Julia donated lights through our Lights of Hope campaign for the loves that have passed. They are pet’s she has had throughout her life. She dropped in with some great stories of the ways these pets have impacted her life over the years and we are happy to share them with you. I think you will find that she, too, was a great influence on their lives. Thank you Julia, for taking in these babes and giving them an amazing life!
“I donated lights for my loves that have passed. They are the pets I have had over the years since I was about 3. I could talk forever about each one. They all have different little personalities.
Leroy (tuxedo cat) came from the animal shelter at the age of 1. He was the king if the house. We called him the house manager. I could talk about him for days. There was just something about Leroy… he was smart and bad but also a cuddle bug. You were NEVER alone because he was always with you to supervise. You couldn’t close a door because he would bust it down. He talked a lot and would talk back to you. He lived to be 13 and passed of cancer.
Mo (gray and white cat) came from someone who was deploying overseas and was going to be taken to the animal shelter. She was the sweetest little thing. She never weighed over 5 pounds. She was always kind of puny. She must have been the runt of the litter. She was 4 and lived to be 16, died of cancer. Leroy and Mo were good buddies, they lived together for about 10 years.
Zeke (Belgian malinois dog) was supposedly trained for law enforcement but grew to be too big for what they were looking for, so we took him in at the age of 2 and he lived to be 10. He was a Belgian malinois with a psychotic amount of energy. He was big and wild but my sweetie. I could tell 1,000 stories about Zeke. He helped me lose 136 pounds because he was my cardio buddy. He was a big dog and died of old age.
Castor (Belgian malinois dog) was a sheriff’s office K9 who got retired due to a hip injury at the age of 8. His handler didn’t want to care for him and their plan was to just put him to sleep. They couldn’t “give him away”, so I bought him for $1 to keep him from being euthanized just because no one wanted to care for him. BEST. DOG. EVER. He was 8 when I adopted him and lived to be 11. He was a big dog and not well cared. He had been given a lot of aspirin to treat his hip pain and he eventually died of a GI bleed. He had a glorious retirement with us.
Matthew (black cat) came from someone whose roommate moved out and left the cat and the guy was going to take him to the shelter, so I took him in. He was 9 when I adopted him and lived to be 12. He died of renal failure but we tried the best we could to keep him going. We were doing dialysis at home but it came time to let him pass.
Babee (Persian cat) will always have a soft spot in my heart. I found some teenagers throwing something around. Someone tossed it over a fence and I realized it was moving. I walked over and saw that they were tossing around a kitten. I took her from them and took her home. She was a tiny little white fuzzball. She had fleas and ear mites and her fur was a mess. We cleaned her up and she became the princess of the house. She had a love/hate relationship with Gabe. If he was sitting beneath her, she would knock stuff off on him. She lived to be almost 20 and died at home of old age.
Gabe (gray cat) I found in the dumpster where I worked, so I brought him home and he became my dad’s best buddy. He was an adolescent cat, not full grown. He was a whopper… 20 pounds of attitude. He lived to annoy Babee and sulk around the house. He died at the age of 12 due to diabetes.
Kittie (calico cat) was a stray that hung around outside of our house. The neighbors were feeding her and giving her water out of kindness but when we found out what they were feeding her and one was giving her water out of a tin he used to drain antifreeze into, we took her in and made her an indoor cat. She wasn’t very bright but she was sweet. I have always wondered if the little bit of antifreeze had some adverse effect on her brain development. If she heard you with a bag of potato chips, she would stalk you down. She was a scrawny adolescent when we took her in and lived to be 14 when she died of old age. Before she died, she had gone deaf and Babee used to stick by her side and lead her around.
My parents got Mickey (pomeranian dog) when I was 5. He was a Christmas present, so I don’t know where he came from. He was a little wild man with an attitude but also very sweet. He was my little buddy from kindergarten all the way to my freshman year in college. He lived to be 14 and died of old age.
My parents adopted Paul (gray cat) from a neighbor whose cat had 1 kitten. I was 3 when they got him, so we pretty much grew up together. He was huge. He got to 24 pounds and at 3 yrs old that made him seem gigantic to me. He was a good cat. He scared the neighbors because he was so large but he was a gentle giant. He was also my dad’s best buddy. He used to lie on the newspaper every morning while my dad was trying to read it because he wanted attention right then.
I don’t have pictures of everyone because some came and went before cell phones but I’ll send who I have: Leroy, Mo, Zeke, Castor, Matthew, Babee, Gabe. “
To dedicate a light to pets you and loved, lost, cared for and care for visit www.forsythhumane.org/lightsofhope and share your stories with us!
Prepared by Kristen Williams
