Julie and her dog Lucy
Next year, Petfinder will celebrate its 15th birthday, so in last month's Petfinder newsletter, we asked if you had a pet who was born the same year we were: 1996. Julie F. told us about her dog, soon to be 15. Before she adopted the pooch, Julie had just moved to a new area and was feeling lonely. "In an attempt to brighten my spirits, I went online, finding myself at Petfinder.com, looking at the canines. Staring back at me with the sweetest brown eyes from a shelter in a place called Muscatine, Iowa, was an irresistible melon-colored year-old homeless pooch."
Julie says she is directionally challenged, but with the help of a map, she found Muscatine and the Muscatine Humane Society. "I was put in a room, and not long after, in through the door trotted 55 lbs. of furry terracotta sweetness. She walked straight into my waiting arms, laid her big silky head on my lap and cooed out loud, and her mouth turned up at the edges into a smile." Though the weather was dismal, Julie calls it the "most perfect of days."
Theresa H. wrote: "It was 1996 and we had just gotten married and decided we wanted an orange tabby to go with our gray kitty. We picked a 6-month-old female who was skin and bones because her owner 'couldn't afford to take care of her.' "
At age 9, Beans the Poodle (at Rawhide Rescue in Green Brook, NJ) is a kid compared to Petfinder!
At the humane society, "all of the meeting rooms were full, so we had to
take her into the laundry room, where she decided she didn't want to be
held or petted and needed to explore. When they came to ask us how it
went, we told them we didn't have a chance to check her out because she
wanted nothing to do with us. They told us that we could go pick out
another kitty, but we told them, 'No way!' Our heart was set on this
one.
"The marriage didn't survive," Theresa adds, "but I still have that wonderful kitty. She's much older today and doesn't get around as easily, but don't tell her that. She's still my baby at heart and sleeps on me every night."
Thanks to those of you who shared tales of senior pets who have given you unconditional love for many years.
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Happy Tail: One senior dog finds a great home for her golden years
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