Shelter From The Storm Happy Endings!

Hi, we adopted our little furballs from SFTS almost a year ago and they're happier than ever! My fiance Carrie Anne and I adopted Gizmo, a Corgi-Sheltie fella and Springs, a sweet lil' girl kitty. They're best buddies and play all the time! Here are some pics of them to update. Take care!

-Eli Quinn Madison , WI

Allison:

hello, my husband & I just wanted you to know how much we love ³Cho² and how glad we are that we adopted her!!!

We renamed her ³Kimiko², which in Japanese means ³the ruling child² and she definitely is that, in our household:-) We call her ³Miko² for short.

Attached are some pics of her at her first puppy park outing a couple weeks ago. She is currently in a puppy class and last week, she was the star of the class with 4 perfect ³sits² for the instructor in front of all the other puppies. She has a great disposition and just wants to play with EVERYONE...be it other dogs, adults or kids.

Thanks for taking care of her and getting her started in the right direction, so that we could pick up where you left off:-)

Sincerely, Natalie & Mark Richardson

Another update for the happy tails...Allison

We adopted her this past Saturday.

By the pictures, I think you can see that's she's already well settled in. We love her very much already. Confident and inquisitive...

Sincerely,

The Fruehlings

P.S. Camie is short for camouflaged.

Hi allison,I look for you frequently at petsmart,lil "kittencatcathy" is doing great,she picks on my other cat a lot..(ragdoll cat),I will not let them near the door,but she is always curious..they always follow me around and want to be part of"what i am doing"..

here some pics of her,she likes this tiny wicker chair,and she is owner of the house so i can never keep her off of things..

hugs

terry

Next month, we will celebrate the first anniversary of Oliver's (formerly Edgar) arrival to our home. We are totally in love with this adorable little man and are so grateful that we were able to adopt him from your shelter. He has brought us so much joy! We can't help but smile when we look at his precious little face. We understand that he originally came to you from a kill shelter in Indiana , and we thank you so much for agreeing to give him a chance at a fantastic life. We think he's the best little dog ever!

Attached is a picture of our fuzzy little dude.

Again, thank you so much for connecting us with this wonderful little guy!

I wanted you to know that Clint is doing exceptionally well. I simply cannot believe the difference. I like to joke that he's too happy to die, but a friend of mine says he probably thinks he's already died and gone to heaven. And all it took was some attention and love and vet care. His heart murmur is worse and I have no idea how long he'll be around, but I make sure that I spend some day every day holding him and loving him up. I cannot even describe to you the changes he's been through in almost 14 months. He fell down an entire flight of carpeted stairs while I was stuck on the toilet and all that happened was a tiny cut on his chin. Whatever befell him before, fate is making it up to him now.
The biggest thing is that it took 6 months for him not to be so excited every morning at his new life that he peed all over his bed. Now I can lift him out of his play pen/bed, carry him to my bed and love him up for a minute and then put a jacket on him, and then take him outside to do business. He still poops in the house fairly often, but I don't mind that. He pees once in a great while, mostly when he has a UTI, but for the most part he's like a different dog. He is not incontinent, just old and senile and has a great dislike of winter. He went from brown to white after about 6 months or so. Amazing what a little nutrition can do. He does fine with two teeth, he just spews food everywhere and takes forever. He has a good appetite and loves to eat. About two weeks before his one-year anniversary he barked for the first time. (ick.) He now has meltdowns over grooming, so the vet trims his nails because I can't. I have kept Dr. Trepel apprised of Clint's progress. By the way, Clint never stopped twirling. That's here forever.
He has been a "model" several times for my product comparison articles. Attached photo is from the article on winter wear for toy breeds. It's a $10 Target sweater, but he also has a down snow parka. And two strollers, and a portable play pen with orthopedic bed. He has several beds strewn across the living room floor. He is a bed fiend.
He still won't kiss, which is okay, but it sort of breaks my heart that he doesn't seem to understand what my kisses are. He just has a concept of "I'm being held or touched/I'm not being held or touched." A kiss is no different from being petted. Doesn't matter. I cover him with kisses every day whether he knows what they are or not.
I used to think it was somewhat foolish of you guys to save him, given that he was only supposed to live a month or two, and that given the low resources/high need of Katrina it would have been more practical to leave him to be euthanized. But I cannot tell you how much he has changed my life and how I remain completely besotted by him.
So at any rate, Clint the Manly Man and his mom thank you for everything and wish you a very happy new year.
Phyllis

