Pirate Petey is looking for his forever home and Gunther is a "bad ass" cat!

Update:  Pirate Petey is adopted!  Thank you!

Pirate Petey- a 2 year old dog who has been looking for his forever home too long!

Gunther- one bad-ass cat!

Harriet Dobbins, local artist, is our guest blogger today.

     In my family, both growing up and as an adult, we have always had dogs and cats.  I currently have a beautiful black and white standard poodle, named Splash, who makes me laugh every day.  He is gentle, kindhearted, full of energy and he loves to make people laugh. He is the joy of my life.  

But I am going to tell you about a cat that was in my life.  We were at the lake in Guntersville, when my daughter came running to get me, to see a cat she had found near the edge of the woods.  What I saw, was a terribly thin cat with five abscesses and a paralyzed leg.  As I approached him, he tried to stand to come to me but was too weak and fell over on his side.  I reached out to pet him and he pushed his head into my hand and rubbed his face on it and purred sooo loud.  My daughter told me someone had gone to get a gun to kill him.  She begged me to take him home with us.  She said it was not right to kill anything that was so loving while in so much pain.  So, we scooped up this poor injured cat and took him straight to the vet. The vet said he would not have lived another twenty-four hours because he was so dehydrated.    We had to leave him at the vet about a week on IV’s, and then we brought him home.  The vet told us, he would have to amputate his leg when he got stronger.  We named him Gunther.  After, a month of food and water and rest, we had his leg amputated.  He recovered from that surgery just fine.

  

         We don’t know what might have happened in Gunther’s former life but he was terrified of men.  I had a husband and two boys, so Gunther spent a lot of time under my bed for the first year he lived with us.  My boys, loved cats so they spent many hours laying on the floor next to the bed with the dust ruffle tucked up, playing with Gunther.  They had tied a string on to a short stick and put a squirrel tail tied on the end of the string.  Gunther just loved that squirrel tail.  After, about a year,  Gunther decided men couldn’t be all that bad and came out and joined the family even when the males were home. 

         During, that first year we had Gunther, he developed a bladder condition that could not be controlled by drugs or diet, so he had to have another surgery and this time there were complications and the vet thought he would not make it.  He got on the phone to Auburn and over the phone step by step they walk him through the procedure to fix Gunther’s problem.  Now Gunther had been on death’s doorstep for the second time in a year.  With all the things that Gunther had been through, they never seemed to bother him.  He was sweet and affectionate but he was also tough as nails.  We had two miniature schnauzers at the time that were inside dogs and two Labs that were outside dogs.  Both of my other children had there own dogs, which they brought to the house when they came over, a boxer and a German shepherd.  Gunther let those dogs know right away that he was in charge.  He would run at them side ways and slap them with his "invisible leg".  He did this with such assertiveness that the dogs believed they had been hit. They would back off.  Then once he knew he had control, he would rub up against them like they were friends.  

        Gunther had a game that he played with the little schnauzers everyday.  They would eat breakfast every morning in the kitchen and Gunther would hide behind the door and wait for them to come through and jump on them.  They knew he was waiting to do this and so they would walk ever so slowly to the doorway and then try to run through so fast that Gunther couldn’t get them, but he always did.  Gunther loved this game but I’m not so sure the schnauzers like it that much.  They were all friends.  Never had a fight and slept in a big pile together on the sofa.  Gunther lived with us for seventeen years.

         The reason I write about Gunther is he was an inspiration to me in my life and I think he was to others as well.  With all the things that happened to Gunther, he remained sweet, affectionate, yet tough and confident.  Of all the animals at my house Gunther was the favorite, especially with the young males.  You could hear them say to their friends, “you need to come see this ‘bad ass’ cat”.  Clearly they admired him and how well he got along on three legs and how precisely he could use his “invisible leg.”

Breed:  Italian Greyhound/Miniature Pinscher Mix
Color:  Tan/Yellow/Fawn
Age:  Young
Size:  Small 25 lbs (11 kg) or less
Sex:  Male

Neutered, house trained, up to date with shots, good with kids, good with dogs, and good with cats.

Pirate Petey's Story…

Pirate Petey is a 13 lb two year old italian greyhound/min pin mix. He is good with cats and some dogs. Because he is small we prefer he go to a home with no children or children over 12. He is a HUGE SNUGGLE BUDDY! He will cover you in kisses. His favorite past times include perfecting his balance on the human arm, and keeping up with the latest fashion trends. This is a seriously precious dog!

Help Petey find his biggest treasure- his forever home!

 Email amanda.howard@FORrescue.net for more information or fill out an application at forrescue.net . He is currently fostered in Huntsville, Alabama but we adopt to many different areas.

 See Petey in action!

If you would like to contribute a story to the FOR blog, please mail the contents along with an image or two to blog@forrescue.net.

 At the end of 2014 individuals who submitted content for the FOR blog will be entered in a drawing for a free pet portrait. 

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