It’s probably no surprise that we’re a family of animal lovers. We visit the zoo in every city or town we go to. We don’t hunt, because there’s no way we could ever kill a living thing. I’ve saved numerous ladybugs, months, and even spiders that have found their way into our home from certain death by gently catching them and releasing them back outside, rather than just swatting them (though I definitely would have just killed the spiders if my daughter had let me). And as soon as my daughter figures out where chicken nuggets come from, which is pretty much the only meat she eats anyway, she will most certainly become a vegetarian.
Yes, we’re animal lovers all around, which is why we take care of a lot of them.
We don’t live on a farm, or even in a rural area, because if we did there would probably be even more animals around. Instead, we live in a suburban neighborhood in a city, which is probably why it feels like we have A LOT OF ANIMALS EVERYWHERE.
So how about I introduce you to our pack?
Rescue Pups
We currently have three rescue pups, all from different backgrounds and with different stories to tell.
Rocky is our oldest rescue pup, a twelve-year-old mountain cur mix who we adopted from the Humane Society of Pulaski County way back in 2012. He was just a puppy then, probably around four months old. We don’t have much backstory on him, except that he was found with his siblings and mother and brought to the shelter. He was the only one in his litter with a white stripe down his face, so we scooped him up immediately. Even though we adopted Rocky when he was young, he still has some personality quirks that I think can come with being a shelter pup. He’s food aggressive around other dogs and can be neurotic at times. Even though it’s obvious from looking at him that he hasn’t missed a single meal since we brought him home!
Zoey is our “middle” pup. A mixed breed of some sort, we adopted her at only 8 weeks old from Out of the Woods Rescue. Unlike Rocky, she was never a shelter pup. Her mother was someone’s pet who hadn’t been spayed. So the owner (wisely!) reached out to the rescue for help. Zoey is the exact opposite of Rocky in so many ways. She couldn’t care less about sharing her food bowl and is the most laid back dog I’ve ever had.
Biscuit is our youngest pup at two years old. He’s a full-blood beagle who we adopted from the Humane Society of Tulsa. Biscuit was one of the almost 4,000 beagles rescued from the Envigo research breeding facility in Virginia in the summer of 2022. I have a special place in my heart for beagles, and when I found out that some of the Envigo beagles were being transported to Tulsa (only four hours from our home), I knew we had to adopt one. Biscuit was rescued from Envigo when he was very young, and he came home with us at only 12 weeks old, so he doesn’t suffer from some of the long-term effects from being at the Envigo facility that many of the other beagles suffer from. For the most part, he’s a happy, healthy, beagle pup!
Community Cats
In addition to our rescue pups, who are a very important part of our family, we are also caregivers to several free-roam, semi-feral, community cats.
Two years ago, I didn’t even know what “community cats” were. I didn’t know much about cats at all, actually. I’ve never had a cat as a pet. I just wasn’t a cat person, or at least I thought.
Then, somewhat out of nowhere, I started seeing a cat in our neighborhood. It was obvious he wasn’t a pet. He looked rough and thin, clearly fending for himself. And he ran any time he saw me. So, I started leaving out dog food in our driveway, hoping he would find it. And just like that, I started seeing him more and more. It became obvious he was a tomcat, as he had the battle scars to prove it. I started leaving out cat food for him. And then I started seeing another cat…..and another…..and another……,which is exactly what my husband warned would happen if I started leaving out cat food. As I started to research how to help feral cats (none of them would let us touch them), I learned of something called “Trap-Neuter-Return,” which simply means that you can trap a feral cat, have it spayed or neutered, and then return it to its outdoor home to live out its life peacefully without the stress of mating and without contributing to the feral cat population.
By this point, we were regularly feeding several cats, and I was invested. I bought a trap, learned how to set it, and after a little trial and error, IT WORKED! I started trapping and spaying or neutering ALL THE CATS, and then I’d let them go once they had healed. It has taken two years, but I’ve finally spayed and neutered all the feral cats in our neighborhood (or at least the ones I feed)….well, except for one….the original tomcat I first spotted two years ago has continued to evade the trap, but I’ll keep trying!
We currently care for two cats that pretty much live in our garage, three more cats that come around regularly for food, and two more that we see occasionally. And we’ve spayed or neutered others that we don’t see anymore (one of which was a lost pet that has since been adopted!). And like any good animal-lover, my daughter has named every single one of them (more on that later!).
So there you have it….an overview of our pack. If you have pictures of your pack, I’d love to see them! And if you need help trapping a feral cat in your neighborhood in order to have it spayed or neutered, drop a comment below or contact us. I’d love to help if I can.