while. About 30 minutes into the hike/walk he heard something and ventured off over the bend. We quickly tried to located him and couldn’t find him. We spent at least another hour looking everywhere calling his name before deciding we had to head back before it got dark. I started to cry I was so upset. Here I had rescued an animal only to lose it again. The thought was devastating and I felt like a failure. I kept praying for God to help us find him.

We ascended out of the thick trail and were walking back along the dirt road to the car, a good 2 miles away from where we had lost sight of the goat, when all of the sudden I felt something behind me and I looked. The goat was right on our trail. As much pain and anguish that animal had made me feel was nothing compared to the true joy I felt seeing him again. I got down and gave him a gigantic hug!

A few days later the nice woman who had generously provided her yard as a temporary residence for the goat found him a home with a nice man in the country who had lots of land to run.

Please consider sharing a rescue story at http://straymagnet.com/share-a-story.

Visit our lost and found section to learn about what to do when you lose or find a pet and the resources available to help.

Photo by Mark Riordan (of his bluetick coonhound Juno)

The post The Goat: Bluetick Coonhound Rescue Story appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

One night I heard a knocking on my window. When I came to let the student in I noticed she had a little black kitten. She said she found it outside the Golden Gallon, a nearby convenience store, really the only convenience store in town. She couldn’t keep it as animals were not allowed in residence halls (dorms). She was the friendliest kitten.

I already had two cats who were living with me restricted to my bedroom because I lived with roommates who were allergic so it wasn’t an ideal location to temporarily house the cat since I couldn’t isolate her before getting her to the vet.

I called some friends who had their own apartment and a little screened in porch. I asked if they would be willing to house her temporarily while I got her to the vet and found a home. My friend was pretty apprehensive as she kept a tidy house but they willingly took her in temporarily. I provided all the basic supplies to help and made an appointment at the vet the next day.

When I checked in the next day my friend declared that there was an inequality amongst animals as there were far more dog toys than cat toys out there. I inwardly laughed and loved hearing how she had already given the cat a bath and bought her some toys. They were not sure they wanted an animal, especially a cat, at that time but they ended up adopting her and to this day she is one of the most loving cats I know. You can’t help but want to give her some love as she rubs up against you purring. My husband would gladly trade either of our less friendly cats for her. I am also honored beyond words that she was named after me. It has given me an even more special kinship with her.

The post Brooksie, a Sewanee rescue appeared first on Stray Magnet | Helping Lost, Stray, and Abandoned Pets.

One morning as he was headed off to work, the kids and I walked him to his car. Looking off into the yard I saw something unusually big on the ground. I asked him to check it out. As the kids and I walked through the gate to the backyard so we could play on the swing set he walked back by to get a shovel. Apparently, our dog Winston had found a opossum the night before and sadly killed it. (Doesn’t he know we are an animal loving family?)

As my husband was disposing of the opossum I noticed he was looking around and I wondered if there were babies. He walked by me and I said “do I want to know?” He said “no”. I assumed there were dead babies but they weren’t. He just assumed they wouldn’t make it because they were so small. He went off to work and I immediately went into rescue mode.

In his efforts to help, he had made it even more difficult to find the babies. He had only seen three but had scattered them outside our yard so the dog couldn’t get to them. In the end, we found seven babies, many of which had gotten buried and tangled beneath our dense ground cover. In fact, I used our dog to flush out the last couple since I couldn’t see or hear them but he could smell them.

I put them in a shoe box with a towel to help keep them warm and then I called Walden’s Puddle. It is a non-profit organization that treats “sick, injured, and legitimately orphaned Native Tennessee Wildlife.” We are so fortunate to have them in Middle Tennessee. Their admissions line is (615) 299-9938. You may have to leave a message but they were quick to respond back to me and I was able to drop off the baby opossums that morning.

They said the babies were actually pretty old and should make it. My 2 and half year old still looks under the deck and asks for the babies? I hid them under the deck in their shoebox for a few hours between when we found them and were able to deliver them to Walden’s Puddle. Don’t worry she never touched them but I did let her look at them in the box. I tell her they are in their new home now whenever she asks.

Over the last few months when my husband has told this story, most people have been shocked that I would or anyone would want to save an opossum and many would have responded the same way he did not thinking that they would have a chance to live without their mother. Opossums are God’s creatures too and deserve to live. Sadly, I see too many on the side of the road but any animal you can help is worth saving. Anyone can save a life!

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