Happy Holidays from Rascal and Kitten (Peggy Sue)! We are the bestest of buds and are enjoying our forever home. The food people just put up a Christmas tree, but as you can see in the photos, we just couldn't care less about it.
Thanks to all of the Shelter from the Storm people for finding us our lovely Rascal and Kitten! Our house is filled with love this year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Sincerely,
Laura and Neil Stechschulte

Hi, I just wanted to thank you guys. We adopted Zyda last Nov. She was a hurricaine katrina rescue dog. She is the best dog ever. We love her so much and she is very spoiled. My boston terrier I had before and her are great friends. She is really a great member of this family now. I just wanted to thank you for bringing this joy to our lives.....
Thanks and happy holidays,
Sherry and Melissa Ciaramita

Hello! Here are some pictures of Georgia doing very well! Her hair has grown back, she loves to play, and take walks. Adopting her has been fabulous for Katy too! Katy no longer has separation anxiety. They just love each other! After a few alpha dog fights, they get along like best friends! Georgia is even getting over her fear of strangers and will go outside during daylight hours. They are slowly becoming happy and comfortable!
Thank you for saving them!!!
Tina and Shane

JoDaddy and I are well. He is still the sweetest dog I know and is making lots of dog friends in the neighborhood.

I waited a long-long time in my foster home... Finally my purr-fect family found me! It was worth the wait! I love my new home!

"Jewels!" Five days ago, I brought home a little sister for my six year old tabby, who has been begging me for a feline buddy to play with. I had no doubt that Jewels (whom I've renamed Musetta) was the perfect cat when I met her - she is the sweetest purringest thing ever! I was only worried that her new big brother, who's never had to share before, wouldn't quite get the concept... ... but five days later they're well on their way to being best friends. They're kissing without hissing (yay!), sharing toys, and they even look like they were separated at birth. Musetta has hardly stopped purring for a moment since I brought her home, and she's completely stolen my heart. Just like the opera character I named her after, she has me wrapped around her little "finger" (paw?) trotting off to the pet store for more toys and goodies for her every few days. My two tabbies and I are forever grateful to Shelter From The Storm for bringing us all together, and to the wonderful foster families who helped raise Musetta (Jewels) to be the sweet, loving, well-adjusted young cat that she is today. Nancy

'Howie' is adjusting nicely; he is a very confident young man. Our little Bichon, however, has Rescue Remedy in her water. She wants to play so badly; she is shaking all over. She has had a couple supervised visits with her in our laps and Howard likes to circle around and sniff her from behind. Then...the best part...he goes about his business and ignores her! She is beside herself. Jessica is loving him and they've bonded already. He meows for her if she leaves him, so they are both sequestered upstairs. Thanks for all you guys do! Eileen & Jessica

Annie & Mom Dana with Zoey looking on

Annie is very happy & I have never seen Zoey (her sister) happier. It was an instant connection between the two. In fact, despite Annie being sick, once I introduced them for a few hours, they were both inseparable and would not tolerate being apart. It is the funniest thing, but Annie sometimes appears to be the dominant cat. For many weeks Annie would lay on the floor taunting Zoey to come and get her, and Zoey would run really fast up to Annie and then Annie would swat her face and Zoey would run away and hide!! And Annie took over Zoey's scratching post perch and really made Zoey mad, so I had to buy another one! They love to play together. Everyday now Annie walks up to Zoey after breakfast and dinner feedings and Annie lays down by Zoey. Zoey grooms all of Annie's face and neck, sometimes more sometimes less, but only as much as Annie can tolerate for when Annie has had enough grooming, she bites Zoey in the neck and then it is PLAY TIME!!

