My neighbor emailed me asking if we wanted another cat because her friend is a foster mom and just found a very young abandoned kitten. My mom said we can only keep him if we named him Max!! So of course I said DEAL! We were worried about his health since he was just 8 weeks old, without his mom, had ear mites, conjunctivitis, and a cold. But now almost 3 years later, he is the best pet a girl could ask for....well almost. His nickname is Maxifer when he starts getting out of hand. =)

This story happened over 30 years ago, but is a very special story for me and my first two children. We were at the lake having a picnic as usual, but on this day we saw trouble. A male duck was attacking a baby duck with no Momma duck in sight. We scared off the male duck, which wasn't easy, he was determined to kill this poor baby duck! After the male left the area, we attended to the baby duck who seemed in shock. We were worried about leaving him there, he was so disoriented, I wasn't sure he was going to make it at all. So I made the decision to take him home and see if we could nurse him back to health. It was about 6 hours later when he finally seemed to wake up from his horrible nightmare attack. He woke in a fury and wasn't to be consoled. We packed him up and took him back to the lake hoping to find his family. We were only there about 10 minutes with him quacking up a storm when I heard and then saw the Momma and more baby ducks coming across the lake full speed ahead, lol. I can laugh now, but then it was pretty serious stuff back then. I was still worried that she may not take him back. I decided to let him go to her and they were reunited and all were very happy to be together. I fully believe that if we had not helped that little duck, he wouldn't have survived the attack. It was one of the most special days of our lives and talk about this story to this day.

I was picking up my husband from work late one night during a terrible rain storm. I drove across this area twice coming in the gate and leaving. When we got out to close the gate we saw the light shining on something striped and furry and went to investigate. It was a newborn kitten, in the mud, right next to our tire tracks. I grabbed it and wrapped it in a towel, and we took it home (after stopping at the store to get supplies to feed it). I couldn't believe he survived and perked right up after feeding him every 2 hours. This happened 20 years ago, but I will never forget our miracle kitty.

We've been married for 31 years and always have had our 'kids'. We average anywhere from three to eight cats at a time and we were presently at six and wanted it to stay that way, having had a homeless one given to us as we were moving to another town (he lived a long and happy life too). Once in our new town the husband worked on our home. It was summer and unfortunately in our neighborhood at the time feral cats and kittens were many - and right next door. It was heartbreaking. One day I heard a cry - a very loud cry. Looking everywhere I finally found a very small kitten screaming as loud as he could in some very tall weeds. He was at least a block away from the feral 'family' and must have been rejected because he was inbred and very sick. I cleaned him up (both eyes were massively infected) and placed him near one of the mothers, but not until I had shown my husband his set of toes - seven on the left front, eight on the right, both looking like mittens. But we weren't taking more kitties in, that was final. Never say never! When I got home from work the next day, my husband was feeding the little guy a bottle. He said the kid was almost done for (none of the feral mothers would touch him) and he had to do something. That's all it took - he was ours. At first we thought he'd be blind (he didn't even look like he HAD eyes) - nope. Then the vet kept telling us he'd lose his sight from infections - nope. They said he'd make our other cats sick - nope. Goliath (for his big feet and big voice) was our baby boy for almost 15 years before succumbing to age and sickness in January of this year. He will be forever missed - he was literally the kitten that roared and saved his own life!

(The picture is of Goliath in his last week of life.)

My brother was living with me in 2008 while building his house. One night he calls in a panic," I found the tiniest kitten on the lot, she was buried underneath some boards, I don't think she is going to make it". My sister-in-law who used to work for a vet said bring her to your sisters I will look at her and if she needs to be put down we will take care of it. I was expecting the worst but what I saw was the tiniest black and white kitten with bright blue eyes, which have since changed color. I have never been a cat person but knowing my brother already had 3 cats of his own, I had a feeling I would have a new pet when he moved out and into his new house. After lots of bottle feeding and love we now have a beautiful healthy soon to be 5 year old girl. I also took in a boy cat about 4 months later and they are the best of friends. So glad we were able to rescue and give these cats a great life and home.

My children and I were on our way home from visiting a very sick relative. He was at the last stages of cancer and we were all sad when we headed home. It was late and the weather had been unseasonably cold. The outside temperature was 19 degrees according to my car. Our usual way home took us on all the back roads but for some reason I told my son that I wanted to get something to eat. We headed towards the interstate and I was talking to my daughter (she was in her own car heading home) when I was getting on the entrance ramp. That's when we saw a tiny black fur ball running up the entrance ramp. I yelled at my daughter, "Oh my God, there's a kitty on the ramp!" She screamed for me to save him and we made a mad dash to exit the interstate and come back around. My son ran onto the entrance ramp as I did and the kitty came running up to him meowing. He was so tiny, my son scooped him up as I waved for the traffic to stop and we took him back to the car. In the car, my son put him in his jacket and the little tiny baby meowed and started giving my son kisses on his chin. We took him to the vet the next day and were told he was only 6 weeks old. We were not going to part with him, he was too precious. We all feel that dad (my husband) sent us to find our little Angel. Dad had passed away a year before and he loved cats. That's why we named him Angel because we all knew dad was the reason why we took the interstate that day. Our Angel continues to be as precious to us as he was the day we found him.

