At the time this picture was taken, we lived off a very busy highway. It was the norm to see animals that had been hit by cars, and it always upset me.
Well, I found a litter of feral kittens in the woods behind our house and I had no doubt that, with time, all of them would get hit by cars and die. So I decided to be a good person and rescue them. I thought I would take them down to the Humane Society, and they would be put in a foster home, bottle fed, and given a real chance at life.
Well, there were no foster homes available, and I was sent home with bottles, formula, and instructions what to do.
The week before, someone brought over two kittens they found and, sadly, they didn't make it through the night. I was pretty upset about it which is probably the reason I was determined to save this litter of kittens.
Once over the shock of bringing them back home, I was very determined to do the right thing for the 5 kittens. I set up a huge dog crate and faithfully fed them every few hours.
At the time we had 2 dogs. Parker just took to them like he was their mother. They climbed all over him, and he licked them cleaned. If one cried, he beat me to them.
When they were old enough to go back to the Humane Society, though there were many other kittens, mine got adopted out within days because they had been raised around a dog.
For a 135 pound dog, Parker was incredible with them. I don't know who missed them more, me or him.
By CPJ from Madison, AL
What a beautiful story CaroleeRose. You have a very lovely way of writing, and I truly enjoy your postings.
We once had a miniature poodle named Penny who did basically the same thing. She also helped raise one baby squirrel. My little Rocky Pig squirrel would tangle his tiny hands in her curly fur and ride around on her back or neck for hours. We'd have to find Penny to feed the squirrel until he was big enough to leap off and come a'runnin' when I called "Rocky Pig"
His name came from my first granddaughter who was only 4 years old and was given a guinea pig. Somehow, her guinea pig and our Rocky got mixed up in her little mind, and all small animals like hamsters, guinea pigs, squirrels etc became Rocky Pigs. The name seemed appropriate for the squirrel as he grew large and round. LOL
There is something so special about animals who help with other species of baby animals. They just endear themselves to me and I love them most of all.
Our Sir Catty Kit is such a nurturing male cat that I sometimes wonder how do they get that way? What is so different about their lives that makes them gentle and tender to other baby animals. It is a precious quality though.
Thank you so much for sharing your Parker with us. He obviously is one in a million too. Parker is getting my vote. I wish I had a photo of Penny and Rocky Pig to share, but sadly, I do not.
Check out these photos.
Our daughter was on her way to our house, on I-40 near Wallace, when she saw this little kitten under the overpass. Every time a car would pass, he would run around in circles. Being the loving person that she is, she could not leave him there. She had to stop and pick him up. The kitten was howling it was so terrified. It took a while to get him settled down. She gave him some water and he went fast asleep and slept the rest of the way.
Snuggles was found in a dumpster at the local dump. She was found when they were dumping out the dumpster and she rolled out with a damaged front leg. Her front leg needed 4 staples to hold it in place till it healed.
Meet Koneko! She is a delicate grey tabby that was rescued as a kitten. Koneko loves watching birds out the window, from her catio or on television.