We renamed our dog, Ginger. WE JUST LOVE HER! She's a wonderful addition to our family. We feel very fortunate to have her. She does a good job tolerating our two cats. She likes to walk with me in the evening and look for deer and wild turkeys in the nature preserve across the street from our home. Most of the time, she spots them first! Mom & "Sis"

12/14/05      Ellie and her siblings were found on a construction site in October... no mom around! They all survived bottle feedings by their foster Mom, Ellen. Here is the "Happy Tale" of one of them: Here are a few photos we thought you might want to see. Brian and I had a wonderful weekend welcoming little Elsa (we call her "Ellie") into our home. She is a perfect kitten--so full of spunk and love--we feel it was meant to be. Please know she is in a wonderful home and will be very much spoiled with love. Sincerely, Jennifer

Princess Patti! Who Would Have Imagined... Webmaster note: I remember Patti very clearly on the day she arrived in Madison from Hurricane Katrina. Her skin was so bad, she was bleeding... and rolling on the cement, trying to scratch her itches. She looked so bad, I didn't even take a photo of her that day... and EVERYONE got photographed that day! Thank you again for helping us find the perfect addition to our family. It's nice to know that you are out there finding good families for all needy dogs and cats! Miss Patti is adjusting to her new surroundings wonderfully! She has found that she LOVES squeak toys & likes to share them with anyone who will squeak them with her. We normally can't get her out of the pampasan easily as you can see from the photos. And she's found a joy in Sunday afternoon cuddling and car rides! Patti is excelling in class & is perfect with people & animals of all shapes & sizes. She has even learned that playing with cats can be fun (my 7 year old Orange Tabby has discovered that he likes to play "tag" with her around the coffee table). WE THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS! I can't bear to think of what life was like for her before she was found but we're happy that you were able to heal her physical & emotional wounds! Now that she's a part of our family we'll keep her happy & healthy (& spoiled). Thank you again, Gigi, Ben & the gang

A wonderful new family... and Clint is dining (and still twirling) in style! Foster mom, Phyllis wrote to tell us that her Katrina Kid, Bella has finally cleared many, many health barriers and has gone home to her new mom, Mel and sister Alisha. You can read about this experience at The Bark. Phyllis has an amazing writing talent, and it's been a joy to discover her work at this website. We've followed her stories of Bella and Clint since day one... spend some time reading there! You won't regret a moment... Thank you Phyllis and all our amazing foster families... we couldn't do this without you!

Doesn't this fella look happy & well-loved! "I adopted Jake from you on 9/10/05. He is a great dog!! Thought I would send you a couple of updated pictures :)" Ann M.

The owner of one of the cats SFTS rescued from Mississippi has been found! We are working on getting Jasper back home... as soon as the family actually HAS a home... He's waiting patiently in a loving foster home for now, and will travel back to his "real" family soon!

HSUS Photo from Hattiesburg - the one the owner found to claim her cat Shelter From The Storm's photo of Jasper... going home soon!

My home & everything in it was destroyed by Katrina so I have no proof, but I know that is Jasper. We left him & our 3 other cats in our home fully expecting to go back in 3 days to a messy yard & fussy cats. So far he's the only one we've been able to locate. My daughter found him as a newborn kitten 7 yrs ago. He is very sweet & rather lazy. At the moment we are living in a trailer in an RV park in AL. We will be relocating to MS soon to stay with a coworker until we find permanent housing. Thank you so much for all you've done for our baby & all of the others. Gratefully yours, Jane

I just wanted to let you know that Diesel is doing very well. He seems to have completely healed from his surgery. The last time he was at the vet about two weeks ago he weighed 22 pounds. I have attached a few photos that are a little outdated. He is quite active and playful. He is great with children and other dogs. We walk him twice a day and he wants to stop and play with everyone that we meet. Christy