While my husband was cleaning out the shed, during our moving process, he heard a small meow. Due to the remnant carpet in our shed being a light yellow, he moved the lawn mower and didn't see anything, so he put the mover back and went about sorting and cleaning. After a little while, he heard it again and moved the mower again. This time he saw this little kitten laying on the carpet. He picked it up and took it to the porch, put it in a box and called me at work.

His first words to me were "Well babe, I was working in the shed and you'll never believe what I found".

Since he's a bit dramatic most times, I just answered, "Hard telling, What?"

"A kitten" he says and after several questions and discussions, I told him to put it in a box and cover it lightly with a towel to keep it warm. He wasn't a "cat person" so he wasn't able to tell me any "real" details about it.

When I got home I checked it out and realized he was VERY young. I took a quick trip to Walmart and got pet bottles and "Mother's Helper" liquid formula and when I got back I made a bottle for him and BOY was hungry. From a past "kitten" experience I had invested in a baby playpen, so we got him set up in it.

After a bit more investigations, we worked out that he was about a week old. His eyes weren't open and he still had a dark spot where his umbilical cord was.

We took turns feeding him every 2 hours for 4 weeks and increased the time in between as the weeks went on. My mother was SURE he wasn't gonna make it, but we keep at it and that was July 2007. He is now 6 years old and part of the family (he has 10 kitty brothers and sisters total), He's a Mama's boy but I wouldn't give him up for the world!

I was eight years old when my Mother brought home Winnie. My mother worked at the local vet clinic. It wasn't uncommon for people to bring kittens in boxes to have them euthanized. My mother saw Winnie, a month old, maybe less, and took her home. I remember melting when I saw her. I also remember having to keep it a secret from Dad, because he hated cats.

The day we told Dad, he told me to go to my room so that they could talk. I listened from my bedroom as my Mom pleaded with my Dad to keep her, and with me adding the puppy dog eyes, after not being able to stay long enough in my room, he reluctantly gave in.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I fell in love with Winnie. She was quirky and funny, and of course, cuddly. Even my Dad grew to like her, though he still won't admit it, after all these years.

Then the day came where Winnie tried climbing the curtains and spilling soil everywhere after knocking over a flower pot. Dad got so mad that he sent her back to the clinic. I kept her favourite toy, a small teddy bear, as a reminder of her. For weeks, I was very upset with my Dad. I begged for Winnie to come home.

Finally, my Dad came into the room and told me he had a surprise. I went into my room, and there she was. Winnie was pawing my bed, purring.

I have absolutely no idea what I'd do without her. Now I'm in college, and I occasionally even Skype with her and my parents. She's the best pet in the world, and I wouldn't trade her for anything. She doesn't cuddle with many people anymore, but she cuddles with my Dad all the time.

My wife was buggin me all day to go see this dog someone had posted in the paper.

Finally after hours of saying no I just got a feeling. We went to see her and found she had belonged to a family who had to give her up because of moving to a place pets were not allowed. So a relative of theirs took her and said they would give her a couple weeks. When we went to see her that couple weeks was up. The woman said "we only put the $10 in there to make sure someone would "pay" to have her." I still wasn't sure. The lady said "you can take her for a few days and see if she is a good fit". So to keep her from going to the shelter I said OK. GOOD FIT? she fell in love with me and I fell in love with her. My $10 dog ... I'd have paid a thousand times that if I'd have known her as I do today. My Cloe gives so much love it's just unbelievable. Rescue? YES she did rescue me!

My sister and I were living in college living in an apartment when one Saturday night she told me about a friend of hers who had a neighbor with an orphaned two-week old kitten. The neighbor was 15 years old and had no idea of how to take care of this kitten. My sister then said, "He's in Orlando... can we go get him?" I was nervous because we weren't supposed to have pets and I was worried how my parents would react to us taking in this little guy. In the end, my heart over-took my nerves and we drove down to Orlando the next day. The girl came out with a small cardboard box - inside was a fluffy blue towel and tiny, squeaking kitten lost inside of it. We both melted. However, neither of us had ever cared for an orphaned kitten and we weren't even sure where to start.

We stopped at Walmart and picked up Gerber baby milk and an eye dropper to give the kitten something to eat. The poor thing was starving. The next stop was the vet - and for two kids in college that isn't cheap. But with the kind help of our parents, we got him a check up and medication he needed. The final stop was PetCo, where we found nursing bottles and kitten milk. Through this whole day, our full intentions were to take care of the kitten long enough to adopt him out.

But the weeks went on. We named him Niko. We woke up with Niko every night between 2 and 4 am to feed (and often bathe him due to an accident in his big, towel cardboard box). We felt like we never slept. We rarely went out on the weekends. Rather, we stayed at home on the couch with a kitten nestled on our chest, sleeping. And we fell in love. We wouldn't trade that time with Niko for anything. And it wasn't long after that our parents insisted our hard work should be rewarded - we could keep him. He's our little buddy.